Rise Against
Revolutions Per Minute
Fat Wreck Chords
Rise Against is the kind of band that reminds me why labels like Fat Wreck Chords and Epitaph are so huge; some of their music is actually very good. This band plays some of the fastest, most furious California-style (e.g. early Bad Religion) punk rock around. The guitars are like buzzsaws, the drums are super high in the mix (which sounds wonderful) and the vocals are at the proper level, making for a fantastic mix. They seem to have a penchant for the late 1980s in their melodies, but their delivery is anything but dated. Revolutions Per Minute is one of those rare records that takes a stale form and makes it shine.
What makes this record so unique is the fact that it’s not repetitive, which often happens in the “hardcore” genre. Rise Against can play fast, melodic hardcore (“Black Masks & Gasoline”), or they can slow things down and deliver powerful rock songs (“Like the Angel”). That said, Revolutions Per Minute is definitely best heard as an “album.” That is, the order of the songs is just as important as the songs themselves.
If I had to liken these guys to any other bands, I would say that they sound like Hi-Standard with (Ignition-era) Dexter of The Offspring singing. I saw Hi-Standard about a million years ago, and they totally blew me away with their live show. I imagine that Rise Against are probably just as amazing, or more so, on stage; the energy on this record is absolutely contagious. Revolutions Per Minute doesn’t, in any way, reinvent the wheel, but it rocks out so hard that even the biggest of indie rock snobs will enjoy it. We all liked early Bad Religion, at one time or another, and this album reminds us why!
Fat Wreck Chords: http://www.fatwreck.com/
