![]() Overall, it's a great album, possibly the best album of the year, but it's still not as solid as "Revolutions Per Minute.The Sufferer and The Witness is an album by Rise Against. Tim's best cover was The Killing Tree's version of "Jesus Christ Pose." Sick Of It All isn't even that good of a band. "Built to Last" 7/10: For those fans like me who have to collect every recording, this is a cover of Sick Of It All's "Built to Last" available on the import version. I was wondering why the album had an explicit language warning. ![]() "Survive" 10+/10: Just like with "Rumors of My Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated," they close with their best track. "The Good Left Undone" 9/10: This song is missing something lyrically, and I can't quite put my finger on it. "Roadside" 5/10: The "Swing Life Away" / "Everchanging" track. "Behind Closed Doors" 10/10: This is what I expect from Rise Against. "Worth Dying For" 7/10: It starts good, and then it just deteriorates. It sounds like somebody reading stream of consciousness poetry with a chorus thrown in. "The Approaching Curve" 5/10: Call this experimental if you must. "Drones" 8/10: The chorus is kind of disappointing. "Prayer of the Refugee" 10/10: A few simple chords get real addictive. It's a good change of pace after "Bricks." "Under the Knife" 9/10: A slightly calmer song. "Bricks" 10/10: They can still play pure punk. "Ready to Fall" 10+/10: From the first chord, you know this song is going to be amazing. "Injection" 9/10: Possibly the follow-up to "Rumors of My Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated," but not as good as the original. "Chamber the Cartridge" 10/10: A very good opener, but still not as good as "Black Masks & Gasoline." I had very high expectations for this album, and they were almost met. If that doesn't count for crossover appeal, what does? In the end, it's just damn good rock music that takes no prisoners. ![]() Fans of Bad Religion, Social Distortion, and other long-running American punk combos will dig this record mightily even as naysayers dig its grave. ![]() The final word is pretty straightforward, really. It's all over the map-sections supported by spastic hardcore punk drumming break into dizzying pedal tone riffs break into a swirling mass of driving harmony, concluding the record with hammer-to-nail finality. Things settle down only on the restrained, but surprisingly powerful "Roadside," a duet with Emily Schambra of Holy Roman Empire which conquers the orchestral side of the coin in terms of emotional intensity and proves that Rise Against learned something from critics' response to the maudlin "Swing Life Away" (from 2004's "Siren Song of the Counterculture"). Anthemic riffing on "Behind Closed Doors" pumps the proverbial fist into the air, sitting twice as well next to the impassioned, Ginsberg-infused howl of singer Tim McIlrath. The "Chamber"-"Injection"-"Ready" trifecta hooks ears, then Rise Against throws "Bricks" at us for a minute and a half. "The Sufferer and the Witness" contains enough adrenaline to kill. Then everything goes to hell and back in just under 43 minutes. "Chamber the Cartridge" opens innocently enough with war drumming and the dire lilt of distorted electric guitar. Comparisons to The Who for their teenage angst ("Ready to Fall") are not without merit, but the caterwauling evocative-of-the-Pete-Townshend-windmill guitarwork is yet more appropriate. This critical hazing ritual has been enough to net them a "punk" badge in the past, but with "The Sufferer and the Witness," these punks rise to bridge the gap with a fresh ear and a newfound knack for fusing fury with sensitivity- without illicting jaded groans. Their music is somehow too abrasive for MTV but not nifty-keen enough for hipsters. Rise Against and bands of their ilk fall by the wayside in critical circles. Up on top, it's nothing but gold teeth, big cars and big butts trolling in the underground, you meet a lot of blind moles that think they know what "independent" means.
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