REVIEW: Rise Against – “Endgame”

Rise Against / Endgame / Universal

Letting past busts fade into nothing, the Chicago punk rockers have rediscovered their edge. Ignore the five year gap and Endgame surfaces, issuing healthy doses of aggression and narrations tracing paramount concerns. The energy is there, the reckless voice is intact but thanks to this generation’s idea of punk, the 12 tracks stretch farther than they should, become repetitive and don’t deliver enough punch with second half bridges (“Help Is On The Way”, “Survivor Guilt”). Endgame’s cuts do compliment each other though. The collection prefers to survive off fresh air after every four minutes with songs flexing an edge (“Midnight Hands”) or a grimy alt punk riff (“A Gentlemen’s Coup”) that doesn’t hesitate to impress.

Staring at the melodies, the sixth disc has provoked Rise Against to drop the “good-guy routine”, forcing vocalist/guitarist Tim McIlrath to become emotional, clenching each fiery rant close to his chest. It’s easy to claim the frontman’s rage stems from his nature, but it’s almost like its invoked on a personal level and a professional level (the return of producer Bill Stevenson). “Do you see the world in different colours?” he asks, drawing the listener into a world of doubt and self-examination before liberating a ruthless uproar that exceeds expectations. Endgame has its flaws, like all punk kids do, and in that instance, remarkably doesn’t lack pride or attitude.

Download: “Midnight Hands”, “A Gentlemen’s Coup”

 

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1 Comment

  • kristen says:

    The music drowns out the vocals! So freaking disappointing. I had been planning for 5 weeks to get this for my fiance… I’m listening to “Broken Mirrors” right now, and its good… but I can barely HEAR THE LYRICS!!!! DAMNIT!!!!!!!!!

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