Rise Against
The Sufferer And The Witness

THE REVIEW

Year 2006. There are still people around who draw from their musical instruments a simple but never despised (by me) punk rock. Not wild HC, not pop-dark-emocr*p punk, not ultra-aggressive street punk, simply punk rock, fast and melodic just enough. What makes this album more enjoyable is Tim McIlrath's voice, considered by some to be the best voice in punk today, calm and warm in the slow songs and choruses, hoarse and aggressive when there's a need to shout, which unfortunately he doesn't do very often in these 13 tracks. It starts out strong with "Chamber The Cartridge", fast enough with a chorus where backup vocals and choral singing come in, which I very much appreciate; it gets even better with the next "Injection": one of those tracks that after the first listen plays nonstop on my mp3 player for at least a week, immediately striking with the initial guitar riff, and a chorus that immediately sticks in your head, something that truthfully happens quite a bit, given the simplicity of the latter (so give me the drug! keep me alive! give me what's left of my life! don't let me gooo wuoooh oh!) and an interlude by Tim "RoughVoice" that makes your hair stand on end; moving on with "Ready To Fall", here I understand that if Tim always shouted like he does in certain breaks, it would be a fabulous album; "Bricks" a fairly anonymous track, goes by in a minute and a half, making way for another half dud like "Under The Knife", the melody takes over and makes me wrinkle my nose quite a bit, as does the following "Prayer Of The Refugee" which at least redeems itself with the chorus. There are no other thrills in the following tracks, unfortunately all more or less quite linear, "Worth Dying For" another noticeable track, one stops a bit on "Roadside", slow and melancholic melodies, it would fit better if it were surrounded by eardrum-breaking tracks, just to catch one's breath a bit, which is quite useless in this CD. The final track is a little gem, representing how I personally would like any Rise song to be: guitar and drums setting the pace, a wonderful chorus, and overlapping voices, if only they were all like this..

In general, an appreciable album for those who are not looking for strong emotions, if they had properly leveraged that powerful voice and limited the melodic turns, it would have resulted in an album with a capital A. A record without shame and without praise. I prefer the previous Siren Song Of The Counter Culture.