If you were to trace back every root of the hardcore punk scene of the last twenty years or so, Rise Against would appear in some capacity in every single strand. One of the most precious, passionate and culturally precise bands that the alternative scene has to offer, the band continue their crusade of consistency with a follow up to 2015’s ‘The Black Market’. Do they still have the power to make a listener pick up a brick and fight for what they believe in though? Just about.

The biggest factor when it comes to new releases from bands like Rise Against is how long they have been doing this thing for. After years of living with fire in your belly and blood in your teeth, there needs to be a point where the fire dies down a little and the blood dries. Not to say that the heated passion that has made Rise Against such a well known and revered name isn’t present because it is by the absolute bucketload, but very much like their previous effort, the pace of things brings things down a touch.

It doesn’t prevent ‘House On Fire’ from possessing enough ‘woah ohs’ and finely tuned hooks to cling to your mind for weeks to come and the tearful glory of ‘Mourning In Amerika’ still hits the heartstrings good and hard though.

On the grand scheme there is so much to love about ‘Wolves’. The sheer resilience of Rise Against is present in abundance and their talent for writing brilliantly infectious punk rock hasn’t faded by any stretch, but those used to the rough and ready band of yesterday may wish to look elsewhere. This is an album from a band who know where their strengths continue to lie and aren’t prepared to stop anytime soon.

3.5/5

‘Wolves’ by Rise Against is released on 9th June on Virgin Records.

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Words by Jack Rogers (@JackMRog)