With growing discontent at home and abroad, Rise Against‘s return with their 10th album feels particularly timely. As a band, Tim McIlrath (vocalist/guitar), Joe Principe (bass), Brandon Barnes (drums), and Zach Blair (lead guitar) have firmly found their feet as an arena-playing group. After all, they’ve been at it for the best part of 25 years. Yet, as ‘Ricochet’ shows, their moral compass is still intact. At the core of the album is the theme of interconnectivity, and how every action, good or bad. It allows the 12 songs on offer to be thought-provoking, yet rooted in being a rallying call for solidarity.
The opening pairing of ‘Nod’ and ‘I Want It All’ embraces the bold, anthemic style that Rise Against have come to adopt. The former is a fist-pumping plea for recognition and unity against the fragile nature of the world. ‘I Want It All’ is delivered with determination. Building around a crunching Kinks-esque riff, it succeeds as an anthem. The titular track begins with acoustic guitars, providing a sense of introspection. Nevertheless, as McIlrath’s voice rises in the first chorus, their need for harmony reappears. As you can expect from it being the title track, it puts the notion of actions resulting in reactions to the forefront.
As the album rolls on, you soon realise McIlrath and company are more than comfortable in producing arena-made protest rock songs. Tracks such as ‘Us Against The World’ and ‘Sink Like A Stone’ are fine, but aren’t anything remarkable. ‘Black Crown’ is sandwiched in-between. With McIlrath’s atmospheric vocals, his words of preparing for doomsday are complemented by stirring guitars. Meanwhile, Manchester Orchestra‘s Andy Hull provides some sincerity to the apocalyptic narrative, joining McIlrath in its towering chorus.
Despite this formulaic approach, Rise Against have always possessed lyrical grit that elevates their sound beyond mere stadium-rock posturing. ‘Forty Days” twanging guitars erupt with fire as McIlrath sings of surviving the lean times. ‘State of Emergency’ ruminates on how the media and society weigh us down with the feeling of uncertainty. Aided by “woah”s and large drums, it firmly fits in Rise Against‘s canon of anthemic protest songs. The tone changes on ‘Gold Long Gone’. With its plucky acoustics and brooding electrics, it’s allowed to be a well-paced and reflective number. While ‘Soldier’ is a rousing late highlight, playing off a rising melody, before ‘Prizefighter’ is one final fiery thought-provoking blast. Here, McIlrath wrestles with the notion of how art is owned by the creator, and not the audience.
Admittedly, ‘Ricochet’ isn’t going to win over many new fans, and rarely expands from what we’ve come to expect from Rise Against. As a unit, they’re an assured collective. Throughout, McIlrath’s vocals are impressive and are backed by a fierce, urgent sound packed with lyrical intensity. They navigate themes of false promises, mental health, and other pressing socio-political concerns with optimism. When paired with the album’s big hooks, ‘Ricochet’ achieves its aim in being a reliable and relatable rallying call. While the band’s commitment to their political messaging remains unwavering, the album succeeds primarily as a competent execution of their established template, rather than a bold creative statement. For existing fans, that may well be enough.
‘Ricochet’ by Rise Against is released on August 15th on Loma Vista Recordings
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