Rise Against, 'Appeal to Reason'

The buzz: Kid Rock, Nickelback, Seether...Rise Against? The Chicago agit-punk band might have scored this year’s most unlikely top 10 rock radio hit with “Re-education (Through Labor),” a pop-tinged slice of hardcore that takes its name from a system of political detention in China.
 
The verdict: Don’t like mixing your beliefs with your music? Don’t go here. While Rise Against isn’t as furious as Rage Against the Machine--nor as lyrically biting as, say, Green Day--the majority of “Appeal to Reason” features a super-serious, anti-war, anti-poverty message. What makes it work is the band’s knack for creating a perfect chorus; “The Dirt Whispered” and “From Heads Unworthy” have the right mix of melody and guitar kick to cross most political—and musical—boundaries. And “Audience of One” actually could be this year’s most Bic-lighter-in-the-air-worthy ballad. At its best, “Appeal to Reason” is the album you wish Bad Religion could still produce.
 
Did you know? Guitarist Zach Blair spent four years as a guitarist for costumed shock-rockers GWAR, under the moniker Flattus Maximus.

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