Published in Big Cheese Magazine June 2013 issue
RISE AGAINST
RPM10
(Fat Wreck Chords)
2003
Come November, Rise Against will be commanding an audience of nearly 10, 000 punters as they take up the prestigious headlining slot for the UK leg of Warped Tour. And as the old saying goes, what a difference a decade makes. Recorded in a roach infested room above an antiques store in Colarado, Revolutions Per Minute became the perfect soundtrack for a post-9/11 world. The lyrical output and unique vocal delivery of Tim McIlrath were key ingredients in the band’s success, and the reason they found themselves on a major label shortly after its release. Some of their subsequent records have been equally well received (The Sufferer And The Witness), but tracks such as ‘Like An Angel’, ‘Dead Ringer’ and ‘Broken English’ are moments that truly define punk rock in the twenty first century, bringing both melody and intellect to the table. The band certainly played a predominant role in shaping heavy music at a time when AFI were making the leap to the overground and post-hardcore acts such as Alexisonfire and Thursday were ratcheting up similar levels of aggro. In 2013, it’s easy to see the influence they wielded as so many bands followed their template, trying their hardest to put their own spin on the Rise Against sound. There’s a burning desire from many fans for the band to give the record the full playback treatment in November. Cross those fingers hard for the time being.
