video review: 'wolves' by rise against

Hoping to like this a little more, but eh, it's still pretty solid all the same.

Next up, some country (if you can even call it that...), so stay tuned!

album review: 'wolves' by rise against

I'll admit I came to Rise Against late.

I mean, I knew their singles, I knew they had a few really strong early records before one of a few 'sell-out' moments, depending who you talk to. I remember there was discussion surrounding how much you could take their very earnest political material, especially when they tended to paint broad strokes, or how as years wore on and the band seemed to fade from relevance with the rest of rock radio. Most of this I only discovered years after the fact... and yeah, while I have no qualms bucking against popular consensus, this tended to be true, with their first two records holding up to this day and while I've always admired their pop sensibility, you can't deny that it did starting coming through on records like Siren Song Of The Counter Culture and especially by Appeal To Reason.

That said, when I covered The Black Market with Jon over at ARTV back in 2014, I actually really liked it, more than I expected. It was an older, slower, more weary-feeling record, but it used that time to refine the compositions and writing to cut more deeply, and I stand by it being underrated to this day. Hell, I put 'People Live Here' on my year-end list of the best songs of 2014, and if that song showcases what can happen when Rise Against focus their material, I had some hopes going into their record this year called Wolves. And obviously it was going to be touching on the election last year - they're a political band, that was happening regardless - but what caught more of my interest is that they had parted ways with long-time producers Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore, thanks to a move to a new label. On this album they were working with Nick Raskulinecz, who has been behind records from Mastodon, Deftones, Korn, and that Ghost record before Meliora that nobody cares about - so okay, what did this mean for Rise Against?

the top 50 best songs of 2014 (part i: 50-26) (VIDEO)

That's part one, now part two!

video review: 'the black market' by rise against (feat. AlbumReviewTV)

No written version of this review this time, because it's a collaboration with AlbumReviewTV on his channel! Jon and I really did have a great conversation about this album, which I thought was actually a pretty damn great step for the band towards pop punk and it really grabbed me in a good way.

Next up, I need to talk about Open Mike Eagle and Sadistik, and that Weird Al album is on the horizon. But I'll need to have those finished up before Friday, because I will be at the Hamilton Convention Center for ConBravo this Friday through to Sunday! Stop by to say hello if you're there - I'll be ambling in and out of panels, playing MtG, and drinking profusely, so I hope to see you there! But until then, stay tuned!