Rise Against - Siren Song of the Counter Culture Album Review

How come punk bands are, 9 times out of 10, some ugly, nerdy-looking or dirty-looking crackas? Anyways, on with the review. This review will be considerably shorter and more "Bol-style" (nhjic) than my style.

1. State of the Union
If I had to make a comparison, it'd be to Anthrax. And considering that bands like Simple Plan sound more like the motherfuckin Backstreet Boys these days, that's a good thing.

2. First Drop
One thing you'll notice is good drumming, and some real good picked bass. Also the singer does singing and screaming equally as well. While the last one was near-metal, this one is more punk-ish.

3. Life Less Frightening
Unlike several emo bands, these dudes dont fuck around (nh) with all this pussy "lost love" bullshit. Seriously, emo sucks.

4. Paper Wings
Okay, I dont like this. This sounds like... motherfuckin Simple Plan except faster and with better musicians and a grittier singer. Skip.

5. Blood to Bleed
This is OK, but not exactly my shit. This one is more of a personal than a political song, and it tends to blend into the background a bit.

6. To Them These Streets Belong
See...this is what punk-rock is supposed to be about. Not for the timid. Not self-indulgent or whiny. It is brash, it is frequently political and it is hardcore-influenced. Fuck all this Good Charlotte bullshit, no homo. This song isnt as good as others tho.

7. Tip the Scales
Fuck yeah. This is another song that embodies the punk genre not only musically but in attitude and subject matter and so on.

8. Anywhere But Here
This one's fast, but not particularly all that good. The starts-and-stops are nice tho. Nhjic.

9. Give It All
This has one of those anthemic choruses that I don't know whether to like (nh) or hate. The verses I like more, however. No homo.

10. Dancing for Rain
This is actually the first song I heard. It starts with acoustic guitars, pretty mellow...and then youre hit with hardcore punk-rock and it's like "fuck yeah!" A little history: the bassist used to be with 88 Fingers Louie. 88FL used to be with those Fat Wreck Chords people, and they were not too special, at least in my opinion. But I do like how he plays on this song, no homo.

11. Swing Life Away
When the fuck did this become John Mayer? I blame it on Kanye West. Oh, and Jay-Z.

12. Rumors of My Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
This is the longest (4:16) song, and this is middle tempo for punk music. The lyrics are good if lacking a general theme, and the bridge is done well. Overall, great closer.

Overall
Overall, this shit is good. It's not better than Revolutions Per Minute (great title, btw) but it is an album in which the good greatly outweighs the bad. It's alot of back-to-basics but also alot of expanding on it. In that way, it compares to, say, Nas's "Stillmatic." Are tall Israelis and quasi-homosexuals runnin this punk shit, btw? Cause I don't know how to make a joke about downloading the CD without that knowledge. Nhjic.

Overall Rating: 4 Stars out of 5

Also, my next review will be either Showbiz & A.G.'s "Runaway Slave" or Bloc Party's "Silent Alarm."