This is not my favorite Rise Against album. The riffs, the breakdowns, the transitions, the drum beats, the pacing… basically everything has been slowed down, softened and taken down several notches from their already declining energy levels. I know bands like Rise Against can’t sustain that same level of angst and venom they start out with, but I was hoping we would get at least 2 more albums before they went full pop.
Okay, maybe calling The Black Market full pop is a a bit harsh, but this is definitely their most poppy album to date. Songs like “Tragedy + Time”, “Black Market” and “Methadone” are easily their most radio-friendly and radio-ready songs up to this point (outside of their acoustic stuff). The grit, grime and gore of yesteryears has been cleaned up, neatly placed in red bio-hazard bags and removed from these songs. Actually, with the exception of a few well placed guitar riffs and growls that play like echoes from Revolutions Per Minute, The Unravelling and Siren Song of the Counter Culture, this whole album feels rather sterile.
One of the things I loved so much about Rise Against’s previous albums was Tim McIlrath’s scorching vocals that seamlessly mixed gritty hardcore punk growling with soft, almost lilting, melodies that added their own layers and textures to song. I don’t know what happened, but he sounds softer, more melodic and less urgent than on previous records and I miss that.
Musically it just all seems to be a little… mushy. I don’t have a better way to put it. It’s like that furious edge of theirs has become dented and dulled with age. The songs have a happy-go-lucky feel to them that seems at odds with the name of the album and the often grim lyrics. Maybe I’m suffering from overly high expectations. With each release I’m hoping for a reinvented Siren Song Of The Counter-Culture, which is still among my abso-goddamn-loutely favorite albums of all time, and I guess I just need to accept that it’s never going to happen.
The lyrics at least have stayed insightful and acidic with a heavy dose of introspection. Even though the execution of the songs has become more soft and friendly, the actual content of Tim’s writing remains as poignant as ever and he uses his pen like a sword to hack away at the bullshit and we deal with on a daily basis from special interest groups and bring to light societal issues and inequalities. This is one department I can find no fault at all in this album.
Now it wouldn’t be a true modern Rise Against album without some kind of soulful acoustic song (a tradition started on Siren) and in that one aspect this album doesn’t just deliver on, but completely and utterly over-delivers with “People Live Here”. This song is stellar on every single level and has been my go-to track on this album for the last week. It’s amazing.
I truly love this band and it’s more than a little heartbreaking to not get that visceral dose of “Fuck You” I’m accustomed to when I load up Rise Against. I want them to stir my inner rebel and kick up some of that youthful angst that slowly gets deflated from apathy and age. Though it’s not all bad news. In addition to “People Live Here” we get 2 great echoes to the Rise Against of mosh pits past, “The Eco-Terrorist In Me” is more like what I was hoping the whole record would be like, and would have been incredibly happy if it was. There is also, “Awake Too Long” which plays like an echo of that echo, with a dusting of that classic Rise Against I love so much.
So there you have it. A kinder gentler Rise Against that I can’t say I love, but can’t say I hate either. There are no real flaws, no what-the-shit-just-happened moments that made me cringe, and It has some positive to mix in with the not-so-positive. While it’s not the record I wanted, I’m still glad to hear something new from this amazing band.
Rating: 3 / 5