Rise Against – Endgame

Tim McIlrath and his band of punk rockers haven’t changed much on their 6^th album, “Endgame”, but ultimately come up short.  Every song on the album seems as if it has been done before and it’s actually quite easy to find a counterpart for each song on an earlier Rise Against album. 

Rise Against’s song formula has not been altered whatsoever so each song pretty much consists of fast, repetitive drums and aggressive guitar (with a pick slide every 5 seconds).

I’d recommend this album for long-time fans of the band that are looking for more of the same. Rise Against sticks to what they’re good at on “Endgame” which for some might be exactly what they’re looking for.  For me, there are only so many pick slides I can handle. 

Rating- 6/10

Recommended Songs- Architects, Help Is on the Way, Satellite 

Protest the Hero- Scurrilous

Toronto’s progressive-metal group, Protest the Hero has slowly been getting more and more popular since the release of their first album in 2005.  Their style is very technical, Protest is known for their guitarists, bassist and drummer’s pure skill along with their frequent and strange time-signature changes. 

There are few differences from the previous two albums on this one, noticeably the absence of lead vocalist Rody Walker’s screams.  He sticks to singing on “Scurrilous” but really goes all out and sounds fantastic.    

The band as a whole sounds great on the new album- both the instrumentation and lyricism are absolutely terrific. 

My only complaint is that, while the songs are all brilliantly well put together, a few of the tracks are a bit forgettable.  Progressive music often risks becoming generic and repetitive and they do a good job of avoiding that for the most part but there are still a few songs that could have been done without. Who knows, though, Protest the Hero songs have a way of growing on me.

Rating- 9/10

Recommended Songs- C’est La Vie, Hair-Trigger, Tandem, Dunsel

Panic! At the Disco- Vices & Virtues

Panic! At the Disco has completely reformatted since their questionable sophomore album, “Pretty. Odd.” They have returned to their roots on their 3^rd album, “Vices & Virtues”.  Almost the entire band left after the second album, leaving lead singer Brendon Urie and drummer Spencer Smith to create a baroque-pop sound more like that of their first album. 

The songs show off Panic!’s classic, catchy blend of synthesizers, string instruments and some instruments that are less often employed such as the marimba and xylophone. 

Vices & Virtues starts off very strong but slows down as the album reaches the halfway point.  The last few songs are nice but lack the memorability of the album’s first few songs. 

Rating- 7/10

Recommended Songs- The Ballad of Mona Lisa, Let’s Kill Tonight, Hurricane, Ready to Go

So tomorrow I’ll post a review of A Day to Remember’s concert last night with Bring Me the Horizon, We Came as Romans and Pierce the Veil.  After that I’ll start working on a review of Rise Against’s Endgame (I’ve given it a few listens through but i need a few more before I can really judge it).  THEN I’ll review Protest the Hero’s Scurrilous (which I need to listen to more as well but (spoiler alert) I like it more than Endgame…haha as if anyone cares about my opinion) 

:)

Quick preview-

Endgame sounds exactly like everything else that Rise Against has already released and every song on the album has a counterpart on an earlier album that’s better.  That’s not to say it’s bad, it’s just uninspired

Scurrilous is just straight up awesome.  Deal with it.  

oooo and then I need to get Vices & Virtues and review that.  

I’ve got my work cut out for me seeing as how I never see anything through.  Keep your fingers crossed that I actually end up reviewing anything at all.

Tons of albums coming out in the next few months, here are few I’ll try to post reviews of (along with a song that’s already been released from each of the upcoming albums):

Hollywood Undead’s New Album “American Tragedy”- Been to Hell

Rise Against’s New Album “Endgame”- Architects 

Protest the Hero’s New Album ”Scurrilous”- C’est La Vie

Foo Fighters’s New Album “Wasting Light”- Rope

Get excited

haha, remember when I was going to do one of these every day?  That fully didn’t happen.  

So, Flobots.  I don’t actually know this band that well but I find some of their stuff interesting. They’re a hip-hop group but they also use actual instruments (what a concept!) and have a fair amount of musical talent.  The group has the usual political views- ‘The government is evil, stop the war machine, blah blah blah’ but they communicate it in a nicely poetic way in this song:

Handlebars

This song is pretty cool also- there’s something undeniably awesome about the format:

Combat

My personal favorite song by Flobots is White Flag Warrior in which they got Tim McIlrath from Rise Against (great band, I should do a post about them) to help out with the bridge and the verse.  

Enjoy