Review Summary: Rise Against have been damned. They have survived. The main question still looms, however – do they really want to be here anymore?
People change. As they move through the transitions of life, the things that they felt passion towards will eventually dissipate, and their heart will choose to gravitate to other causes. The same stances they had ten (maybe even five) years ago will not be the same stances they have now today, but after all, it’s only natural that this happens. Throughout their fifteen-year-long career, Rise Against have strayed from their hardcore punk roots so eloquently exemplified in their 2003 masterpiece
Revolutions Per Minute, developing a more mainstream rock sound that has earned them plenty of success while also drawing the ire of many who much preferred their original, rawer sound. There has even been a balance of the two extremes that fits right into the middle of the band’s timeline, a mix of the former’s edge and grit with the latter’s pop appeal that has been lauded for being a great display of the band’s overall strengths and talents.
Seven albums in, it appears as if Rise Against show no intent on reverting back to their punkier, more unrefined beginnings, and while that doesn’t necessarily directly correlate to lower quality material, there are certain weaknesses in the band’s songwriting that become more prevalent in their recent outputs. Like
Appeal to Reason and
Endgame, Tim McIlrath’s vocals are a far cry from his prime, lacking his trademark fire and energy that made him such a passionate singer in the first place. At times there’s no emotion and no heart in his voice, and as the band’s frontman, his energy is what leads the way. Without it, his vocals are just a hollow shell of what they used to be, and it definitely shows on
The Black Market – there’s a sense of tiredness and boredom that just drains the life out of the whole group. At his least impressive, Tim puts absolutely no effort into his performance, and it’s not that difficult to spot when that happens. “Awake Too Long” is perhaps the worst offender – combine the uninspired vocals with unmemorable hooks and one of the most boring songs that Rise Against have ever made is created.
When Tim’s voice does get a chance to shine though, the result is absolutely goddamn amazing. “The Eco-Terrorist in Me” is the album’s clear standout track, and it’s all thanks to the re-emergence of his glorious screams, filled with the passion and energy that Rise Against thrive on. Guitarist Zach Blair pulls together an impressive rhythm section in perhaps the best track the band has made since
The Sufferer & The Witness. Elsewhere in the album, Tim’s cries during the introduction of “Methadone” and his tearjerking performance on “People Live Here” are absolutely dripping with emotion, proving that Rise Against can pull out a great soft song just as they can heavy. Although the latter does draw a few comparisons to “Hero of War” due to its similar acoustic arrangement, it’s ten times more moving and powerful with its intimate aura and sweeping string section in the background. There’s so much passion in his voice on these tracks, and it’s hard not to be moved by the pain and struggle that he sings with.
Tim has stated in interviews recently that most of the lyrics on
The Black Market would focus more about personal struggle, self-awareness and catharsis. “Methadone” contains the absolutely brilliant line “We wound up back here again like unstable chemicals combining only to explode”, while “Bridges” uses poignant metaphors to depict the destruction of a relationship. Toning down the political factor for a change, Rise Against still manage to paint pictures with their lyrical content, whether it be a teary-eyed newly single male or the annihilation of a populated city via hurricane. The strong mental imagery is still there, even if the descriptors are a bit different this time around.
Even though Tim’s diminishing vocal quality is a large concern, another negative aspect of
The Black Market is the lack of memorable hooks in a majority of the album’s tracks. There’s a reason why “I Don’t Want to Be Here Anymore” was chosen as the record’s lead single – aside from it being a primal example of the same old Rise Against we all know and love, the song is one of few that actually
has a catchy chorus. Rarely on
The Black Market does the band manage to construct a truly infectious hook – even album highlight “A Beautiful Indifference” doesn’t shine because it’s instantly memorable. Without catchy hooks, there’s not much to remember about many of the songs on
The Black Market, even the ones that are musically impressive, and it certainly detracts from the listening experience. The only tracks that could be considered for future singles would be “Tragedy + Time”, “Methadone” or the moving, tempo-changing “Bridges” and “Zero Visibility”, as they end up coming on top as the most memorable after dozens of listens. While some songs do manage to stay strong even with a lazy hook, not all of them do, and those who don’t considerably suffer (no pun intended) from it. In interviews prior to the album’s release, Tim repeatedly declared that they were not aiming to create huge anthemic, sing-along choruses, prioritizing the constitution of a somber, emotional mood instead. While the latter facet does strike the right chords most of the time, it wouldn’t hurt if they did decide to integrate more of those classic RA hooks into the record.
For all it’s worth,
The Black Market may just be the best Rise Against album in eight years since
The Sufferer & The Witness. Although that may not be saying much, it’s duly noted that the pre-release rumors of a “return to heavy” were complete rubbish, and aside from “The Eco-Terrorist in Me”, the entirety of the record is just as mainstream as the two before it. In the end, that aspect turns out to be a double-edged sword, as the sheer emotion in the slower, poppier tracks resonate clearer through McIlrath’s strong, passionate vocals, containing just the right dose of pain and regret to move listeners. On the other hand, the lack of fire leads way to rather uninspired, bland singing performances and unmemorable hooks, which account for the majority of
The Black Market’s problems. While the album does explore multiple styles, from the pop-punk touches of “Tragedy + Time” to the hardcore-flavored “The Eco-Terrorist in Me”, the key to a profoundly excellent Rise Against album is not just the screams, the heaviness or the anger. It’s the energy and passion of four men who love punk rock and everything its subculture embodies, and although
The Black Market is a step forward from
Endgame (which itself was a step forward from
Appeal to Reason), there’s still loads missing from the overall frame of things. When Tim said “There is no song for everybody”, he was right. Each track caters to a different crowd of Rise Against fans, and some may find great love in a song that others dislike immensely.
The Black Market proves that despite their improvement, there’s still more work to be done in order for the band to fully recapture their prior glory.
