A band as politically progressive as Rise Against were never going to take recent swerves further to the right in the US lying down, and the opening title track of their eighth album is a powerful call-to-arms that immediately places them at the peak of their ire: ‘We are the wolves at the gates, our number growing every day, but you can’t fight us all.’
Their strength is in their inclusivity – yes, they’re from a punk background, but this is melodic hardcore with killer choruses to stir the hardest of hearts, bursting with a positive energy that channels your adrenaline until passive listening becomes all but impossible.
If this is the end of the world, as they suggest in a furious Welcome To The Breakdown, at least we’re going down swinging.
