Rise Against “Ricochet” Album Review
Rise Against’s Ricochet has perhaps arrived at the most crucial time. For over a quarter century the Chicago punk quartet have remained a rebellious stronghold in pop culture, and with nine studio albums to their name, it seems they’re on track to keep it up. When band members Tim McIlrath (lead vocals/guitar), Joe Principe (bass/vocals), Zach Blair (guitar/vocals) and Brandon Barnes (drums) relinked after their 2021 Nowhere Generation tour, they all realised they’d had the same feeling.
McIlrath speaks of a collectiveness throughout Ricochet and says “we’re all - whether we like it or not - stuck in the same room… everything you do is going to affect somebody”.
There’s certainly an essence of that throughout this album, where questions are put to the listener by frontman and rhythm guitarist Tim McIlrath with a potency that penetrates the psyche and demands an answer.
On the punky opener, Nod, McIlrath yearns for answers in the verse – “Tell me where does the time really go / tell me what is this moment we’re all waiting for?” – There’s an urgency in his vocals here, which still holds its own in the mix above the head-banging guitars and thrumming bass. Hailed as a “particularly potent rallying cry for the moment” by Rolling Stone Magazine, Nod sees midtempo verses jump-started into uptempo choruses, courtesy of drummer Brandon Barnes’s explosive rhythmic switch ups the band has been known to draw upon.
Even when the tempo is slower and less intense, the sense of urgency remains. On the album’s more rock-adjacent tracks such as I Want It All, thrumming bass lines act more like a bed for McIlrath’s vocals to soar atop of rather than an engine that propels the song forward. Barnes’s drumming constantly excites with huge, Weezer-esque stop-start hits in the chorus, while displaced back beats offer an interesting counterpoint to the steady sixteenth note drive in the verses. Two cuts into the record, and it becomes apparent Rise Against haven’t lost their songwriting expertise.
On the titular song Ricochet, the visceral vocal performance gives way to something slightly more controlled and dynamic. A cavernous chorus with a power pop inspired melody evokes this sense that we’re part of some bigger, all-encompassing machine. Here, McIlrath looks to those around him, begging they “don’t turn away” to the self-subsuming distraction offered by the entertainment devices we call mobile phones.
We get a glimpse of the dystopic world to come on the colossal Black Crown, where a galvanising screech of feedback explodes into a beefy instrumental passage. But, hints of reverb sunken lead guitars wail atop the gritty, distorted mids which then shift to the forefront in the verses. “Nothing more than I can handle, nothing more than I can take… I’ve rejected all my loved ones…” – McIlrath tenderly sings aside atmospheric guitar harmonics and a meaty bass line, his vocals infused with an acceptance of what’s to come.
But the fight isn’t over yet. Ricochet’s seventh cut, Sink Like A Stone, draws upon that characteristic fighting strength that courses through the veins of Rise Against’s discography. It blasts into action with an upbeat instrumental passage that sees razor-edged lead guitars guided by a pumping engine of bass, drums and rhythm. McIlrath warns us we’ll “sink like a stone if you don’t get up” during an anthemic, half-time chorus that feels like a warship heaving as it rises and falls against colossal ocean waves. The track offers us four bars of reprieve before a scintillating snare roll sends us launching again into the head banging opening section. These constant switch ups in tempo and dynamics keeps us on our toes and ready to jump into action at any moment – a sentiment certainly shared on the ninth track State of Emergency. “Don’t you feel like we’re constantly / in a state of emergency”, McIlrath yells alongside chanting backing vocals and an electrifying instrumental passage.
In a world where the social and economic decks are stacked against the youth, Rise Against continue to create thoughtful yet galvanising bangers.
Photo Credit: Mynxii White