Rise Against are back with their seventh full length album, The Black Market, and to say it’s a safe release is somewhat of an understatement. It’s not a bad album, but there’s nothing new or exciting – it just sounds exactly the same as what they’ve been doing for the entire duration of their career.
The Black Market isn’t a bad album per se, but it’s hugely difficult to connect with because the songs all sound like carbon copies of their older material. Whilst it could be said that Rise Against have found a formula that works and are running with it, it’s disappointing that they don’t want to try anything new because it gets so boring when a band release the same thing year in year out with no surprises – it’s like they’ve made no effort and have put no work into making it an album to remember.
The Eco-Terrorist In Me is like the 2014 edition of State Of The Union, People Live Here is like an amalgamation of Swing Life Away and Hero Of War. The list goes on – you can draw comparisons to all the songs, which is disappointing to say the least.
Ordinarily, I’d say that if you’re a Rise Against fan, you’ll love this – but I’m a Rise Against fan and by this point, I’m just bored. Save your money and listen to The Sufferer & The Witness instead.
4/10
