rise against

I was on a huge Rise Against bent for about 2 years which peaked when this self-titled 7" was released by Fat Wreck. I went trawling to find the most obscure tracks from radio broadcasts and Tim's old Baxter days. I picked up this record from Fat as soon as it was released and was lucky enough to score one of the 1010 red/white swirl copies. I later picked up one of the 4008 black copies from my favourite record store, Real Groovy in Wellington.

Rise Against is largely my gateway, as it was them and Story of the Year which got me kicked off into the melodic hardcore scene. Finally I'd found something light and fast, an obvious pop influence but still with a heavy socially responsible message. I managed to score Joe's pick after their last concert in Auckland too - stoked!

The two tracks on this 7" are the last remaining ones from the Appeal to Reason sessions and they're pretty solid. I don't think they come close to anything off The Sufferer and the Witness, but seeing as that's my favourite RA album, they'd be doing well to get close to that.

If you're into a relatively polished melodic hardcore sound I recommend you pick this up. I think Fat still has some black presses in stock, but the red/white swirl presses are floating around ebay every so often and won't break the bank.