Rise Against unleash ‘The Violence’ and the Wolves upon us
The cryptic teasing and song sample worked well enough to get us hyped but the big delivery came this morning when Rise Against revealed their new album Wolves will be released June 9th and first single ‘The Violence‘ was released into the world.
Throughout their career Rise Against‘s punk rock attitude to stand up for they believe in and not bow down to the flawed system around us had proved to be quite successful for the four piece. Following in the footsteps of Rage Against The Machine and Anti-Flag before them, they’ve not only cemented themselves as an activist band, looking or change but the front runners for their own movements on acceptability for race, genre, sexuality and so on. You’ll never feel unsafe at a Rise Against show and their fans are as supportive as the band they follow and look up to.
Front-man Tim McIlrath went deep to explain what the band is hoping to achieve with this new record:
“In many ways, a Rise Against show is a safe space for our fans, But I realized that I don’t only want to create safe spaces, I want to create dangerous spaces where misogyny can’t exist, where xenophobia can’t exist. I want to create spaces where those sentiments don’t have any air, and they suffocate: where those ideas die. WOLVES isn’t about creating a safe space, it’s about creating a space that’s dangerous for injustice.”
But it doesn’t stop there…
“I think of WOLVES as an identity. An identity that, in the wake the current political climate, people are starting to find organically. Many of the places Rise Against plays around the world have seen gradual changes in the political climates. We have watched people slowly give intolerance, misguided fear, and eventually, hate a seat at the table.
Those of us who oppose and resist this rising tide of dangerous rhetoric are often characterized as complainers, crybabies, sore losers or ’snowflakes.’ These convenient and dismissive tags might be comforting for those who use them. But the reality is different. They may have the throne, but we are the wolves at the gate.
Our ideas have teeth. Our vision has claws. Our appetite for change is voracious. Our prey is outnumbered and we’re circling in for the kill.
So the music on this record is the soundtrack to this new hunt that we find ourselves on. Some of us are new to these ideas, some of us have been preparing for this fight our whole lives. Further, the issues are global, so this record isn’t just about our home and what is happening here. What is happening here in our country has either already happened in its own way in other places, or is in danger of happening elsewhere.
Like all Rise Against records, there are also songs on here that tackle not just the political, but the personal. Ideally, our songs aim to be as complex as our fans are.
So as we march unapologetically into 2017, we assume these new identities with our fan base and wear them like armor into the fight: We are the WOLVES.”
Rise Against – Wolves tracklisting
1. Wolves
2. House On Fire
3. The Violence
4. Welcome To The Breakdown
5. Far From Perfect
6. Bullshit
7. Politics of Love
8. Parts Per Million
9. Mourning in Amerika
10. How Many Walls
11. Miracle
Wolves is out June 9th via EMI Australia
Pre-Order Your Copy Here
