Face to Face / Rise Against

Face to Face / Rise Against: Split [7-inch]Split [7-inch] (2011)
Folsom

Reviewer Rating: 3

User Rating:

Contributed by: JeloneJelone
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on May 27th 2011Welcome to facetofacenews.org, your source for all things Face to Face, from pop-punk to pompadours. The California quartet has been on a heck of a comeback in 2011, with an amazing new tour and a solid new album. Further sweetening the deal is a split with Rise Against in which the two bands cover .

Welcome to facetofacenews.org, your source for all things Face to Face, from pop-punk to pompadours. The California quartet has been on a heck of a comeback in 2011, with an amazing new tour and a solid new album. Further sweetening the deal is a split with Rise Against in which the two bands cover each other. While the seven-inch is a little uneven, it's still a fun listen. Like the Bouncing Souls/Hot Water Music split from earlier this year, it's a neat release for fans of both veteran groups.

Face to Face's take on "The Good Left Undone", from 2006's The Sufferer & the Witness, is straightforward, almost to the point of redundancy. But it has two things going for it: Trever Keith's voice and a slightly quicker tempo. It's in keeping with the band's other covers, in that it's a solid, faithful job and a catchy tune to boot.

The same cannot be said for Rise Against's take on "Blind", from Face to Face. One of Face to Face's strengths is uncomplicated songwriting. Keith finds a melody, the band adds some catchy chords and then they rock it out. Rise Against takes a bells 'n' whistles approach to "Blind", and it just sounds inferior. Everything from the acoustic intro/outro to the added breakdown distracts from what was originally a simple, fun pop-punk song. Put another way, now that I'm done reviewing this split, I will probably never listen to the Rise Against side again.

Still, this split is part of the celebration of Face to Face's return, and it's a good curio for fans. Just don't spend too much time on the Rise Against side.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

ogichiichigo (October 6, 2011)

I felt completely opposite of the reviewer. I felt like there was a ton of effort into the Rise Against song, it was beautifully made and just sounded amazing, especially with the acoustic intro. Whereas I felt the Face to Face song was just not as good, they didn't really make it there own, it just sounded like similar soundtrack with different vocals. It wasn't bad, but compared to the Rise Against song on the Split, it's nowhere near as good. Rise Against really made Blind their own.

Baxter (June 3, 2011)

This review was pretty bias. Rise Againsts side was nowhere near as bad as you put it out to be.

lostcausegiveup (May 30, 2011)

I really like both of these covers. i agree that there should have been more songs though. How many did the nofx/rancid split have? or the alkaline trio/one man army split? i own both, but can't be bothered to look it up. a lot more, though.

wyzo (May 30, 2011)

I had some low expectations and pleasant thoughts going into face to face's new one, hell, I bought trevor keiths solo record and enjoyed it, but its just a dud for me. I listened to it half-attentively once and then got rid of it. It reminds me of the bizarre phoned in 'how to ruin everything'. I mean, at what point did the band try to go 'back to basics' in the worst, non-melodically possible way while adopting bad tattoo thematics.

If you disliked how to ruin everything, you'll dislike this one, as I did.

Or as Peter Griffin would put it 'it insists upon itself'. It's insisting.

But, alas, no harm done. It's just rock and roll.

Baronvonfuckyoustien (May 29, 2011)

The only thing that really sucks about this split is that it only had two songs. I remember back in 02, the Bouncing Souls and AntiFlag did seven songs each. It was a big deal ten years ago to release a split, it felt like a party held by two bands. They cover each other, their respective influences, and give us some sweet B-sides. Now two covers for 7 bucks....

kylewagoner (May 28, 2011)

I personally enjoy Rise Against's cover. And I also thoroughly enjoy Face to Face's cover.

billjaded (May 28, 2011)

Check out a new interview with Face to Face here:

http://www.jadedinchicago.com/2011/05/face-to-face/#more -1688

icapped2pac (May 28, 2011)

I haven't gotten it yet, but did get a shipping notification a couple days ago.

laserguidedbygod (May 28, 2011)

Modern Rise Against fucks everything up for everyone. Shocker of the century.

jackcramp (May 28, 2011)

I just got an email from Paypal saying it shipped. Fingers crossed.

flowerfeeder (May 27, 2011)

Did anybody get this in the mail yet?

I haven't.