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Rise AgainstRise Against: Siren Song Of The Counter CultureSiren Song Of The Counter Culture (2004)Universal Music Group Reviewer Rating: 3.5 User Rating: Contributed by: CubarichoCubaricho (others by this writer | submit your own) Amidst speculation concerning their signing to a major and the leaving of guitarist Todd a lot was on the line with this album. Possibly one of the most commented on stories in Punknews.org history, Rise Against had explained their move from Fat Wreck Chords to Dreamworks. Could this spell disas.  
Amidst speculation concerning their signing to a major and the leaving of guitarist Todd a lot was on the line with this album. Possibly one of the most commented on stories in Punknews.org history, Rise Against had explained their move from Fat Wreck Chords to Dreamworks. Could this spell disaster for the band that had become a hardcore-punk staple? Then with the news of their guitarist leaving the band and being replaced with Reach The Sky's Chris Chase, the rumor mill was set ablaze with accusation of their sound changing, but no one really knew for sure. How would all of these changes change Rise Against, or would they not change at all? To put it bluntly, Siren Song Of The Counter Culture was shaping up to be a pivotal album for Rise Against. As much as I could, I tried to go into this album with an open mind. But after hearing "State of the Union" I was getting apprehensive. I went in expecting the worst. Upon first listen I gave it a five out of ten. The first three songs didn't do much for me; the album seemed to be riding in third gear until track four ("Paper Wings"). When this song came on, I knew it was the Rise Against I had been looking for. After kicking it into fifth gear they kept up the energy and power you've come to associate with Rise Against. Tim's voice has never sounded better and the few extra screams from Chase add a little flavor, especially in "To Them These Streets Belong." After that, the band takes us through "Blood To Bleed," and "Tip The Scales" (which in this reviewers humble opinion should be the single if there is to be one). The lyrics range from finding out where you came from and finding where you're going to revolution in the form of protests.
Tracks 9 and 11 we've heard before, the previously released "Give it All" and "Swing Life Away." Good songs, certainly, but I could've done with two more new songs in their place. Sandwiched between these two songs however is "Dancing For Rain" one of the gems of the record. With an acoustic intro and breakdown you can see where the extra recording budget went. After that, we come to the shining moment of this record. The brilliant "Rumors Of My Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated" could be (in my opinion) one of the best songs ever recorded. If there ever were a Siren Song for Rise Against, it would have to be this song. It shows despair but with hope on the horizon with lyrics like:           Please login or register to post comments.What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?
I'm a HUGE fan of Rise Against, but this is BY FAR my LEAST favorite of their albums... : Bought this in a best buy and I found myself in this album Bought this in a best buy and I found myself in this album I completely agree with his comment on Rumors of my Demise. The best song on this album. PERIOD. Rise Against is cool and all, but i was disappointed with this album. sorry. ... for how bad "Paper Wings" is. Fucking amazing. Just pure fucking amazing i love this cd i listenting to it constaily even if i had this cd for a year i still listen to it very good cd the first three songs kick major ass Alot of the same down here. I bought this cd not even knowing who Rise Against were, and after the first listen through, I knew why. BSD sucks a load of dick This is their worst album to date, which means that it is still better than 99% of the other shit out there. great album once it gets going "where the fuck will u hide Gotta love Rise Against, great CD, i love every song on it. Plus they did a cameo as Black Flag on Lords Of Dogtown so u gotta love that. God bless this album. I own and love all 3 but this one just makes me want to stand up and sing like a jackass. Fuckin rocks! If Rise Against was its own country, it would conquer the world in a matter of seconds!!!!! All hail 'state of the union'!! WOOT WOOT!! Jones the real bones just suck he dont know what he said if u dont love this band dont rate This is a ficking good album of hard punk.This is the best i ever heard. there some cool sing a long hits, but nearly to good produced for a Punk record. fuck universal! support indi labes!! definitly agree with this review. this album is good and totally solid, just not as good as reovlutions per minute. that is THE rise against album. Kicks ass! I just cannot stop listening the ''SIREN SONGS"! Rise Against is still awesome. The song Give it All is better than on Rock Against Bush, and the other songs, like Paper Wings, most certainly kick ass. great album, pick it up now. only $9.99 CDN, best $10 ive ever spent! At first i was pretty pissed about this cd because rise against has established themselves as one of my favorite newer bands with their previous two cds and i thought this one was gonna let me down what with all the changes and the accoustic track, but everytime i listen to it i like it a little more and now i think its a great cd. a few things i woulda changed; the re-recorded versions of give it all and swing life away, the original give it all was badass and i loved it, the second sucked, and if they had to have an accoustic song on the cd the old swing life away was better sounding, less backing vocals, and on a song like that you definately dont need tons of backing vocals. but they shoulda left it at the punk goes accoustic piece of shit and moved on with their lives i think RPM is better than SSOTCC. simply because RPM is way more dramatic and powerful. This CD kicks ass. I don't know if I like it better than RPM but its still good shit. Can't wait till the Bad religion tour. for future posts: Production is Poor? Ya right they switched to a MAJOR LABEL and the quality gets worse... keep telling yourself that. I think the quality is amazing compared to the The Unraveling and on par with RPM. Seems to me they concetrated more on vocals/lyrics in this release; which is definately their strong point so no I don't think it hurt at all. I've grown to like this cd as much if not more than RPM and believe me I was obsessed with that cd. My only worry is that they won't be able to perform these songs as well live as they did tracks off RPM, being the fact that this cd is obviously more produced being on a major. I don't think I'll ever be able to decide which was better, This or RPM? They're both amazing. I'm usually one to agree with the band when they progress their music through new albums rather than staying with the same sound every time. RA has been one of my favorites in the last couple of years, great sound, great messages, and a passion that really comes through on the albums. This is still an RA album, but it is a disappointment. hahah.. when has rise against ever been hardcore? i dont even know where the eff that came from. they may incorporate it a little into a few of their songs, but theres no reason to expect a full fledged hardcore album from them. anyways.. i was pretty impressed upon hearing this album for the first time.. although different, state of the union is a very awesome song. a life less frightening is one of my favorite songs on the album.. so beautiful. but yes.. i think the songs all flow really well, and they did a pretty good job. of course its not the same as revolutions per minute or the unraveling.. how could you expect that? well.. yeah. rise against owns you. one more quick thing that I wanted to comment on..... to my complete surprise, this album although on a major label, the quality of the songs doesn't sound anywhere near as clean or mastered as well as RPM, I like it because it also doesn't sound very pop, but at the same time.... the songs don't sound as clean and mastered as well as those on RPM, again, anyone agree or disagree and wanna discuss, IM me....... Brennanj22 I think this albums great! especially considering they're on a major label now. Look how bad AFI got when they signed to this label (just my opinion because I don't like their new style). It's good to see that Rise Against didn't make a dramatic change in their style like AFI. ice-cold is dead-on right. RISE AGAINST KICKS ASS!!! The last 3 tracks on this disc are fucking awesome. Its worth it just for these. Hands down. decent review, although I highly doubt you gave the album the time it deserved. Eventually this will be another classic RA album. People can deny it but this is the same Rise Against taking it a step further. EVERY song on here is good and that can be seen in all the random reviews where one guy will tell you Swing Life Away is the best song, next review will say they went soft and State of the Union is the only worthy song. That proves the depth of this album and how everyone seems to have their own personal favorite. Same goes for TU vs RPM, people always argue which is better. Enough just admit to yourself they both rock and same with this. I can HARDLY wait to see them play some of my favorites live: Life Less Frightening[how could this song not do it for the reviewer? one of RAs best songs as of yet], Blood to Bleed, Tip the Scales. The simply yet straight forward lyrics are like poetry, any more complex and they wouldn't be good to sing along with. I'm sure RA makes all their songs with live performances in mind, which I think A_LOT of bands need to take a note of. Now I just can't figure out why bands like sum41 and good charlotte get put on MTV representing "punk". It's a disgrace with bands like these around going unknown to mainsteam. They deserve the money even if for RPM alone. Metal is the shit. Classic Rock is the shit. Reggae is the shit. Ska is the shit. Hardcore is the shit. Punk Rock is the shit. Alternative hard rock and funk is the shit. Progressive-Psychadelic is the shit. Definitely a good album and worth the incredibly low price. (for a full length release by a single band) With the usual wide variety of topics in their lyrics ranging from personal relationships to scathing views on world politics, Siren Song adds new variety to Rise Against's volume of great songs. the only song I dislike is "state of the union", it sounds metalish to me.. I can't remember anything off TU or RPM sounding just like that.. I looked for this today in a couple places and couldn't find it. If this is cheap I'll probably get it anyway cause it's RA. "I'll just go back to listening to my New Found Glory CD... now thats some good punk." I just can't seem to take this record out of my stereo. I fuckin' love it. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!....What a fucking disapointment this cd was.....The first tunes kicks you in the ass and then it goes to shit......They even ruined the once cool acoustic tune Swing Life Away ..... Another solid RA release. I hadn't heard "Swing Life Away" before, that's an awesome song. After listening to this record a couple of times, I think that it is at least as good as their first two records, and that if it was released on fat wreck chords it would be getting better reviews. Tim's lyrics, unfortunately, have not shown any signs of improvement, but I don't question his emotion when he sings. Up with the kiling tree, that is all i have to say. They rule and have Tim from Rise Against on vocals. Dont know what i am talking? about find out...www.thekillilngtree.com I think this cd is better than their first two. This band has shown the natural maturation process that you would expect most bands to have(however with punk bands it's not usually that way). "as opposed to the cover of their last two albums which were just...wonderful..." does anybody find the second to last song oddly reminiscent of Elliot Smith? "who cares about how bad the music is what about the cover artwork who drew that shit weak all around" "After about 3 months on this site I've realized that "jones the bones" and "BSD" seem to think their musical tastes and knowledge are far superior to the rest of us "retards". " who cares about how bad the music is what about the cover artwork who drew that shit weak all around After about 3 months on this site I've realized that "jones the bones" and "BSD" seem to think their musical tastes and knowledge are far superior to the rest of us "retards". Uh... When did DBS break up? I didn't know 3 bands on major labels were so big in the elite hipster scene. Do you buy all your music at Best Buy? it's not catching me immediately like RPM did, but it is a very good album. I've listened to it twice now and more and more seems to satand out. I think this is a great album. Like most, I was a bit skeptical after hearing "State of the Union"; however, I was blown away when I listened to the entire album. I liked RPM, but it certainly wasn't The Unraveling. That was a classic. I think you can tell Tim's vocals sound much better on this album than the previous two. "Jones The Bones, You are by far, the most ignorant person on this site. Do us all a favour and quit posting! You're the epitome of a moron" This is a great album but i dont think it compares to Revolutions per minute tho and i know im not alone by saying that. Jones The Bones, You are by far, the most ignorant person on this site. Do us all a favour and quit posting! You're the epitome of a moron Merriam Webster search for Genious. i think this album blows both of their other ones out of the water....just my opinion. its awesome i think. much more develped than the first 2 i dont think anyone knows what hardcore is. hardcore is gay as a music style/name "This score is for your misspelling of "genius", genius." I just wanna say that people who don't think this is hardcore don't know what hardcore is...they're the fucks that think hardcore came from metal. "When do punk bands ever release the most energetic song on their record as The Single? It's always the most boring (and often, to the band's actual fans, the worst) track" agreed who cares about their choice of single. this shit wont hit the radio.; "I must agree #7 should be the single because to me it has the most energy." This album is amazing. Just listen to Paper Wings (track 4). So many of you guys are complaining but I'm sure not even half of you guys reviewing this have even listened to this album. They didn't tone this down at all. Take a listen to the first track and then tell me they've toned down. It's as if most of you guys like any sort of change at all and when anything comes out you have to bitch about it. Stop complaining and listen to their first album then if you don't like their new stuff. Siren Songs is like a continuation of RPM in my opinion. It's not a drastic change and it's not as good as RPM but it rocks hard. This band is the mest melodic hardcore hands down along with Strike Anywhere and Good Riddance. For you guys still bitching, get a life seriously. Nothing makes you happy. Haha, dazed, you suck... you only heard ONE song and rated the entire album after that. Fucking pathetic. I love these comments about "Rise Against isn't hardcore so I give them a 2". You people are the most ignorant, self-centered, embarassments. You make music less enjoyable because you want the music you listen to to be bad before you even hear it. It's fuckin pathetic, seriously, grow up and LISTEN instead of trying to hear only what you want to. From the songs I'ver heard (almost all) I think it is a good album, but not much more. RPM and esp. the Unraveling were better, imo. I dont know, some of the songs sound not too different from the songs on RPM, i was expecting otherwise. They really need to write more songs with a 'hardcore' edge like the first song on this album, and like they've done in the past. You can debate all you want whether or not they are a 'hardcore' band, or have hardcore roots or whatever, but I like the faster songs they used to write with the good ol' scream from Tim. I still like this band, I guess I was expecting more. I am in shock to see so many people here bitching about this record. I hate to say this, but some of you are far too pathetically involved in your little personal worlds of music politics. I decided to listen to a random song on Purevolume and picked "To Them These Streets Belong" cause the clunky title caught my eye. I have no problem with this album, as a matter of fact I find it awesome. To me it's as good as RPM, maybe even better. It grows on you. lets see here... how can i put this??? This album is horrible, and the new guitarist needs to be shot. Tim's lyrics went way fuckin downhill, its not hardcore at all. This ain't fuckin' SR71, guitar-dude, so stop playing the lamest punk guitar ever recorded and fucking rock. This band needs a new guitarist, and he will be #4!!! The first song is the only good one. This shit stinks. Dammit, I still love this band but fucking COME ON! These guys look like St. Vitus. Sad thing is, St. Vitus rocks a billion times harder. I thought it was medicore from the first play through. The CD doesn't do much for you after the first time through, it just gets boring, sounds like a bunch of new AFI overproduced bullshit. I got pissed off and listened to all three albums for the last few hours at work. There is a difference between playing "hardcore" and "being a hardcore band". "Show me where they call themeselves "hardcore", because most bands don't like to label themselves. " Bring back 88 Fingers! They had an actual sense of humor and knew how to write fun songs! DBS are amazing what i love aboust rise against is that you cant put a lable on them. Thier niether emo, hardcore or punk . their kind of a mix of all three. good shit. if you listen to the cd more than just once, you'll give the same marks on the albumn as i did DBS are a good modern band, but have NOTHING on the Buzzcocks or the Dolls. you guys are bashing DBS? HAHAHAHAHAH The beginning of Paper Wings is Reach the Sky's Sadness Alone. What a shitty band to rip off "People on this site BASH every new album that comes out... is nothing good enough for you people? People on this site BASH every new album that comes out... is nothing good enough for you people? tim: stop trying to look and sound like jesus el savior. The PETA sticker from the inside of this CD is going right on my synthetic wood sk8 deck! sick, brah! i like this band, but the only song so far i have liked is #1, and i always thought "give it all" was a pretty shitty song. dude, and they're straight edge. hate edge! rape fest? to the guy who asked Why do i feel like the only person who thinks "The Unraveling" is better than "Revolutions Per Minute" i've heard this band and i honestly don't see why everyone loves them. and i'm not trying to be a prick w/ that comment either. i just don't get it. maybe i'm getting old... Not as good as there older stuff. The production is shit (not over-produced, shitty production) Its way too loud. Also, not enough music on here imo. I still love the guys and will catch them in a couple weeks when they play here, but overall the album is a slight dissapointment. the biggest disappointment of the year. yeah its obvious the first song is there to show everyone that they didn't sell out to be on dreamworks and that they are still a hardcore band. the rest of the songs are boring and lackluster just like the new guitar players stage presence. tim's voice is still good though, so this gets a 2. or and i wonder why geffen hasnt done any promotion for this record? i doubt fat would have ignored them like geffen is Why do i feel like the only person who thinks "The Unraveling" is better than "Revolutions Per Minute"? i like everything else they've done so il probably like this when i get around to hearing it. It doesn't hold up to repeated listening. i think this cd is as good as The Unraveling, and quite a bit better than RPM. Life Less Frightening and Dancing For Rain kick the most ass so far. "I'd also go out on a limb and say that structurally, Kid Dynamite's music was more complex than Lifetime. Though Paint it Black is kinda a "back to basics" scenario that defies my logic. " "steve jones. i know that you are not an anal virgin, because last night i gave it to you HARD." i will honestly say that I prefer this album to RPM and The Unraveling. begin the hate... I listen to this cd and i hear .. lets be afi .. or lets be strung out... or actually lets put in an emo twist... the music isnt bad, but they dont have a focus and it makes the cd sound confused. this album is kinda weird. granted, i don't think it equalled either the raw intensity that "the unraveling" showcased so well, nor the emotion that "revolutions per minute" did. however, they evolved into a more mature sound on this album. Shouldn't the first word be "amid" and not "amidst"? I stopped reading at that point. Rise against is one of the hardest rocking passionate punk bands out there.... I think this cd is a perfect mix of "the unravelling" and "revolutions per minute".... The review did not do this great cd any justice..... Fuck anyone who disagrees Show me where they call themeselves "hardcore", because most bands don't like to label themselves. "You my friend, are an idiot. You my friend, are an idiot. After being a Rise Against fan since they played the Fireside in Chicago, I don't think I can truly express how I feel about this album. Paper Wings is an aweful song, it sounds like lyricaly they gave up, and the guitar, well Coheed and Cambria called, they want their generic pop-punk riff back. I mean I remember them covering Betray by Minor Threat, and lets face it, very little of this album carries on in the tradition of Minor Threat. This is not a hardcore album, this is Rise Against toning down in hopes of making a little money. I knew this was coming too, I saw it when they took The Art of Losing out of the live show and put in Like the Angel. It's still better than most of the absolute shit that is out there, including the whole of indie, but god. The Unraveling looks like it should have been their third release, and this their first/ I want to, but I'm still deciding becausethe openers are lousy. I agree sickboi, paper wings is good shite, are you going to face to face at 9:30 on tues? -oldpunker- Too produced, too poppy. Songs start off sounding good, then quickly erode into college rock crap. I'm with oldpunker, this shit rips. steve jones. i know that you are not an anal virgin, because last night i gave it to you HARD. Did anybody also get this for a ridiculously low price like I did? ($9.99 CDN) Great CD considering what it could have been being on a major. I picked this up after work yesterday, brilliant work, the sincerity and passion that has become synonomous with ra is loud and clear in the music and lyrics. I never thought they could top rpm...... They just did-oldpunker- "stevejonestherealbones, please shut da fuck up or im gonna fuck your mom up the ass and bite off your dads nipples." im fairly disappointed. Overproduction is not glossy guitars, or nicely harmonized vocals, that is a production CHOICE, so I have no problem with the major label budget on this. this band lost all the energy they ever had 2000 years ago. first song is almost decent, until you realize that it was an attempt to make their major release sound not as pathetically weak as it actually is. did they really think we'd skip the rest of this weak sauce cd? this band should lose all of its members and replace them with chicks on the rag combing each others' hair; at least the chicks could kick this bands ass in a fight. Oh wait I meant this score to be posted for Shout At the Devil by the Crue. Oh Rise Against, their cool also. I enjoy the album, but I miss the relentless act of the guitar i was used to hearing from them. And I do have to say it has been an interesting shift from Rise Against being known as ex-88 Fingers Louie by a bunch of Chicago punks who missed 88 Fingers to being a headling band of Warped Tour and 88 Fingers Louie are now known as members of Rise against haven't listened to it that many times, but it seems really good. i dont like the guitar on "paper wings" Did anybody also get this for a ridiculously low price like I did? ($9.99 CDN) Great CD considering what it could have been being on a major. Rise Against supporting Bad Religion?!?! You gotta be kidding. this album is good Upon first listen of RPM I didnt really enjoy it all that much, but it grew on me with every listen. I imagine this album will do the same. Although I was hoping for some heavier, more prominent bass lines from Joe. Still I think it will grow to be a cd that satisfies the majority of you listeners. stevejonestherealbones, please shut da fuck up or im gonna fuck your mom up the ass and bite off your dads nipples. "This CD gets worse as it goes along! The best song is track #1! AFter that, the pussy whiny singing vocals take over and the cool screaming is gone! i have a bunch of rise against on my comp but never wanted to really buy an album...is this one worth getting for a first timer. a virgin (except not an anal virgin cause alot of the people here think i fuck dudes in the ass). but seriously, is this a good enough album to pic up as my first. is any of this shit gettin radio play? really love this album. is it revolutions per minute? perhaps not. but there are some amazing, amazing breakdowns (the sort of staple of rise against) and some very talented songwriting. the music seems perhaps the step backward for signing to a major and losing todd... but i think they'll progress. I had a hard time trying to find this. Pretty good for a major label release. By the way, didn't this CD switch over to Geffen since they bought out Dreamworks? Pretty good album.. I think RPM is still better than this, but I'm sure i'll warm up to it a little more after a couple more listens. forgot to change the score ... dammit i love this album, not their best but still amazing sound coming from these guys. I think it was a HUGE mistake for Rise Against to go to Dreamworks because as far as I've seen they haven't done jack shit to hype up and promote this release. Seriously I haven't seen that much promotion for this CD except on the internet. This CD gets worse as it goes along! The best song is track #1! AFter that, the pussy whiny singing vocals take over and the cool screaming is gone! meh Sandwich time. The production on Track 1 is pretty thick/ugly. How many more times can one stand to hear that chord progression to boot? This is nothing new, I took a stance in terms of them signing to major label declaring that I felt it was a good move for their career. Putting out repetitive done to death music ain't exactly what I was talking about unfortunately. I consider "Revolutions Per Minute" light years ahead of this The brilliant "Rumors Of My Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated" could be (in my opinion) one of the best songs ever recorded. "I saved a nested version of "Punknews_org Rise Against Signs To Dreamworks.htm" and it was 420 kb." I saved a nested version of "Punknews_org Rise Against Signs To Dreamworks.htm" and it was 420 kb. what a terrible review for a great album... honetsly if you like The Unraveling/RPM/The Killing Tree you will like this just as much if not more. HOW COULD YOU NOT COMMENT ON LIFE LESS FRIGHTNENING. That's an amazing song not the mention the lyrics: "Truth be told I've settled for a life less frightening." I must agree #7 should be the single because to me it has the most energy. I CAN NOT WAIT to see them play these new songs live. Rise Against is one of the few bands that hasn't had their sound watered down by a major label...this was an awesome cd. Poppier and lighter sounding than RPM, solid CD except for about 3 songs. State of The Union is dope, fuck emo. Also the previously released songs "Swing Life Away" and "Give it All" were different versions. This Version of Give it All is wayyy better. Swing life away is not as good as the original version. Fuck indie rock and emo and pop punk. So what if its got a few bad songs, its better than most crap out there. I listened to this earlier today, on PureVolume. It was merely okay, and sufficied as good background music to my boredom. But I wouldn't spend money on it. I still prefer The Unraveling. "i hate this band!" This is one of the best albums of the year and it demonstrates how talented Rise Against really is. They've embarked on some new sounds, but never broke too far away from their original sound. The first time I listened to it, I thought it was just average, but after listening to it with a fresh mind, I was blown away by how melodic and well crafted every song is. Buy this album. It's rise against, not as good as the first record, but I like it as much as RPM! i hate this band! i love this band!! |
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