Rise Against - Ricochet (Album Review)

Rise Against - Ricochet 
‍Released: August 14, 2025 

Lineup 

Tim McIlrath // Vocals & Guitar 
Joe Principe // Bass & Backing Vocals 
Brandon Barnes // Drums 
Zach Blair // Guitar & Backing Vocals 

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When basic human compassion is tossed aside, and those in power begin to twist and abuse the trust of the people they swore to serve; we will Rise Against. 

Since the very late 90’s our Chicago based political punk Uncles have been fueling their frustrations from environmentalism, general injustice, war crimes and many more heavy handed subjects; and blended it so deeply within the bands DNA. They have continued to be the voices of reason while constantly spreading awareness for those in need for nearly 30 years; but when something that affects us all brings us down, Rise Against will be waiting. Sending support with a new album ready to get you out there and standing up for what you believe. 

Onto their TENTH album with no Endgame insight. There’s no need to look on The Black Market for this, we can listen through together. We aren’t the Nowhere Generation anymore. Prepare for the Ricochet. 

No intro’s, no ring outs, just straight to the point, cut the shit and get into the music; this is ‘Nod’. Rightfully introducing the new album as our first released single, 'Nod' is a strong tune to hype up Ricochet. Flourishing, crunchy, rhythmic guitars, ear-grabbing vocal melodies, gang vocal ready for the masses to join in. Classic, simplistic, high end leads fade into a calm bridge that loop around to one last sing along chorus; this is definitely still the Rise Against we grew up and are familiar with. Flipping towards the more rawer side of their catalogue; ‘I Want It All’ is dominant with old school rock style riff elements to mix up their punkish charm. While creating a destructive environment to let loose, ‘I Want It All’ sturdily maintains a chiller backbone keeping to its main riffs making it an easy listen; I can see why it was the third and last released single as its structure and formula are perfect for representing their current more modern sound. Title-track ‘Ricochet’ is a wild one from start to end, so hold on tight. Western acoustics lead the base rhythm by the hand, trembling with an echo of distortion. The build up is sly but sleek, instantly rumbling into a powerhouse chorus with energy so eruptive it self-sufficiently powers the entire rest of the song. ‘Ricochet’ as a stand alone is extremely abrasive and gripping in every aspect. Tight vocal harmonies, soul speaking lyrics, and “close your damn eyes and feel the music” instrumentals, completely mesmerizing and my personal favourite on this album.

Sweet muted picking leads, substantial amounts of reverb, and head banger chugs litter our next tune. Carrying the torch for our Black Market era; ‘Damage Is Done’ keeps the light, fiddly guitar leads gingerly in the spotlight, but not so upfront it becomes overwhelming with its repetitive nature. Other key parts that stand out are Tim McIlrath's nostalgic screams for some added dramatic flare during the bridge; which is always great to hear as they’ve shown less appearances over the years but still pop up over scattered tracks every now and again. ‘Us Against The World’ is your average neighbourhood Rise Against song, we’ve heard many like this come before; the main aim is to get you chanting, even though it would pull it off in a live setting, I don’t think it brings much excitement to the album itself. Climbing the excitement back up slowly ‘Black Crown’ is a straight forward trail blazer; regardless of an average to low speed bpm 'Black Crown' is constantly filling and pushing the flood gates to the point of bursting open, but why? Preparation for Andy Hull from Manchester Orchestra! Getting the honour to take over a Rise Against song happens rarely and was handled magnificently, the harmonies generate a formidable and dynamic choir of sound, restoring any hype previously lost. 

Funky bass, punchy guitar chords, string sliding and jammy octaves (especially), have been a mammoth staple in the punk quartets writing process, ‘Sink Like A Stone’ contains all your favourite Rise Against cliches wrapped up in anarchy gift-wrapping paper. Now the vibrancy and spirit have plucked up, let’s talk about ‘Forty Days’. I encourage and adore the deep country western twang/hard rock mix that’s zested throughout Ricochet and ‘Forty Days’ is a true soul capture of that essence; pure punch flowing through the songs structural veins with each pick and strum. Slow, subtle build-up on toms and light cymbal taps on the drums before a split second switch to a flood of guitar pull offs and smashing the hi-hat and snare, descending us to chaos for “Forty Days and Forty Nights”. NO! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! THIS IS A ‘State of Emergency’. Another anthemic banger, stadium ready to sing back all the ‘woohs’ and ‘oohs’ possible. More than just the music, ‘State of Emergency’ comes with an intense message to unite for the common good, not staying silent when something devastating occurs to others across the world; we can’t change much as one person, but together we are unstoppable, we can’t lose compassion or empathy, or we’ll lose our humanity as a whole. 

One thing I’m always on the look out for from the Rise Against camp is a new acoustic song. Like its popular predecessors ‘Swing Life Away’, ‘People Live Here’ & ‘Hero of War’ etc; ‘Gold Long Gone’ is another one for the books. Ambience, grace, hard truths, and pain, captured so delicately yet resilient with every string strike, piano scale and word sung, all feeling poured through from the speakers to the mind. Recycling what we just felt from the previous track, ‘Soldier’ seamlessly carrying on the vigour. Utilising low end chords and effortless, relaxed leads to fabricate a dreary environment, the stormy clouds boom loud enough to shatter your reality, waking up to the lies they’ve fed you with your so-called ‘best interests’ in mind, but they were only their own. ‘Soldier’ is about breaking free from that illusion and taking back control. Second single and album closer ‘Prizefighter’ brought a lot of eager anticipation for Ricochet earlier this year with its flexed alternative approach, avalanche triggering drums and dark overtones, after going through the whole record you can definitely hear Alan Moulder’s mixing in full force especially on this tune. ‘Prizefighter’ welcomed us to an instrumentally parallel side of Rise Against, not to the extreme but enough to be refreshing even for an outro song. 

Generally when a band gets to this many albums in their career, the listeners have little to no clue on what’s going to happen next. Rise Against have always maintained their place highly within the Punk-Rock universe keeping consistent and true to their original discography, only ever making slight changes along the way; and while this has always seemingly worked for them it’s nice to see their evolution growing brighter and hotter with every album. Ricochet as a whole is going to be colossal live as it was designed to have arena’s, stadiums and festivals, screaming louder than ever. The old hard rock style riffs with the accompaniment of western twangs really shone through making for some of the best hits on this LP, and the powerhouse of vocals that made bridges, transitions and extended choruses so much more influential and compelling.

As mightily constructed and refined as the tenth record might be, there were a few riffs and melodies on some tracks that sounded a little too familiar from previous albums which slowed things down a tad but that is bound to happen when you’ve been creating non-stop gold and platinum masterpieces for over 25 years. I have no doubt Ricochet will become another award winner to add to their trophy cabinet. You still got it boys.

Rating: 8/10 
‍Ricochet is out Friday, August 15 via Loma Vista Recordings. Pre-order/save here.
Review by Ed Atlas @YourFavouriteMerchGuy

Rise Against vinyl Comp Codeword: 'Soldier' - enter here