Out: August 15
Loma Vista Recordings
Words by: dothefknreview
Let’s not piss about, Rise Against’s new album Ricochet is a boot to the teeth of apathy, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Four years after Nowhere Generation, the Chicago legends have come back swinging with twelve blistering tracks that take aim at the chaos of our cooked-up world and actually have the balls to ask ‘What the fuck are we doing, and who’s benefiting from all this carnage?’.
Singer Tim McIlrath reckons Ricochet is about interconnection – how every dumb decision, every tweet, every turd of policy from the pricks in charge bounces off someone and hits someone else in the head. It’s the butterfly effect, but with boots, bombs and burnout. And yeah, it is a bit existential, but thank Christ it rips.
Produced by the sonic wizard Catherine Marks (Boygenius, Foals) and mixed by Alan bloody Moulder (NIN, QOTSA, Paramore), this record sounds massive; like the band’s playing on top of a collapsing building while the rest of the world scrolls TikTok. Rise Against haven’t sounded this fired up since The Sufferer & The Witness, and let’s be honest – we needed it. The vibes globally? Shithouse. But this? This is catharsis.
Lead single I Want It All is a throat-grabbing punk rock missile, bursting with defiance. It’s anthemic as fuck, and a red-hot reminder that self-determination isn’t a dirty word, no matter how much late stage capitalism tries to gaslight you into thinking otherwise. Then there’s Nod, already called the ‘anthem we need right now’ by VICE – and Prizefighter, which clocks the knife-edge balance between creating something meaningful and keeping your head above water in the brain-melting hellscape that is modern life.
But it’s not all raised fists and slogans, Rise Against dive deep into real vulnerability here. Sink Like A Stone and Black Crown hit with emotional weight, dragging listeners through grief, resilience, and the cost of giving a damn. State of Emergency feels like it was written mid-doomscroll, but instead of spiralling, it burns with clarity and rage. And that’s the heart of Ricochet – this isn’t punk for Instagram. It’s not rebellion for clout. It’s music with teeth, a raw nerve strummed and screamed for everyone who still gives a shit.
There’s also something undeniably communal about this record. You can feel the band urging people to wake the fuck up. Not out of cynicism, but hope, the real kind, the kind that’s dirty and hard-won and worth bleeding for. Us Against The World and Forty Days especially lean into that collective spirit without ever sounding corny. It’s the musical equivalent of linking arms at a protest while tear gas rains down and saying, ‘Fuck it, we’re still here’.
Look, Rise Against don’t miss. And Ricochet proves they’re still one of the only bands on the planet that can take heavy themes – injustice, burnout, connection, inequality, and funnel them into fist-pumping, heart-thumping, kick your desk over rock. This isn’t nostalgia. It’s survival.
An urgent, unflinching gut punch of a record. Crank it loud, scream along, and maybe, just maybe, do something about the bloody mess we’re in.
4.5/5
