On The Rise
Burning Inside (2003)
Jim
I was looking through the review archives and I was shocked to realize that no one has reviewed Snow's classic LP which featured brilliant tracks like Informer and Girl I Been Hurt. But I don't have that album, so I guess I'll just review this one instead. On The Rise is a hardcore band out of New York City. Before you make any assumptions, they don't play tough guy hardcore, they don't sound like Sick of it All, and they don't play metal. Don't worry, I made these assumptions too, until I popped this into my CD player, then I was simply blown away.
In place of what I was expecting, I was treated to a brilliant dose of melodic hardcore. On The Rise's sound could be described as a mix of Gorilla Biscuits, Warzone, and later day Bold. It's almost impossible to listen to this without singing or shouting along, and the guitar playing is sure to cause some impromptu air guitar solos. The songs are fast, and above all else energetic, never is there a moment where this album drags. On The Rise also steers clear of a common pitfall, they make sure that they have their own sound. While there are obvious nods to the past, they aren't playing someone else's songs, the words and music are their own. The song So Slowly Fade has been stuck in my head since the first time I heard it, and I couldn't even tell you how many times I've gone back and listened to it. The first time I listened to this album I had a hardcore moving on to the next track, it's that good. While that song is easily my favorite, I don't skip any tracks when listening to this, that's a rarity for me, especially when I haven't had an album for very long.
Members of this band have appeared in Agnostic Front, but this has always been their top priority, this is their first real outing, so expect them to only get better in the future. This album is everything I like about hardcore: sincere, passionate, fast, intelligent, and catchy without all the things all the things that annoy me. I can't really ask for a whole lot more from a band. I'd recommend this to anyone who likes hardcore at all, I'm not trying to call On The Rise the savior of this genre or anything like that, but this is certainly a nice change of pace.