01) Architects - the second official single from the album, and it kinda reminds me of Behind Closed Doors, one of my favorite RA songs to date. It has that "in your face" intro, a fast verse, followed by a VERY smooth chorus.. and I think it's the flow of the chorus that reminds me of BCD. Basically, I'm trying to say Architects is an awesome song. The chorus is hot, and toward the end we are gifted with Tim's amazing lyrics for the bridge. It's so full of promise!
02) Help Is On The Way - the first single from the album. At first, I thought the song was AMAZING and I listened to it about 25 times the night it was released. Then, I realized it was most likely because it's the first new song in nearly three years, and I was excited. It's a good song, but nothing compared to the rest of the album. It has meaning, but no "RA spark" like most of the songs they come up with. I'm a little disappointed that it was a single, and the first single at that. Hopefully the third single will be something like "Satellite" or "Broken Mirrors" because they are amazing.. keep reading
03) Make It Stop (September's Children) - the "whoa-oo-oooo-oooooh" part is epic win! I originally heard the snippet and fell in love with that part of the song; it has amazing "audience involvement" chemistry. Unfortunately, the rest of the song does not hold up to the awesomeness. It was only average.. however, I was interested in finding the meaning behind the children's names listed in the bridge. Turns out, they were homosexuals that committed suicide last year. Interesting.
04) Disparity By Design - one of the more moderate songs for me. The chorus is nice, as most are, but the verses are boring, and I don't really like the guitar all that much, either. The bridge makes up for the verses (it's good).
05) Satellite - here we go, the money! I seriously HOPE this becomes a single. This song is.. AMAZING!! It's one of the best things I've heard since Behind Closed Doors. The verses are simple, awesome, and build toward the chorus that simply blows my mind away. The lyrics are so contagious! "that's why we won't back down, we won't run and hide, yeah.." it's so uptempo and crazy. The kick/snare combo during the second verse really get your head moving. But, that's not all! The bridge(s) ROCK! The Tim/guitar breakdown is cool, then it picks up a little for the rest of the bridge.. and then.. THE BREAKDOWN OF THE CHORUS!! This is the BEST PART of ANY song on this album! The snare solo, followed by the bassline, then some guitar assist, and finished with the full chorus.. this is art.
06) Midnight Hands - ..phew, now that that's outta my system, this is probably the most boring song on the album. When I listened to the album the first time, this was the only song that I was like, "meh." It's probably just an album filler. It's so.. boring.. it's not even funny. I'm a huge RA fan, but this does no justice for the album.
07) Survivor Guilt - the vox clip added to this song was very fitting. It's a good song. I personally love the guitar riffs on the verse, very much "in your face" awesomeness! I don't really have anything negative to say here. It's a good song.
08) Broken Mirrors - I was a little skeptical about the intro bit, but the verse managed to hold my attention. Worth it. The chorus is on par with Satellites for awesome factor! I love singing this one in my car. Hey, hey! "It's been yeaaars.." Good stuff! This definately managed to gain a top three spot on this album. And now the intro doesn't bother me as much, knowing something better is always coming after
09) Wait For Me - this one is really good! You listen to the intro and verse, thinking it will be mellow, and then the chorus hits you (it speeds up). It still remains more mellow than other songs, but it's not fully acoustic. I really enjoy listening to this one.. just letting it play in the background. It's definately not a song that will be quickly outplayed for me. I actually wouldn't mind this as a single, if they wanted the next one to be "softer" than the other two.
10) A Gentleman's Coup - another album filler, in my opinon. It's a decent song, but nothing too special going on here. The chorus isn't very "uplifting" either, which is usually RA's strong point.
11) This Is Letting Go - it looks like the boys took a break from the typical political punk rock, and made another "love" song. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, at all. "Savior" immediately comes to mind, from the previous album. I loved that song. A LOT. If it helps build different demographics, I'm all for it.
12) Endgame - the title track on the album. Is it awesome? Hmm. Not quite. It's really good, though. It has solid melodies and the chorus is another one I really like, but the overall chemistry isn't there for me. I was expecting a BIG finish with the album, and instead just got a really good song.
13) Lanterns (bonus) - alongside Satellite and BCD, this is one of my favorite RA songs, and it didn't even make the official album cut! I didn't receive this until a few days after the album, so by that time I had heard every song on the album a billion times.. and then this fresh meat appeared. IT IS SO HOT AND ADDICTING! The intro kinda starts off mild, but then the guitar riff drops on the verse.. crazy! Followed by the chorus.. WOW!! "come raise your lantern to the sky.. and let's illuminate this night.. we'll dance like heathens around the flame.. and while the world sleeps, we are awake.." So awesome.
Apparently, people have been giving the album really negative reviews. I'm just being honest. I can understand how this album can seem "boring" or "awful" to people with terrible taste in music, and that's their opinion. I myself am a huge Rise Against fan, so I give them the extra credit because I love the music, regardless. I'm not going to give it a perfect score, but am not giving it a crap score, either. I really enjoyed the album (and can't wait to see them live for the first time in four weeks!).
I would give the overall album an 8/10. It has a couple of snoozers, but makes up for it with the awesome ones like Architects, Satellite, Broken Mirrors, and Lanterns. It will definately be worth the purchase on tuesday.
- Matthew Metts (Kaijin)
