Rise Against have been recog­nised as one of the lead­ing forces in punk-rock for years now, and their latest album is a gem in any punk lover’s CD col­lec­tion. With songs full of ori­gin­al­ity that don’t blaze through punk rock’s bound­ar­ies, this album is a mas­ter­piece — anthemic, enjoy­able and above all, well-balanced. Tracks such as Ready to Fall are catchy and per­fectly con­struc­ted, while the more ballad-driven Road­side is a per­fect expres­sion of the under­ly­ing depress­ing mes­sages that per­meate this record. Skate punk has rarely soun­ded this good. For dis­cern­ing punk-rockers, this is the album that’s going to bring punk-rock back to its roots, and redefine the genre the way Fat Lip did.