From underground shows to international tours, Rise Against performs music at all levels. While many bands seem to lose sight of who they are along the way, Rise Against is different. Through it all, they have stayed dedicated to their morals and style of music and never has it shown more than in their most recent album, Endgame.

With its edgy and alternative sound, Endgame shows that the band is still as sharp as ever and marks another successful step in their career. The band keeps their fans on the edge of their seats with their standard fast and creative guitar riffs, and solid technical drumming. They seem to have the best of both worlds as they mesh their early punk beginnings with more mainstream alternative rock styles. It creates a sound unique to them and has clearly been vital in their growing popularity.

The band also brings into play deep and powerful lyrics that make for an album that not only sounds good, but carries a message with it as well. In fact, it’s these very messages and lyrics that make Endgamedifferent from all the rest.

Among each of these messages one song stand out. The band’s hit single “Make It Stop” was inspired by the new It Gets Better Project and focuses on communicating the band’s stance on homosexuality as well as their dedication to creating a safe haven for fans.

“I decided to create the song [“Make It Stop”] after I discovered the It Gets Better campaign and the co-founder Dan Savage’s dedication to such an important and concise message. I immediately felt that if our song is the road, then the It Gets Better project is the destination,” lead singer Tim Mcllrath said.

The band uses the song to send a message and it is certainly a brave message to send at that.  They make it clear that they refuse to judge people not just on sexuality, but on anything at all and that they won’t tolerate it amongst their fans either. The band will accept anyone for who they are and they aren’t afraid to say it.

“It bummed me out to create this community of fans, where you want everybody to feel accepted, but then realize that there are people that don’t feel accepted, even at your own shows, where we go out of our way to let you know that if you are here, you belong here, no matter who you are. We wanted to let our own audience members know that if they would make a fellow concertgoer feel unwelcome at a Rise Against show, then perhaps it is they who are not welcome at a Rise Against show,” Mcllrath said.

With Endgame, Rise Against has created an album with a fantastic sound and a heart-filled message. It is an album which really defines who the band is and shows their dedication to creating music which can draw people together and show how they feel.