Rise Against Announces New Album Wolves for June 2017 Release

For virtually any artist, it is becoming harder and harder for your music to avoid taking a political or social stance in an increasingly tense political climate, and it looks like punk rockers Rise Against will also be influenced by today’s politics.

Today, the band announced that their new album, Wolves, will be released this June 9 through Virgin Records. While the band has always been outspoken on social issues, Wolves, is not so much a spotlight on any one issue or any certain oppressed group, but instead a rally, a call to protest.

“With Wolves, the band challenges fans to join them in creating a bold new identity together. The album is about recognizing the power within; it’s a primal call for the prey to become the hunters,” a press release states, and as such the band doesn’t hide their teeth when it comes to certain issues they feel strongly about.

“In many ways, a Rise Against show is a safe space for our fans,” lead singer Tim McIlrath explains.

“But I realized that I don’t only want to create safe spaces, I want to create dangerous spaces where misogyny can’t exist, where xenophobia can’t exist. I want to create spaces where those sentiments don’t have any air, and they suffocate: where those ideas die. Wolves isn’t about creating a safe space, it’s about creating a space that’s dangerous for injustice.”

Along with the new album the band also dropped off one off the first single from the album, “The Violence,” and it has everything fans would want and expect from the band. Shredding guitar, soaring vocals, everything you need to get your mosh on at one of their “dangerous spaces.”

The album will be produced by Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Alice in Chains, Deftones) at his studio in Nashville, a new setting for the band. “Living in Nashville drove home that we can’t just focus on our differences,” McIlrath says. “If we can stop and talk to each other, face to face, we might realize our common ground. We are all wolves in the same pack, circling at the gates.”

Rise Against will also be touring with the Deftones this summer. Check out the new song and tracklist below.

Wolves:

1. Wolves
2. House On Fire
3. The Violence
4. Welcome To The Breakdown
5. Far From Perfect
6. Bulls***
7. Politics of Love
8. Parts Per Million
9. Mourning in Amerika
10. How Many Walls
11. Miracle

Photo Credit: Marv Watson