The Rise present a cathartic blast of punk/hardcore styled aggression with an accomplished electronic backbone on this, their full-length debut for Ferret Music. Assaulting the listener with viciously paced intensity and overpowering jagged bursts of electronic elements, their music invokes the same vitriolic sense of musical revolution groups like Refused, Atari Teenage Riot and more pioneered in the past.

With raspy, venomous vocals band frontman Cory Kilduff launches out of the speakers with feverish screams and a sense of tenacity not often seen as of late, thanks in part to most bands in the genre diluting themselves with cliche emo passages. Instead of following such routes, acidic verses are spat out with vigorous determination and rarely let up, clearly demonstrating the bands raw punk/hardcore roots while also adding some stiff punctuation to the material overall. Antagonistic guitar riffs are assembled in a ramshackle fashion that somehow retains enough cohesion to establish a spiked onslaught of punchy distorted noise, both complimenting and augmenting the vocals with their in your face demeanor and stripped down feel. The bass playing also adopts a similar approach and lays down an array of fast paced punky low end that bolsters the guitar riffs with some solid rumbles while a slightly dulled and unhindered drumming performance keeps their proverbial motor revving. Such qualities alone would mark the band as a hotly tipped entry into the abrasive punk/hardcore world, but they don't stop there and instead litter their songs with a throbbing and unpredictable electronic element that easily sets them apart while also increasing the scope and creativity of their music tenfold.

Indeed it is the bands choice to douse their music in electronic wizardry that edges them ahead of the pack and with no conventional guidelines ala industrial, electronica and such being practiced, the songs are actually able to surprise the listener and explore various facets of expression. This is not to say the band just incorporate chaotic dissonance into their craft however as the programming and such is actually quite cunning, utilizing pulsing bass drops, whirring keyboard interludes, buzzing screeches, samples and a whole lot more in a competently structured show of force. With such a diverse aural environment in place they could easily go overboard and drown themselves, but yet they somehow purvey a distinct sense of musical balance that sees the tracks teeter between electronic and organic, never quite staying in either style long enough to get comfortable, nor become predictable. Such a mindset effortlessly builds up a unique sense of urgency that only enhances their rough around the edges aggression to more depraved levels. Sure some may write the band off as merely a Refused clone and others will not enjoy the freeform flow of which the quintet write with, but with Refused being "fucking dead" and an abundance of by the book music already on the shelves; The Rise are easily one of the few innovative acts currently in the scene today. In fact, given the present state of the genre its hard not seeing this band become a fixture of the underground metal scene as they evolve and firm up their sound with future efforts - Why? Because quite simply they are one of the rare few acts who actually offer something different and look to progress the genre forward rather than make a career out of being stuck in a rut.