Released 4 July 2006
Genres Melodic hardcore, punk rock
Singles Ready to Fall, Prayer of the Refugee, The Good Left Undone
- Chamber the Cartridge
- Injection
- Ready to Fall
- Bricks
- Under the Knife
- Prayer of the Refugee
- Drones
- The Approaching Curve
- Worth Dying For
- Behind Closed Doors
- Roadside
- The Good Left Undone
- Survive
Drones
[06.07.24]; last edited on [07.07.24]
arguably one of the best transitions between two tracks on an album is that of the transition from Prayer of the Refugee to Drones. the ending guitar riff that, slowly, fades and compounds with the bass and drums overtop some guitar noise & signal feedback is not only catchy as all hell, but a really smart way to get people at shows to begin moshing without even having to speak.
in the second half of the verse (and the bridge) the guitar strumming gets noticeably chunkier. it makes for a great segway to the chorus, where there's a lot of muting done.
this track has a lot of abstract lyricism, not very typical of Rise Against songs. at least not to this degree. the song still has a very specific meaning, about the monotony of serving our corrupt systems as a "drone," but the bands way of showing what that looks like is so fascinating.
in the second half of the first verse, specifically the lines:
And if strength is born from heartbreak
Then mountains I could move
And if walls could speak I'd pray
That they would tell me what to do
it describes such a specific yet vague picture, that it really gets me thinking of what it could mean. the first two lines are just a very roundabout way to say that the narrator has been through a lot of suffering. but the last two stump me. my immediate guess is that the narrator is simply looking for guidance, and their only solace in the loneliness of their life is the walls of the places that imprison them (physically or not). their work, home, the walls of an asylum? we don't know, which just makes it all the more captivating.
the second verse continues this theme of ambiguity, and (as an aside) has one of my favorite words in it, "save." not used as a verb, but as a preposition. it's not something i hear often, and it feels so underutilised in writing spaces.