It’s been almost a year since I last had a chance to see Rise Against, as they’ve been touring all around the world the past year, but they’re finally coming back this December 18th for their 10th anniversary show at my favorite venue in Chicago, The Metro.

The band recently released a video for the song Savior off of their most recent album, Appeal to Reason. It compliments many of their previous videos carrying some of the same themes, as well as being shot in and around Chicago. (From what this Chicago native can tell)

Unlike their previous work, however, this video has a somewhat humorous take on the current state of the union. The same themes from their previous videos are present, but this time, instead of being blatantly forward with their message they’ve decided to use what is possibly a more powerful storytelling technique: humor. (Something we at Assault are quite fond of.)

You’ll have to watch the video for yourself to see what I mean, but I have to say that I agree with the central core messages of the video which are forgiveness and openness.

Rise Against also released a new Digital 45 this week on iTunes with the single, “Grammatizator” as well as a live version of the song, “Hero of War”. You can get it now on iTunes.

Along with the video there’s a quick making of featurette with some insight from the director, Kevin Kerslake who provides some interesting insight into the background of the song and music video:

And just in case you’re a fan of orchestral music, The Vitamin String Quartet did several covers of Rise Against’s songs. It’s the first time I ever considered a group of classical musicians totally badass. You can get it in iTunes here.