Ever since the relative success of 'Swing Life Away', from the band's major label debut back in '04, Rise Against have dusted off their acoustic guitars at every opportunity, in the vein hope of garnering a similar amount of praise/respect/cash. 'Roadside' featured on 'The Sufferer and the Witness'. Latest full length 'Appeal to Reason' has this, 'Hero of War'.
It's a similar effort, a polished ballad that suffers from being too simplistic both musically and lyrically to make any real statement about the murky topic it tries to cover. Besides that, anyone who's been into punk rock for more than ten minutes will treat their politics with a degree of scepticism (after all, Universal Music are bound to be foaming at the mouth over the prospect of tapping into the lucrative anti-war dollar).

If you liked the last Green Day album, or if you yearn for Nickleback to make an anti-war song, then this is the track for you. Otherwise, do yourself a favour and do your own political research rather than listen to this watered-down drivel.

By Rob Dand