While hardly making them the new Crass, Rise Against's pro-Democrat and human/animal/LGBT rights mutterings sound bold indeed in an era all but devoid of mainstream “political” music. The quartet's serrated yet ultra-anthemic punk-lite, distinguished by reckless groove shifts and Tim McIlrath's earnest, raw-throated roar, is lyrically sincere and musically challenging enough to bear repeated spins, yet sufficiently sing-along and rhythmically insistent to survive even the puniest of smartphone speakers. Though more inward-looking than most of its predecessors, Rage Against's seventh studio album, this year's The Black Market, is yet another well-produced wake-up call, which, even during its instrumental passages, can somehow sound life-changing. Rise Against is one of very few new-millennium bands that can claim more than just lust for adulation and accumulation behind its many platinum discs. Also Wednesday, Sept. 17.

Tue., Sept. 16, 6:30 p.m.; Wed., Sept. 17, 6:30 p.m., 2014
(Expired: 09/17/14)

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