Rise Against: Revolutions Per Minute (purple vinyl) [FAT WRECK CHORDS]

Why you'll love it

Fat Wreck Chords' purple vinyl pressing of the Chicago band's second album. Punknews.org's Bryne Yancey credits it with popularizing melodic hardcore and influencing "literally thousands of bands".

This edition

• Purple vinyl
• 13 tracks, including the hidden "Any Way You Want It"

About the album

Rise Against wanted their second album to stand apart from the rest of the Fat Wreck Chords roster, so they went to Fort Collins, Colorado, and recorded with Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore at The Blasting Room in late 2002. The result, out in April 2003, is rooted in melodic hardcore but darker and more grown-up than their debut, The Unraveling.

"Black Masks & Gasoline" kicks the door in, "Heaven Knows" and "Like the Angel" became staples, and "Blood-Red, White & Blue" shows how much Tim McIlrath had to say about the world outside. It's the only album with guitarist Todd Mohney, and it ends with a hidden cover of Journey's "Any Way You Want It". It peaked at 35 on the Independent Albums chart and toured the 2003 Warped Tour, which in punk terms is roughly a knighthood.

Tracklist

Listen

Out October 16, 2026 on Fat Wreck Chords (cat# FAT306), a reissue of the 2003 album.