Appeal To Reason - Reception and Sales

Reception and Sales

Appeal to Reason received generally favorable reviews from music critics. It attained a score of 65 out of 100 on Metacritic's average of ten professional reviews. In his review giving the album an 82% rating, Chris Fallon of AbsolutePunk.net said, "Appeal to Reason is essentially focused on one big thing: intelligence. There is no fluff here -- the band has put together a fast, smart and generally focused piece of work here. Rolling Stone magazine tells of the band's further emergence into the mainstream with Appeal to Reason, "Rise Against may be nervous about leaving the underground behind, but with sharp songs like these, they're ready for the rest of the world." IGN gave the album an 8.2 out of 10 and said, "Rise Against has taken all of its protest attitude and all of its social leanings and has given America another truly great album. Appeal To Reason is both a wake-up call for the country and a song of hope for those who can see a clear path on the horizon. While the songs may not be as driven and hard as on albums past, they lack nothing in definition and power of the word. And when it comes down to it, Rise Against want you to know that there is power in the meaning." In his Consumer Guide, however, Robert Christgau gave the album a "dud" rating, calling it "a bad record whose details rarely merit further thought."

Appeal to Reason is Rise Against's second highest charting album to date. It peaked at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling 64,700 copies in its first week of release. The singles released from Appeal to Reason also charted higher on the U.S. music charts than any of the band's previous releases. "Re-Education (Through Labor)" reached number 22 on Billboard's Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and number three on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks (now Alternative Songs) chart, making it Rise Against's highest charting single on a U.S. rock chart, until it was surpassed by "Savior". "Audience of One" reached number four on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. "Savior" peaked at number 3 on Billboard's Rock Songs chart and at number 3 on the Alternative Songs (formerly Hot Modern Rock Tracks) chart, making it the highest-charting single to date. "Savior" has also spent the longest of any Rise Against song on the U.S. Rock Charts, with over a year on both the Rock Songs and Alternative Songs charts. All three appeared on the Canadian Hot 100 chart.