Rise Against's fifth studio album "Appeal to Reason" was released on 4 October in Australia. It was then released 6 October across Europe. Then 7 October in the United States. The album sold 64,700 copies in its first week. It also got to number three on the U.S. "Billboard" 200. This made it Rise Against's highest scoring album. "Appeal to Reason" also got mostly good reviews. However, reviewers did not rate it as good as "The Sufferer & the Witness". Most people thought this because Rise Against is moving toward slower music and away from faster hardcore punk. Giving the album a C+ review, Marc Weingarten of "Entertainment Weekly" says the album is filled with ""protest anthems that lean closer to the angst of such bands as New Found Glory and Fall Out Boy than the genuine outrage of brainy Green Day"" and songs that are ""peppy but pretty empty, power-chord downers with little bark or bite"." Kyle Anderson from "Rolling Stone" says that the songs on "Appeal to Reason" ""are driven by an ever-sharpening pop "." He finishes by saying, ""Rise Against may be about leaving the underground behind, but with sharp songs like these, they're ready for the rest of the world"."