Rise Against
In January 2006, after touring in support of Siren Song of the Counter Culture, Rise Against started to work on their fourth studio album at the Blasting Room studio in Fort Collins, Colorado. With makers Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore. The Sufferer & the Witness was released on 4 July 2006. The album got to number 10 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling 48,397 copies in its first week of release. It was then awarded gold by the RIAA in 2008. The Age newspaper said that with The Sufferer & the Witness, the band "returns to their punk roots." Plus, the album got mostly good reviews by reviewers. Corey Apar of Allmusic, in giving the album four out of five stars, said of it, "the band's inner grit is aptly drawn out amid all the pit-ready choruses and fist-in-the-air, stirring lyrics." She goes on to say, "Rise Against continue to muscularly confront political and personal grievances to the tune of swirling guitars, assertive rhythms, and Tim McIlrath's sandpapered vocals." Then Christine Leonard of Fast Forward Weekly says of the band, "Returning to their old school form with the ballistic intensity of "Bricks," they just as quickly lose focus with questionable efforts such as 'Worth Dying For' and the oh-so-weary 'Prayer of the Refugee'."