Doomsday scenarios are often predictive about an ending in life, revealing just what would occur if the world pushed itself to the brink of extinction. And the term “endgame” typically parallels such thinking, often evoking concepts of finality or termination.

But for Rise Against, this particular endgame might just be their beginning.

As the title of the band’s sixth full-length studio album—and the moniker of the album’s title track—Endgame is indicative of both a world that has run its course and perhaps ushering in an entirely new start.

“It’s about a dangerous time in civilisation, the end of life,” says vocalist/guitarist Tim McIlrath. “What if the life that we’re living right now is this unsustainable bubble that cannot go on and perhaps does not deserve to go on? What if the world we created is a place that is so unnatural and ugly that it is a world that needs to come to an end, so that we could have a world that is better for everybody? It sounds very utopian, but it’s not about a perfect place, but maybe some of these things we’re doing, they need to come to an end.”