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The Sufferer & the Witness is the fourth album by American punk rock band Rise Against. The album was released on July 4, 2006. It was their second release on major label Geffen Records, following 2004's Siren Song of the Counter Culture. It is their final studio album on Geffen, and the last to feature guitarist Chris Chasse. It sold 48,000 copies in its first week, debuting at #10 on the Billboard 200. The album has been certified gold by the RIAA and platinum by the CRIA.

In August 2004, Rise Against released their major record label debut album Siren Song of the Counter Culture. Although the album sold poorly for the first six months, it became a sleeper hit in the United States, and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album's second single, "Swing Life Away", helped Rise Against achieve mainstream appeal, with its acoustic sound and optimistic lyrics played in stark contrast to the band's typical hardcore oeuvre. To promote the album, Rise Against embarked on an extensive touring schedule that concluded in December 2005. The next month, the band reconvened, and began work on their fourth album The Suffer & the Witness.

During the recording sessions for Siren Song of the Counter Culture, the band members were dissatisfied with producer Garth Richardson, as he did not fully understand their musical background in punk rock. Richardson was better known for his work with heavier sounding bands like Mudvayne and Rage Against the Machine, and as a result, the album sounded more polished and heavier than Rise Against's previous unadulterated material. Combined with the numerous distractions and inconveniences that plagued the recording sessions, lead vocalist Tim McIlrath views Siren Song of the Counter Culture as the album that "got away from us". When it came time to record their next album, the band decided to return to Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore, who produced their second album Revolutions per Minute in 2003. The band developed a strong rapport with the duo while recording that album, particularly Stevenson, whom McIlrath described as their "musical soul mate".

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