Rage Against the Machine- Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine is an innovative band that brought funk, metal and rap all together to make an amazing wall of anger. Politically charged, the band attacked the government through lead singer Zach De La Rocha and the amazing style and sounds of guitarist Tom Morello. Morello, a Harvard graduate fueled the band, creating DJ scratches and mind-blowing solos with precise attack. Backed by a funky rhythm section of Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk's grooves this angry debut shows the talent of all the members.
Rage is:
Zach De La Rocha- Vocals
Tom Morello- Guitar
Tim Commerford- Bass
Brad Wilk- Drums
The album
1) Bombtrack- Great opener. With a very cool guitar/bass lick, the chaos builds up to a handful of powerful riffs and Zach screaming and usual moans. The slower, in-your-face verse riff backs up the anti-war rants perfectly. Zach's rhymes have a very angry feel and sound almost funky. The choruses are very energetic with a threatening line, "You're gonna burn, yes, yes, you're gonna burn!" The riff is the same riff from the beginning after the intro. The bridge slows down into a building up riff that unleashes it's fury on you with Zach screaming. The next riff is very cool, as it backs up an amazing guitar solo that weaves in and out of the final chorus. Tom Morello is easily one of my favorite guitarists and his style is unprecedented. This is one great song. [5/5]
2) Killing In The Name- Everyone knows this song. This was the bands first single. Starts with some heavy chords and quickly drops into a menacing bass line. With sounds coming from the background, the guitar comes in with a cool little line and before you know it, Zach chants the title line. The main riff bursts in and the verses are hitting you. Zach isn't really rapping, just chanting an attack on society. "Some of those who work forces are the same that burn crosses." After a couple loops, the pre-chorus riff comes in followed by the anti-brainwash rant. Zach comes in with some chaotic rapping about what I think is dead soldiers. The second verse goes again with the same lyrics. The next pre-chorus is a little more insane with the "now you do what they told ya, now you're under control" building up into the powerful chorus again. The guitar solo is mind-blowing with scratching effects and screeches. The outro line is one of the more angry, and controversial. Zach raps "F*** you I won't do what you tell me" over and over until he screams "mother****a" to fade out. Amazing song. [5/5]
3) Take the Power Back- Great rhythm section in this one. Probably my personal favorite off the CD. Starts out with a laid back drum beat with some guitar sounds. The bass gives a funky slap groove which is awesome. Zach screams and the guitar joins the bass riff. The verses are the same bass riff, but a different guitar melody is present. Zach's rhymes attack the government for teaching lies and making our children brainwashed, ignorant, and oblivious to reality. Yeah, it's a pretty angry song. The chorus is another one-liner but still powerful, and the riff is totally different, but sounds equally as cool. Afterwards, the main riff mellows out, and gives out to some amazing guitar soloing. Probably the best solo on the album. The groove is amazing. The next verse talks about ignorance in schools and seems to be slower, but angrier than the other cut down to basic chords, but that grooving riff comes back in and followed by another chorus. The song just totally changes tempo in about 2 seconds with a calm little salvo and Zach saying "No More Lies". The outro is chaotic beyond belief with a creeping riff and fast, angry rapping. Wow. [5/5]
4) Settle for Nothing- Opens with a dark, mellow (yes, mellow!) bass line that leads into guitar noises, and Zach lightly talking about a broken home. The calmness turns into a crazy riff with Zach rapping about running away from problems and suicide. The light verse comes back, but this time the drums come in. The throaty screams of Zach chanting about chaos in the chorus churn into a beautiful classical sounding latin influenced guitar solo. Goes back to the eerie verse and swirls into another chorus with more screams. The menacing bass line continues for a few measures before the music fades out. Cool change of pace. [4/5]
5) Bullet in the Head- Starts with a cool, easy little bass lick. The vocals come in and the guitar makes some crazy noises. The lyrics are focused on racism and other international problems, such as war. The guitar sounds are absolutely crazy. The choruses show some attitude and tell you how to stand up to people. The guitar solo that follows is cool, very reminiscent of Tony Iommi's style from Black Sabbath. The drums during the verses are pretty cool, even if they are pretty grounded. Another chorus and then a hard hitting riff. The bass is awesome while Zach is screaming "A bullet in your head." His screams are awesome as you can tell he's losing his mind while he's screaming. A very fast drum fill ends the song. This song was one of the few that showcases Brad Wilk's underrated talent. [4.5/5]
6) Know Your Enemy- Starts with some cool guitar. Timmy C. shows some great restraint with the slap bass. The main riff comes in and it kicks arse. The rapping is much faster than usual in this song. His screaming is insane, and the riffing is superb to back the vocals up. There are some guest vocals in this one by A Perfect Circles singer. I like how the guitar comes in through one ear and the rhythm section comes in through the other. The guitar is amazing with some really cool effects being used by Tom. The drums to a cool fill and the guitar wails while Zach screams about ignorance and hypocrisy. Zach screams "all of which are American dreams" unaccompanied at the end. Awesome song. [5/5]
7) Wake Up- The intro is a little slow, but includes one of the most menacing bass lines Timmy C. has ever cooked up. The main riff is stunning at how cool it is. The anger is chest-thumping in this one. You can feel it in your pulse. The guitar uses some crazy effects. (Morello is the effects God). After a verse comes a solo that defies the laws of traditional guitar playing. The bridge riff is heavy and the bass comes in with that awesome intro line right before Zach yells "I think I heard a shot". The bass comes back in as Zach raps a hypnotizing speech that basically gives the finger to authority. The distorted bass is awesome as it thunders underneath a screaming guitar solo. The song ends with Zach screaming "What you reap is what you sew." Wake Up is probably the longest song on the album but is definitely worth it. This is one of my favorites on the album, although I absolutely love every song on this album. [5/5]
8) Fistful Of Steel- Starts off with some insanity from Morello and his riffs are meaty and worthy of the playback button. The verses are some screaming guitar noises underneath some chaotic rapping and a fat, rumbling bass lick. The choruses are generic RATM but still feature some kick arse riffing. Back to the verses and then another chorus. The guitar solo is one of those scratching solos, made to emulate a turntable. It sounds awesome. The bass line roaring underneath it is equally as cool as the verse lick. Afterwards, Zach's voice builds up to unleash some fury with some more guitar scratching. The raps build up to one of those infamous throaty moans and a mind-blowing guitar solo with the main riff underneath it. A very strong ending to the song. [5/5]
9) Township Rebellion- Starts with some chords and some very weird guitar noises. The vocals come in almost immediately and the bass is using a very, very strange effect while Zach rants on with the guitar wailing behind him. The choruses pick up the pace a bit. The chorus riff is very strong with a little slower tempo but still cool. The chorus lyrics catch my attention and are really in your face and awesome. "Why stand on a silent platform? Fight the war, f*** the norm!" Tom Morello utilizes the wah pedal to its full ability while Brad and Tim hold down the groove. This solo is why Tom is one of my favorite guitarists. After the chorus Zach gives another throaty scream and the guitar and bass lock up for a cool riff while Zach speaks his mind about religion. After some heavy riffing and screams, the chorus comes back in with a wah guitar lead being played over it to end the song. Awesome. [5/5]
10) Freedom- Kicks off with a cool riff and Zach making some unusual sounds. The verses are a basic drum n bass groove with Zach rapping but lead into the riff again for the chorus with no vocals and some effect-driven guitar parts. The next verse has a different groove but still the usual raps being spit up with some additional percussion. The next chorus is much faster and the guitar takes a really cool solo with the bass playing the main riff underneath. The boys throw out another riff for the next verse but it goes back to the second groove. Another chorus at a galloping pace with another throaty scream. After the tempo changes Zach rants "Freedom, yeah right" above another funky bass lick and the band joins him while he screams the above line. This is another great, long song. The drums close this insane piece while you receive a hefty piece of feedback from this amazing closer. [4.5/5]
Overall: This was an utterly mind-blowing album which made me wonder about how well this band blends funk, metal, hip-hop, and punk rock to make it their own unique sound that shook the American music industry to it's core. I have never heard anything like this and it's good that I bought this CD. I urge all of you to buy it too. There is not a single bad song on this album (as you can see by my ratings). You'll be amazed. [5/5]
