Rage Against The Machine brought their eponymous debut in 1992. It finds the Metal band, who are heavily rooted in the Funk and Rap-based material coming to bring their alternative material and bringing about rather significant changes as they took on from what only a few others had previously done to make for their alternative Metal work. The band, as would remain unchanged through their span, consisted of Zack De La Rocha (on lead vocals), Tim Commerford (on bass), Tom Morello (on guitar) and Brad Wilk (on drums).
1. “Bombtrack”
Kicking things off with something heavy, you see that this one gets underway in a strong way with Morello bringing a cold riff that has him bringing in a little Hard Rock into the mix with a bit of a Funk twist to give it a little more originality within it. It features the typical rapped vocals from their lead vocalist, who comes out with rhymes about inequalities within society that make for a killer of a joint to get it underway.
**Five Stars**
2. “Killing In The Name”
Here they move things off with the track that led to their breakthrough. It was their first single and one that out-does pretty much any other tha the recorded as you see that in this one they compose a track with the perfect structure
to put across the messages of Zach De La Rocha as he drills away with his political messages that typically go off about rebellion. It is a killer track that everyone should be able to get something out of.
**Five Stars**
3. “Take The Power Back”
You see that you get more of the Hard Funk being brought through the guitaring of Morello (and is then complimented by Timmy C’s bass work). It is one that seesm to go into making for more powerful material that you can’t really fault all that much, however I have to say that when you consider just how impactful the verses are, the chorus is rather unimpressive and leaves you wanting a little more here.
**Four Stars**
4. “Settle For Nothing”
You see that with this one they change things quite a bit s for this one they choose to build things up in a different way by gradually working up to the grungier work later on within the tune. It features a pretty simplistic structure, with the same verse repeated, but I felt that it was done well like this as it gives you the chance to really feel what you get from the screamed lyrics and where exactly it takes you as a result.
**Four Stars**
5. “Bullet In The Head”
On this one you see that Zack De La Rocha has clearly taking things in a way that he feels most comfortable with as he embraces much more of the Hip Hop material and so arranges this one to be much more like this kind of thing, but obviously with the alternative things coming through with Morello’s guitaring (and in this case the heavy utilisation of wah-wah pedals) to manipulate it and make for another strong one.
**Four Stars**
6. “Know Your Enemy”
Here you get a killer track and one that takes it back up to the massively high standard that kicked the album off as you see that you get a high-energy offering coming through with this one and oen that enables the lyrics to be heard even better tas you see that in this one he comes out with a flowing structure that competes with some of the best lyricists in the Hip Hop game with all of his words working on so many levels whilst sounding as if they have just come off his head although his style of shouting the words out in Chuck D style.
**Five Stars**
7. “Wake Up”
Although this one was never released as a single, it stands as one of their most popular cuts and one that really deserves lots of attention as you see that in this one they come out with a heavy jam in which they come out with a tune that has Morello messing around with the wah-wahs in early seventies Funk style in order to fit in with the direction of the music as here we get a heavy one that gets in on racism in the US (especially in the organisations which run the country).
**Five Stars**
8. “Fistful Of Steel”
You get a powerful track in this one as you find that here they come through with more choppy Metal material that take a to from the Hard Rock of the late eighties and you see that in this one they are able to come out with even more material that you have to relate to the work of Public Enemy with as you see that in addition to the rapper’s rhyming style being similar to that of Chuck D’s, you get a structure that is similar to a stripped-down version of material from Public Enemy’s first two albums.
**Five Stars**
9. “Township Rebellion”
In this one you get a high-paced tune that builds on what was found on the last one and with the added tempo to it (aside form the bridge and chorus which uses things which were originally found on “Killing In The Name”. It is a raw track and does all that it needs to as you find that you get more of the politics messages coming in the rhymes and more of the hardcore backing to support it and build upon what the album has already presented.
**Five Stars**
10. “Freedom”
Released as the final single to the album, this is another impressive tune and one that leaves things on a high after all the other things that have come in the album and makes up for the slight slip in standards in the middle of the release. This joint goes hard and you find that in it you have them pulling out all the remaining energy to bring a mad joint that tops it all off perfectly and leaves you wanting much more of this in future material.
**Five Stars**
This is a very strong debut from the band and one that only suffer from the fact that a couple of its tracks don’t quite meet the standards that some of its heaviest jams do and so it is down to the fact that they found it so hard to get up to that massively high quality level in a few that it is stopped from being considered a flawless record (as other things such as its originality could have helped it gain a very high status in the game).
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Not since the days of the Clash and the MC5 has rock seen such political force as in the ... more
uncompromising debut from this American quartet. Expanding the hip-hop/metal style of bands such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage tap the spirits of vintage Blac...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
1. PROGRAMME START.2. THE GHOST OF TOM JOAD.3. VIETNOW.4. PEOPLE OF THE SUN.5. BULLS ON ... more
PARADE.6. BULLET IN THE HEAD.7. ZAPATA'S BLOOD.8. KNOW YOUR ENEMY.9. BOMBTRACK.10. TIRE ME.11. KILLING IN THE NAME.VIDEO CLIPS (UNCENSORED VERSIONS).12. KILLING IN ...
Not since the days of the Clash and the MC5 has rock seen such political force as in the ... more
uncompromising debut from this American quartet. Expanding the hip-hop/metal style of bands such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage tap the spirits of vintage Blac...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Not since the days of the Clash and the MC5 has rock seen such political force as in the ... more
uncompromising debut from this American quartet. Expanding the hip-hop/metal style of bands such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage tap the spirits of vintage Blac...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Advantages: Great vocals, amazing guitar (as a guitarist I must say I'm impressed), Tim C rocks on bass, Brad Wilk, great drummer. Poitical, loud. Disadvantages: absolutely none whatsoever
Oct 13th, 2009
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