This 1992 debut must be some kind of watershed in rock history,
\ngiving the world its first glimpse of this positively powerful
\nmusical force. Armed with incendiary left-wing political vitriol,
\nfunky rhythms, and groundbreaking guitar pyrotechnics, Rage Against
\nThe Machine set out not just as a rock band, but also as the
\nembodiment of a message with an ambitious mission to change the
\nworld. Yes, singer Zach de la Rocha, guitarist Tom Morello, drummer
\nBrad Wilk, and bassist Tim Commerford are mad as hell, and they’re
\nnot going to take it anymore (as if you didn’t already guess that
\nby the band’s name!).<\/p>\n
Seems like they came crashing onto the scene at the right time,
\nduring a period in the early 90’s when anger and pessimism became
\nthe dominant themes in rock music. They are intensely left-wing, if
\nnot communist, and all of their songs deal with political issues
\nsuch as the evils of racism, capitalism, imperialism of the west,
\nenvironmental causes, media propaganda, and just about anything
\nthat they feel is worth protesting. Just look at that burning
\nBuddhist monk!<\/p>\n
The music is very impressive all the way through…they’re one
\nof those rare bands that has an unmistakably unique sound, and
\nthat’s pretty hard to achieve these days. Rap metal may have been
\nborn via Aerosmith and Run DMC’s collaboration or with the early
\nhit singles of the Beastie Boys, but as far as I know, Rage Against
\nThe Machine was the first band to make that exclusively their
\nstyle, and I think most people would agree that nobody has done it
\nbetter. Just imagine a really solid rhythm section that shows more
\nthan a slight nod to funk, screamed rapped vocals, and a wildly
\ninventive guitar slinger (often singled out as the only guitarist
\nto come out of the 90’s that’s worth mentioning as having been
\ninnovative) who plays pseudo 70’s hard rock\/metal riffs, and solos
\nthat sound more like computer generated effects than like an actual
\nguitar!<\/p>\n
The wildly unorthodox solos\/effects (if you could even call them
\nthat) are completely fascinating little beeping noises and squeaky
\nscales that even manage to be melodic. And Morello continuously
\npumps them out effortlessly, each surprisingly distinct from one
\nanother. You have to hear it to believe it, and I think most people
\nhave, because Rage is a pretty popular band. Seems like nobody
\nseems to know how he does his trick, and wisely nobody has even
\nattempted to copy him yet.<\/p>\n
I just can’t stop gushing over guitar players with a unique
\nstyle that actually does something interesting. Even his more
\nconventional sounding clangy 70’s Led Zep\/Sabbath inspired
\nthunderous riffs are amazingly catchy…I basically think that Tom
\nMorello’s brilliant guitar playing is the one indispensible feature
\nof this band…without him the music would be decidedly average.
\nThe bassist and drummer are definitely no slouches however, doing a
\nlot of different things on their own and blending in superbly with
\nthe guitar parts.<\/p>\n
There’s very little I could complain about with the music. As
\ngreat as the album is (destined to be a hard rock classic) with its
\nrousing anthems of protest against all things cruel and unjust,
\nthere simply isn’t enough diversity to reach that upper echelon.
\nTheir style is well developed, but they stick to the same formula
\non each song. As a result, there are a few parts here and there
\nwhere the riffs are too similar to other ones, and some of the
\nchoruses are a bit bland. Zach’s yelled raps rarely show even a
\nhint of melodicism, or even volume change, but I guess that’s why
\nit’s called rapping and not singing, eh?<\/p>\n
I’ve never liked rap, but when the band’s music is this good I
\ncan make an exception. But, just like the vocals, the band as a
\nwhole seems to only know one gear, and that’s in your face, full
\nout. I don’t mean that the music is fast, because it’s all
\nmid-tempo with a heavy groove. I guess they think that the only way
\nto convince teenagers to rise up and revolt against the established
\nsystem is to play explosive, hard hitting music that never lets up,
\nwhipping susceptible minds into an adrenalized frenzy to unite
\nagainst the right! Whatever. That’s all fine and dandy when trying
\nto convey a sense of urgency and danger, especially when done as
\nwell as these guys do it, but it means that the music isn’t
\nparticularly layered and becomes a bit too predictable.<\/p>\n
Don’t let that dissuade you though…it’s still a marvelous
\nalbum that has had a huge impact on rock in the decade since its
\nrelease. How can you go wrong with the marvelous tracks
\n“Bombtrack”, “Know Your Enemy”, and particularly the hit club
\nfavourite “Killing In The Name Of” with its infectious chorus of
\n“Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me!” repeated ad nauseam ever
\nlouder until it explodes! Hmmm, I wonder how many of those drunk
\nfrat boys and airhead bitches that go crazy dancing to any of these
\nsongs even realize what the lyrics are about…<\/p>\n
Regardless of whether or not you agree with their stance on
\nvarious issues, they deliver their message with a conviction and
\nferocity that’s impossible to ignore…their intensity and passion
\nfor what they believe in should impress just about anyone. I
\npersonally don’t agree with just about everything they stand for,
\nbut I certainly acknowledge that they consistently write highly
\nintelligent lyrics that at least make people think about some of
\nthe more serious things going on in the world, and not just cars,
\nbeer, and pussy. There are very few bands that do that, and they
\nseem to genuinely promote activism to make the world a better place
\nfrom their point of view. Although they are now known as Audioslave
\n(with ex-Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell as their new vocalist),
\nthe message promoted by
\nRage Against The Machine<\/i> is still as relevant today as it
\nwas at the time of its release, and that’s a quality that you
\nsimply have to respect, if nothing else.<\/p>\n
Or, is it all a calculated ploy to gain a large following
\nthrough their controversial media attention-friendly image in order
\nto exploit the huge number of naturally rebellious youth that will
\ngravitate towards them by cashing in on the resulting record sales?
\nDespite their feigned disgust of corporate greed, they were on a
\nmajor label ya know…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":26248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6162],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-37470","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-rage-against-the-machine","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37470"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37470"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}