Rage Against The Machine - Evil Empire

For some reason I've been on a RATM kick as of late. Their music always gets me going, but I seem to forget about them frequently. Then one track comes on and I go nuts and listen to them for weeks on end. Strange right? Anyways, I've reviewed two of their other studio drops - both of them getting high praise from the B Side. I don't suspect 1996's 'Evil Empire' will be any different. Part of that is because I have the album cover sitting right next to me on my wall in the office. Part of it also might be this is a 3x platinum album, tied for their best selling album ever. At this point, I'm not sure many people don't know their style. It's pretty unique and cool. I'd say they were the pioneers of the rap/metal game, but I guess you could make arguments for other bands too. Regardless, I like them because of the hard, metal sound they put forth. And it's rare you get hard rock music that has lyrics you can absolutely adore. I'm not big into the political nature of their music, but I like that I can sing along really loud to these guys and everyone else in the car will be singing too. The album title is a play on Ronald Reagan and his name for the Soviet Union in the 80's. This was also released with a B Side (see, that's why I called it that!) that had a live version of 'Bombtrack' and an unreleased cover of NWA's 'F**k Tha Police'. I never heard that, so I'll be searching this afternoon for it. But listening to this again today, it's good. It's really good. Sure this brand of music isn't for everyone, but pretty close to everyone. I'm going to play it as loud as I can the rest of the day.

TRACK LISTING:
1. People of the Sun
2. Bulls on Parade
3. Vietnow
4. Revolver
5. Snakecharmer
6. Tire Me
7. Down Rodeo
8. Without a Face
9. Wind Below
10. Roll Right
11. Year of tha Boomerang

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Down Rodeo
2. Bulls On Parade
3. Revolver

FINAL RATING:
4 out of 5 stars

Rage Against The Machine - Battle Of Los Angeles

Seems like this is a day where I reviewed an album by a band months ago, and came back to another record today. Difference between this and Benny Fold, is this album is nothing new. I'm going to go ahead and say this, and please take offense to it. If you haven't heard this album by Rage, you're a little slow on the music uptake. Rage is in a word, amazing. Well, was amazing. RATM only dropped 4 albums in their short music lives, and all of them were outstanding. (Well maybe except 'Renegades' but that's a discussion for another day) These guys really pumped me up back in the day, and putting this on today - it still has that effect. This particular album came out in 1999 and is a solid 2x platinum. It has it's fair share of radio hits and then flat out face melting metal that wasn't heard by the masses. I'm not sure if this is my favorite, I think I go back and forth. There are at least 6 tracks on this album that I play as loud as possible when they come on in the car. True test of how great a band is. Anyway, I'm not going to get into any further detail on Rage. They're political, they're hard rock and they're no longer putting out music. They might be putting together another tour soon, and if they come to your area - you should definitely go. Worth your while every time. Instead, I'll let their music speak for them, and not me. Please listen to this today. Groove hard, and make Thursday turn into Friday.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Testify
2. Guerrilla Radio
3. Calm Like a Bomb
4. Mic Check
5. Sleep Now in the Fire
6. Born of a Broken Man
7. Born as Ghosts
8. Maria
9. Voice of the Voiceless
10. New Millennium Homes
11. Ashes in the Fall
12. War Within a Breath

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Guerilla Radio
2. Testify
3. Ashes In The Fall

FINAL RATING:
4 out of 5 stars

Rage Against The Machine - Self Titled

Rage is one of those bands that everyone seems to enjoy, but no one ever really talks about. I won't use the word 'underrated', because I don't think that fits...maybe under appreciated? Regardless, I really love me some Rage. This is just one of the many great albums they produced, and possibly my favorite. I'd have to listen to them all again, but this one always sticks out to me. It's too bad that they broke up and many of the guys moved on to sub par bands. I do enjoy Tom Morello and work in Audioslave, but that's a different post. This is one of the few bands whose political prowess doesn't really get to me. They did some crazy stuff, but it was always worth the price of fantastic music. I'm hoping they return to the midwest again sometime, as I'd love to see them live. Until then, throw back on the self titled and sing it loud and proud in the car.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Bombtrack
2. Killing in the Name
3. Take the Power Back
4. Settle for Nothing
5. Bullet in the Head
6. Know Your Enemy
7. Wake Up
8. Fistful of Steel
9. Township Rebellion
10. Freedom

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Township Rebellion
2. Wake Up
3. Bombtrack

FINAL RATING:
4.5 out of 5 stars