RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE — Rage Against the Machine (review)

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE — Rage Against the Machine album cover Album · 1992 · Rap Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
1/5 ·
SilentScream213
Another one of those “did it first” albums that in my opinion doesn’t live up to the hype its legacy implies. Aside from Anthrax’s “I’m the Man” and a couple Faith No More songs (if we’re being generous), there really wasn’t much Rap Metal prior to RATM, and certainly not a full album of it. The band certainly took a unique approach and recreated Hip-Hop using entirely real Rock instrumentation and original music, even using some guitar effects to mimic sound effects you might hear in traditional Hip Hop. It’s innovative, but a lot of those “guitar sound effects” end up sounding really annoying, like the siren whine on “Fistful of Steel” or the bass drops on “Township Rebellion.”

Zack sounds angry, and his delivery is good, but man some of the lyrics are weak. Oftentimes he’ll repeat a phrase over and over, and the chorus to the first song gives you a sense of that, where he just says “burn, burn, yes you’re gonna burn” a whopping 8 times. The guitars and the drums suffer the same problem. Sometimes Tom comes up with a decent riff, but after hearing it repeated 16 times over a very boring, monotonous drumbeat, I’m sick of it. The riffs don’t match Zack’s mood, either; they’re far more groovy than angry, and the slow, simple drumming gives no sense of urgency or energy to what /should/ be an angry, energetic album. The music sounds like something to chill out to, not exactly what you want for a revolution. The songs are also way longer than necessary, none under 4 minutes and repeating the same simple ideas over and over again. They’d be much better in short chunks, but they wear themselves out before they’re over.

One huge plus to this album is the bass. Timmy does a phenomenal job with his rhythmic groove, doing way more than backing the band and adding super spicy melodies to the mix. This is the one instrument I didn’t find repetitive at all; he’s definitely got a “lead bassist” thing going on.

Overall, not a bad album at all, but one of the most overrated in my opinion. Rap Metal is a genre that might not have too much room to succeed, but I’d love to see later bands take it in a different direction.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Caedes Animarum Deathcore
INVISIBLE SPHERE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Empty Doom Metal
BONGRIPPER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Shadowflame Deathcore
BREATH OF SINDRAGOSA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Iniquitous Deathcore
SINISTER SECTOR
Buy this album from MMA partners
Untoward Perpetuity Deathcore
AND HELL FOLLOWED WITH
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Agremorta - Adrocitas (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 2 days ago
Agremorta - Ploratus Umbra (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 2 days ago
Agremorta - Vertex Membrana (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 2 days ago
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR - The Temple Of Curved Space (Official Track Stream)
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
adg211288· 2 days ago
In Sulfur - The Gate (OFFICIAL VIDEO) 2022
IN SULFUR
Bosh66· 3 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed