Review by Daniel for Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine (1992)
I first encountered Rage Against The Machine in much the same fashion that most of us did i.e. via commercial radio shortly after the release of the “Killing In The Name” single in 1993. They seemed to be the latest commercial rock sensation & I steered well clear of anything that came too close to being commercially acceptable back in those days. This is a shame because RATM have quite a bit to offer a fan of aggressive cutting edge rock & metal like myself. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I actually gave their debut album a proper listen & I liked what I heard. Terms like “rap metal” can be scary tags at times & in this case I fell into the trap of basing my musical perceptions purely on the genre the band was labelled.
The first half of the album was like visiting an old friend really. I was clearly very familiar with the songs even though I wasn’t necessarily conscious of it. The various singles had been played repeatedly on TV & radio during my late high school years so it was inevitable that I would pick up a lot of the details. The production is nice & heavy so the mosh sections really deliver. Zack de la Rocha’s vocal delivery is very aggressive too. I particularly enjoy the big climaxes where he really gives it everything. His delivery has enough venom to suitably match the spiteful lyrical content. Musically I’m very impressed as well though. Guitarist Tom Morello’s performance has always been highly celebrated but that’s not the element that really drives Rage Against The Machine in my opinion. It’s the super-tight rhythm section. Those guys are right in sync with each other & they're the ones that are primarily responsible for a lot of the heaviness of this record.
“Bombtrack”, “Killing In The Name” & “Bullet In The Head” may be extremely popular radio hits but they’re also very solid rock/metal tunes in their own right. There’s really very little to fault about them. The same can be said for lesser known single “Freedom” with its huge crescendo to close out the album. They’re fine examples of a very well defined, produced & executed plan. Strangely though it’s a lesser known song that pushes things to their ultimate extreme. “Settle For Nothing” is not only the heaviest track on the album but it’s also the most effective in my opinion. Its doomy Black Sabbath-style riff & Zack’s emotion-charged & in-your-face performance really get under my skin & I’m not sure this style of music gets much better than this track. There are a couple of flat moments here too though & they come in the form of “Take The Power Back” & “Know Your Enemy”. They aren’t shockers by any stretch of the imagination but they fail to grab my attention much. It’s not surprising that the heavier songs tend to appeal to my tastes a bit more than the groovier ones though.
“Rage Against The Machine” really surprised me when I first heard it. I wasn’t initially comfortable with the fact that I was enjoying a rap metal outfit but those feelings quickly faded as I realized that the band was not typical of the generic rubbish that the genre is known for. Forget the tags. If you like your music heavy, groove-laden & aggressive with some solid song-writing & very professional performances then “Rage Against The Machine” might just appeal to you.