Rage Against the Machine

La música y las imágenes de un tiempo de rabia tras caer del caballo. Para mí sigue envejeciendo como los buenos vinos. Tengo guardadas todas las canciones de este disco y todas merecen la pena escucharse con las letras en la mano y hacer un esfuerzo por entender el mensaje de rabia.

Powerful, powerful album. It's music to ram through a concrete wall to, and the chanting vocals succeed in articulating pressing issues that are still very relevant today.

That's the key that makes bands like Rage and SOAD stand out for me -- 'anger is a gift', and they manage to meaningfully channel it towards subjects that deserve every bit of that energy. That's on top, of course, of the incredible instrumentation on all fronts (I'm particularly a sucker for the aggressive bass).

High 4 for me, though it's very much a 5 in the right listening context (such as a concrete wall standing before me)

Standouts: Killing In The Name • Know Your Enemy • Freedom

Absolute classic filled with bangers, that's still as politically relevant today as it was when it released. Morello's inventive guitar is fantastic, Commorford's basslines perfect, Brad Wilk an incredibly underrated drummer, and on top of it Zack de la Rocha's punchy, immediate vocals bring the energy. Standouts for me are Bombtrack, Killing in the Name, Know Your Enemy, and Fistful of Steel.

I love the grooves on this album, and the lyrics are still relevant today. Tom Morello is a fantastic and innovative guitar player, but sometimes his weird noises tend to irritate me.

How do I write this review? Well, I guess I'll start by saying that I didn't enjoy the album. Too angry. Too political. Too a lot of things. Just not something I want to listen to. Politics and music can and do work together, but in my opinion, this is just annoying and doesn't do anything to change what they are raging about for almost an hour straight. Also every single track overstays it's welcome. Meh.

Really fucking good. But yeah, not much changed since then...

An absolute classic.

Neke legendarne stvari su s razlogom legendarne čak i kad meni nisu baš najdraže. Ono ne bih mogla slušati Rage stalno, ali kako inovativno zvuče i danas, a tek kad bih se zamislila prije tridesetak godina da ovo čujem prvi put, mozak bi mi sigurno eksplodirao. Čujem dosta Audioslave jer sam ja na njima odrastala pa je i to veliki plus. Jedini rap koji zaista mogu reći da volim.

Another amazing album. Rage had a pretty big influence on my late teens and twenties, really opening my mind to a lot of injustices in an era that didn’t have the 24-hour news cycle and constant flood of information that we have now. It’s a real shame we didn’t get another album or two out of them before Zack shut up shop, but we have this masterpiece to remember them by.

what can I say

Very nice, very cool. Had only really heard one of these before but they all go hard.

Onhan siinä vähän sellaista nuorten miesten kiihkoa, mutta hyvää sellaista! 4/5

De la Rocha has always been the weak link of the band for me (as in, I don't love his vocals; lyrically, I'm all on board), and there are times when he gets to be a bit much on this record, but there are enough standout tracks ("Killing in the Name", "Know Your Enemy", "Wake Up") and killer musical moments to get it over the 3.5-star hump. I imagine I'd probably be a little higher on *Evil Empire* and *The Battle of Los Angeles*.

3.5/5

It’s all one song, but that song is really good.

I’ve never been a fan of Rage Against the Machine, but I promised myself I’d give their self-titled debut a fair shot.

To my surprise, I enjoyed this album far more than I expected. It’s not just mindless head-banging — it’s a sharp mix of genres with real purpose behind the noise. The record is full of raw power, anguish, and unfiltered anger, driven by anarchic lyrics that still feel relevant to America today, more than 30 years on.

I have to admit, I probably liked this album more than I’d ever admit publicly. Consider my opening statement withdrawn.

Favourite track: Killing in the Name is iconic for a reason, and Take the Power Back really hit me. I also loved the Zeppelin-esque guitar intro to Wake Up.
Least favourite track: Honestly, I enjoyed every track.
Album artwork: Simple, bold, and instantly recognisable.

Yesterday, I had Rid of Me by PJ Harvey, which was my formative teenage 'yeah, fuck the lot of you!' album. RATM was clearly that album for a lot of people around my age, so I completely understand the love for it in the reviews. For me though, while I was amped up for the first few tracks, it eventually got a bit wearying.

Deserves 5 for killing in the name and their whole career, even of this isn't their best album.

I don't know. All a bit shouty, thrashy and futile for me. Can imagine this has inspired more gobby, spiky haired shits to refuse to clean their bedroom than to engage in making the world a better place. Can't help jumping around to some bits though.

This is the first physical album I ever bought with that cute little "Parental Advisory" sticker on it, and I could have done a hell of a lot worse. I'm not gonna say that the world needs this album right now, because the implication that world peace could be achieved by sitting everyone down with a Rage album is frankly stupid, but maybe *I* need this right now. In the present day, it is a deeply stupid time to be an American, and hearing just how much Rage Against The Machine seems to "get it" is on some level cathartic, but on another worrying, because if so many of the same issues and ideas confronted here feel prescient and fresh, then just maybe it has *always* been a stupid time to be an American. Now, this is a conclusion I came to a while ago, but this is certainly a cultural artifact which constitutes material evidence supporting that hypothesis. Rage Against The Machine may be the most successful band to ever explicitly combine Metal and Hip-Hop. And I think there is an argument that this may be the greatest album within its niche. Zack De La Rocha's powerful vocals, Tom Morello's distinct and iconic guitar work and Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk's groovy rhythm section makes for a formidable band. This album is an outburst of righteous, intelligent anger that captured the public through its intensity and fantastic songs, not to mention the incredibly powerful album art. This tracklist is just stacked. Bombtrack is very representative of the band's sound and it rockets out of the gate. Killing In The Name is an all-timer, one of the most iconic songs of the '90s, maybe ever. "Fuck You, I Won't Do What You Tell Me" is a mantra for a certain generation of music listeners, it is incredibly powerful. Take The Power Back gets groovy with it, bringing out the bass work. Settle For Nothing is incredibly dynamic, with its incredibly heavy riffs. And Rage Against The Machine just never runs out of steam. Bullet In The Head is the closest we have to a low point, but I honestly think it's a matter of personal preference. But even so, we get into Know Your Enemy, which just moves with so much energy. I'd like to take a moment to mention just how detailed all these compositions are, like there really isn't a lazy song here, there's always a great riff, or bridge, or solo around the corner. I only have so much to say about the last 4 songs here, like they are also sick as hell. Although I would like to make a mention of Township Rebellion, a super underrated song. I mean, if you're interested in metal *or* hip hop *or* you're just angry, throw this on, it's damn near perfect.

WOW i thought these guys were great but I just read the lyrics and realized they’re WOKE how do i change my review to 1 star