Rage Against The Machine
Rage Against The Machine-XX (20th Anniversary Ed

In 1992, the band that would later become legendary Rage Against the Machine released their debut album. Perhaps the most politicized band in the world became, if not the founder of rapcore, then certainly the main collective of the genre. The first album of the "rebels against the machines" is an example of what great rapcore should be. When listening, you immediately notice the magnificent guitar parts of Tom Morello, the son of a Kenyan revolutionary and one of the best guitarists in the world. Clear, perky, rather heavy riffs, coupled with various guitar effects, which Morello masterfully controls, are perfect for the rap reading of RATM vocalist Zack de la Rocha. To all this is added the virtuoso funk playing of bassist Tim Commerford, who creates the overall rhythm of the songs together with drummer Brad Wilk. This whole mixture of hard rock, heavy metal, funk and rap vocals is balanced in one of the most perky albums in history. Rage Against the Machine's songs can be easily listened to as regular rapcore action films, without thinking about any political or social meaning, which is proven by the large number of films and video games in which the band's songs are featured. But RATM's lyrics are very important. A powerful social protest has always been present in them, and on the first album it is expressed most vividly. This social struggle permeates everything, starting with the album cover, which features the famous photograph of Thich Quang Duc, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk burning himself in Saigon in 1963. With this gesture, the monk expressed protest against President Ngo Dinh Diem, who oppressed Buddhism. In the very first song, "Bombtrack," Zack de la Rocha promises to burn down the old, unfair world. The second song on the album, perhaps the most famous and provocative of the group, is "Killing in the name." It has only 10 lines that are repeated throughout the song. In the lyrics of "Killing in the Name". American society is compared to the Ku Klux Klan, and there is also a call not to kill people in the name of anyone (read: not to serve in the army). The rest of the songs also have social themes: discussions about mass control, poverty, political stupidity and the gullibility of many Americans, calls to wake up and start fighting injustice "in the land of hypocrites" and so on. It is worth noting that the most perky and musically aggressive song of the album "Know Your Enemy", in which various aspects of the "American dream" are sharply criticized, featured the vocalist of the Tool group Maynard James Keenan. As a result, we have one of the most important albums of rock music of the 90s. Perky songs, excellent rap reading, uncompromising fight for justice. It often happens that socially oriented groups have a rather boring musical part, but this is definitely not about RATM. With such music, you can immediately go to the revolution.

What can I say about this album that haven't been said? An album that truly changed the history of rock. Feels like a protest but with a band playing along. This anniversary version has a very interesting article about the band by Chuck D on the booklet.

Great grooves, powerful riffs. The album is 5 Star, no doubt about that. The XX remix is also 5 Star in my opinion.

Outstanding debut album. The music suited very well with Zack de la Rocha‘s voice. Those groovy music arrangement is among the best out there.