RATM Album Review (Self-Titled album)

Rage Against the Machine has had a great reputation since the start of their career; the blend of rap and metal had been attempted before, but had never, and still never has, come so close to perfection. Fans of both metal and rap may have had mixed feelings about the album upon its release, but the listening experience presented by the revolutionary album has caught the attention of fans of both genres for many reasons. The album not only utilizes elements of both rap and metal (and other elements that make the album worthy of even more praise), but contains meaningful, powerful lyrics. Rage Against the Machine’s songs have a sort of attempted brain-wash feeling to them; the constant repetition of short phrases in their songs, rather than focusing heavily on choruses, like most bands, almost forces you to remember the meanings to all of their songs. Luckily for them, their songs contain so much useful content that the repetition does not hurt their purpose. If de la Rocha wants you to be more wary of the ways of the world and the deception that lies in the hearts of man, then he will scream “Wake Up” until you realize the message he wants to convey. The band rarely strays from the path of politics and issues within the human world, which is a nice touch; it is nice to hear from bands that do not always focus their lyrics around cheesy love or partying (or cheesy love of partying for that matter). Overall, the album will continue to be remembered for not only combining many genres to deviate from the mainstream, and even the rock, world on not only an instrumental level, but also in a lyrical sense; they will always be remembered for their powerful political songs.