Rage Against The Machine (1992)
I’ve always liked good rock with meaning more than good rock without. So that’s not a problem here. And I enjoy Zach De La Rocha’s lyrics and performance. The backup from his musical mates is impressive as well. All that being said, I’d love to love this album, but the songwriting just doesn’t hold up throughout. A solid effort, though, and worthy of a follow-up.
(“Killing In The Name”, “Bullet In The Head”)
Grade: B
The Battle Of Los Angeles (1999)
The synth attempt on track eleven is silly and sad. They have one method of delivery, and frankly sound really boring/annoying/silly when they try to “branch out”.
On another note, “Born Of A Broken Man” is a completely obvious (and sad, there’s that word again) ripoff of Jesus Jones’ “Right Here, Right Now”. It actually brought back some memories that left me humming inside my head. The rest (“Guerilla Radio” excepted) is so formulaic and repetitive on this, their third album featuring the same music (hello, AC/DC) that I have no choice but to say that this year’s model is easily the worst of the triplets. I see why they broke up. Quite frankly, I’m sick of them and am glad that the band (except Zach, maybe?) made the right decision.
Grade: C-