Rage Against the Machine
The Battle of Los Angeles (Epic/Sony)
In 1992, Rage Against the Machine released their eponymous debut, 10 tracks of politically charged, era-defining, sonically assaulting heavy metal hip-hop. With little initial promotion and much word of mouth, the album eventually went platinum. The group’s 1996 follow-up, Evil Empire, featured the same ingredients of vocal/drum raps with lockstep guitar/bass riffs, and sold even better. The third full-length by the Los Angeles-based quartet, drummer Brad Wilk, bassist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello, and vocalist Zack de la Rocha, doesn’t stray too far from the structure of previous releases (imagine all three efforts resulting from the same super-studio session), but Rage Against the Machine’s forte is not so much sonic diversity as landing a musical and lyrical knockout punch like “Freedom,” the incendiary closer off their first album. The 12 tracks on The Battle of Los Angeles compose a loosely themed portrait of the City of Lost Angels, a place where fractures of the American Dream poke through the social skin like a compound fracture, whether it’s economic over human development (“New Millennium Homes,” “Maria”), or the sometimes democratizing effects of technology (“Guerrilla Radio”). Compared to their debut, Evil Empire was more backbeat than powerchord, but the sledgehammer beats and licks were still there. Same goes for The Battle of Los Angeles (check out the Beastie rhythms of “Mic Check” and the Sabbath beats on “Calm Like a Bomb”). Chances are Rage Against the Machine have another platinum album on their hands. At least.
This article appears in November 12 • 1999.