Rage Against the Machine is a band I only started listening to out of curiosity. I’d never heard any of their music, but I had gotten into Audioslave and wanted to see what these guys were like. Rage is a unique band in many ways. First off, this album (their final album, which was called Album of the Year by many Rock magazines; Even Time Magazine in fact) is amazing. Every song is good and not just in the sense, it’s not bad. You can listen to each of these songs a few times over, there’s not one track I’d skip over while listening to it. Tom Morello (who does stuff with a guitar that the best guitar players in the world couldn’t do) is in top form; Tim Commerford cranks out some great basslines here (most notably in “Calm Like a Bomb”), and Brad Wilk is of course great. Zack De La Rocha’s vocals and lyrics are very angry and very political here; He makes some genuine points though. That’s one of the things I find most impressive about Rage. A lot of bands that do political songs, wind up with good lyrics and bad songs. It doesn’t even matter if you’re listening to the lyrics on this album; The music is still completely enjoyable. If you’re looking to buy a really good CD, then get this. Here are the tracks and occasional in-depth commentary:

1. Testify-5/5
2. Guerilla Radio-5/5-One of my favorite songs on the album.
3. Calm Like a Bomb-5/5-One of my favorite Rage songs. It’s really catchy and you can’t beat Tom Morrello’s riffs.
4. Mic Check-5/5-I love the lyrics; I love the chorus. Great song.
5. Sleep Now in the Fire-5/5-The guitar riff in this song is awesome. As are the lyrics; One of my favorite songs on here.
6. Born of a Broken Man-5/5-Zack De La Rocha speaks the verses and then pours energy into the chorus. I know some people who don’t like this song, I love it.
7. Born as Ghosts-5/5-My 2nd favorite song on the album.
8. Maria-5/5
9. Voice of the Voiceless-5/5-It’s short, but it’s a great song.
10. New Millenium Homes-5/5-This probably ties as my 2nd favorite song. It sounds a little like Bulls on Parade, but the lyrics and music are awesome.
11. Ashes in the Fall-5/5-The music is awesome. De La Rocha whispering “Like ashes in the fall” is kind of creepy; Angry lyrics that definitely get their point across.
12. War Within a Breath-5/5-And a very impressive album closer. Some of the best drumming is on this track.
GRADE: A