A lot has happened in the last year for political rap-rockers Rage Against the Machine. Just over a year ago, the band released its third studio album, The Battle of Los Angeles. The album received both fan and critical praise, and Rage was hailed as the messiah of rock, both for killer music and political message.
Frontman Zack De La Rocha then announced that after nine years, he was quitting the band he helped found because of a failed decision-making process that he felt was undermining the band's artistic and political ideals. In the months prior to De La Rocha's departure, the band spent a few weeks in the studio with producer Rick Rubin working on a new album. It took the lyrics from some favorite rock, rap, and punk songs, and tossed out the background music in favor of its own. Now the old songs could rock in a unique Rage Against the Machine way. The band's last group effort can be heard in Renegades, the band's fourth studio album, out in stores today.
The final result is 12 new "cover songs" that make up Renegades. While cover or tribute albums are often criticized for essentially rehashing old songs, the new album manages to deftly avoid such criticisms because of its new music. The album cannot and should not be considered a follow up to last year's masterpiece The Battle of Los Angeles, but it is still one hell of an album that no Rage fan will want to miss.
The recording process consisted of an initial pool of 60 songs covering a variety of different artists ranging from Gang of Four and Rush to NWA and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Of those 60, each band member picked four to rework into new Rage songs. Rap and hip-hop are well represented on this record, with remakes of Eric B. and Rakim's "Microphone Fiend," Afrika Bambaataa's "Renegades of Funk," (also the first single and video from the album), and Cypress Hill's "How I Could Just Kill a Man."
The wah-wah driven riffs of "Microphone Fiend" open up the album well and effectively seduce the listener to sit down for the next hour to listen to the whole thing. Tom Morello's hip hop-driven guitar riffs on "Pistol Grip Pump" make the song one of the best on the album. Brad Wilk's uptempo drumming on "Renegades of Funk" gives it an old-school rap vibe true to the spirit of the original song, which is prominently driven by what may be the most excessive use of a cowbell since Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper." The song has a shockingly dance-floor catchy groove which is very uncharacteristic of anything else in the Rage Against the Machine catalog. "How I Could Just Kill a Man" is also run through the drill, and a live performance of the song with B Real and Sen Dog from Cypress Hill is on the album as a bonus track that will only be on the limited first release of the CD.
The two songs that really will stand out on this album to a Rage Against the Machine fan or critic are their remakes of Devo's "Beautiful World" and the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man." Rage has been criticized in the past for its musical monotony. But "Beautiful World," "Renegades of Funk," and "Street Fighting Man" are all radically different from anything else the band has done in the past. Devo's ironic lyrics are put to a simple three or four chord folk guitar progression with some bass feedback hissing in the background, while De La Rocha actually sings the lyrics, as opposed to his usual rapping and screaming. The Stones' classic rebel anthem is completely redone within the context of Rage, and given an in-your-face revolutionary edginess absent from the original by the new Prodigy and electronica-inspired music played by the band.
Rock and punk are also accounted for on the remainder of this album. MC5's "Kick Out the Jams" has been a regular addition to the Rage set list in the months prior to De La Rocha's departure. The studio recording of the song doesn't have anywhere near the raw power and catchiness of the live version, which is featured as a hidden bonus track. Minor Threat's "In My Eyes" is played in the true spirit of straightedge hardcore, which is one of De La Rocha's biggest influences. Here, he showcases his ability to scream his head off in a way that is reminiscent of some songs on Rage's debut album. Bruce Springsteen's "The Ghost of Tom Joad" has been a regular addition to the Rage live set list for the past few years. It was originally recorded three years ago, but has since been tweaked with some new guitar parts dubbed in to take away from the monotony of repeating the same riff over and over for six minutes. Bob Dylan's "Maggie's Farm," which originally was more along the lines of his classic "Subterranean Homesick Blues," gets remade into a nearly seven minute jam driven by a catchy Black Sabbath-on-hip-hop bassline by Tim Commerford, and a venomous vocal performance by De La Rocha.
Renegades is a compelling yet somber listening experience for any Rage Against the Machine fan. On the one hand, the band has created a brand new, totally rocking Rage album. On the other hand, the band imploded during this album, and De La Rocha took off to pursue a solo career as a hip-hop artist.
Despite its lack of lyrical originality, Rage Against the Machine has created a new album where it pays tribute to its musical heroes, but injects its own flavor and creates something completely different. Morello has often cited Jimi Hendrix's remake of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" as a source of inspiration for how Rage chooses to interpret a cover song. It is that spirit of adding an innovative twist to another artist's song that makes this album worth checking out.
