updateghost's Full Review: Evil Empire [PA] by Rage Against the Machine
Evil Empire is what I like to consider the middle child of all Rage, in terms of while-a-band Rage-penned albums Though they did release a fourth album, it was after they broke up, its all covers anyway, so there's no legitimate rage to it.
I could certainly see what MattA75 meant when he said their first album was "not quite as important as Evil Empire." To my ears, their first album seemed a lot more casually p*ssed off, as if they cared but didn't care THAT much and needed something to write about, so they wrote about politicians and "the system," plus the record is less aggressive and there's more rapping and less screaming. The third album, "Battle of Los Angeles," seems focused on creating the coolest, weirdest sounds possible, and Zach only being mad because he's supposed to be- while I like that album (for the most part), there doesn't seem to be as much emotion in it as in all of their other material.
But Evil Empire is very clearly FULL OF ANGER AND HATRED, RAAAAAAH! as it seems that every single band member saw something happen in the world that just made them want to kill everybody. There's far more screaming than rapping, and Morello's tunes are no longer fun- they're just ANGRY. The only member of the band who doesn't seem to make much of a change is Brad Wilk, who only adds a few more crash hats for the sake of having them.
But even as much as I like it, hearing Evil Empire, I really unhooked a few times over my listening, and realized: wow, this music is absolutely ridiculous. Its not even cool anymore- there was this class and kick-@$$ness to their first album, and general goodness/general badness to their third. With the exception of the first two tracks, just about every song in here is outright crazy in vocals and tune, but somehow, you come to like it.
The album's first notes are light on People of the Sun, but it really sounds like a return album, de la Rocha saying a few words during Morello's simple guitar, rapping for a bit, and then with the chorus kicking in powerfully, It's coming back around again. This is for the people of the sun. But this song is merely a teaser for the hardness of the rest of the album- the following track, the most popular single, and the best song on the album, Bulls on Parade, just reeks with awesomeness, starting out very loudly after a snare, relaxing a bit, then de la Rocha being a bit excited with, "Come wit it now," then rapping his @$$ off when the song really begins. And as I listen to these lyrics, I have no idea what the hell he's talking about, but it sounds great anyway.
Vietnow is the other track I had heard before buying this album- at first I had not really been much a fan of it, listening to the whole song only about twice and the other times trying to get the gist of it, then changing tracks. It starts out not too likably, and I think it was a bad song to put after the former, because after an experience like that, you want something seriously awesome, and that's not what you get- you just get a forgettable good song with an unforgettable title- the finish is awesome, but I can't say it really adds to the overall goodness of the song. The track that follows, Revolver, is what I like to consider the album's weakest song, while its not that bad. It starts out really interestingly, sort of sounding like The Mars Volta, even though that album came out afterwards... yeah... Revolver fails to be good because it doesn't balance itself out too well. It plays slowly during parts, and then just rages into a pretty dumb chorus where Rocha just screams, and it reminds me of BoLA's worst tracks, which certainly isn't a good thing.
With a title like Snakecharmer, I'd expect the song would start out with a mid-Eastern tune, but instead it has an African-ish drumbeat, which changes into a tune which has de la Rocha moan-talking almost sickly, and at first I was unimpressed, but Morello saves it with the music that comes afterwards, and really has some music that makes you recall the first album, which is a good thing. After a weird ending from that song, we go into an-almost-as-ridiculous-as-Revolver Tire Me a song that seems have some of the fake rage that BoLA had, just rambling around stupidly, and while the song stays with poor quality for the most part, it does have my favorite part of the entire album, where Zach whispers, I wanna be Jackie Onassis, I wanna wear a pair of dark sunglasses, I wanna be Jackie O Oh Oh Oh please don't die! And that's just... cool. The song gets better from there, and leads into the seventh track, Down Rodeo, which has the most un-RATM beginning, but its an impressive one. This is just a cool song, somewhat relaxed but really angry, as if he's laughing in your face for being such an idiot, and coolly saying, These people ain't seen a brown skin man since their grandparents bought one. That's awesome, and Down Rodeo rocks, especially with Morello's follow-up to those lyrics.
Without a Face isn't special, and carries more of that general ridiculousness that I mentioned in two previous tracks, but it is the best of those three, Morello probably saving it again with weird effects that work, and Timmy C. also having a nice tension release. The track that follows it, I guess, is what you could say is the epic song of the album, having an epic title (Wind Below), having a long beginning, being slow, and being six minutes long. But its a good song- Morello has a Calm Like a Bomb-ish tune, and its not as good as the aforementioned song, but it is good, and the chorus is self-titled-like. The release is also pretty good, plus there's the song's two minute near-silence, where Morello's proves his brilliance.
Roll Right is the essential Evil Empire track. It is what represents every song, and is there one of these on every album in America- it culminates everything you hear on this CD, and is essentially its theme. Its a good song, but is forgettable compared the next track, which is the third best on the album, the closer, Year of tha Boomerang, which has a title that brings a smile to my face, and that obviously goes to suggest "some day" there's going to be a revolution in this country, and that will be "tha year of tha boomerang." The song's premise is pretty dumb, being a big attack on "conservatives" and saying they are the ones who "imprison" America, which is funny, because conservatives say the exact same thing about liberals, and its ridiculous both ways. Anyway... this song is good, having a very angry, very cool, very weird finish, which is the most exciting I've ever heard on an album. Its pretty bad-@$$.
This is definitely a recommendable album, but when you open up the sleeve, and you really get an idea of what Rage Against the Machine is, and how unrealistic their goals are. For a while I thought Tom Morello was a political realist with honest (yet "liberal" views), until I saw him wearing a cap with a hammer and sickle on it, and you know what... I wonder why people get offended when a swastika "represents" the death of six million Jews (even though a swastika meant peace and goodwill before that), when the Hammer and Sickle was worn when 50 million died... yet Morello wears this cap, and played with a band that screamed at swastika's. My level of respect for him seemed to come down right there, since I am very much not a fan of communists, not seeing their realism at all. I was hoping the rest of RATM was not like this as well, but when you view the sleeve, just look at the titles of the books included in it... "The Anarchist Cookbook" (I think de la Rocha supports violence against the government)... "Rebellion from the Roots"... "Hegemony and Revolution"... "Women in the Transition to SOCIALISM"... "The Black Panthers Speak"... and crap like that which really won't get you anywhere. It kinda goes to show where the band's beliefs lie. Their theme really is "If communists aren't saying it, it CAN'T be true." So listening to RATM for political reasons is not a very good idea.
But aside from that, ignoring their politics as I always try to, this album is pretty good for the most part, having three not-so-strong tracks, but beating out what is sometimes the badness of Battle of Los Angeles. However it never comes close to the greatness of the first release.
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