This incendiary debut album by RATM introduced us both to the always-inventive guitar work of Tom Morello and the profane but passionate rhyming of Zak de la Rocha. They never bettered it, and few other people did as well.
This album puts most rap-rock to shame, basically. Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, they all got it from here and were mere, poor imitators of the masters. Weighing in at just 10 tightly-wound tracks, there is not a duff song on it. 'Killing In The Name Of' is the sweary anthem that got them on started; I find it's best heard on headphones, as the mix is so broken down that you can hear every note each band members plays. The song, and the album, is so stripped down but so powerful at the same time, a testament to the musicianship of the band.
De la Rocha was positively overflowing with bile (and still is), on songs like 'Freedom', and 'Take The Power Back.' The most famous song here is probably 'Wake Up,' the eminently brilliant song that closes the first Matrix film in classy style. It was a great track long before it was used on that soundtrack, and on the follow up movie, a latter-day song, 'Calm Like A Bomb' was used for the same purpose; it failed miserably.
They spent four years working on the massively disappointing follow-up to this. But in truth, they were never going to manage to follow up this rap-metal masterpiece. An extraordinary band, and an extraordinary album.
