"This is tha new sound, just like tha old sound"... (The Battle Of Los Angeles - Rage Against The Machine)

Member Name: mo79

Product:	The Battle Of Los Angeles - Rage Against The Machine
Date:	05/07/00 (109 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Takes the best of both their previous albums and adds more sonic attitiude and funkiness; reminiscent of a Bob Marley & The Wailers for the new millennium

Disadvantages: Nothing really radical that we haven't already heard before

3 albums in nearly 10 years is not good, but atleast the band are honest in promising us their very best rather than releasing dodgy albums every two years.
In 1999 then, we see that RATM return (after an ongoing band scuffle...again!) with a new album, collectively written (unlike their last), and takes the best of both their last albums and adds something a little bit nouveau!
In honesty, though 'TBOLA' is a truly mesmerising album, it doesn't offer much in longevity, and though there is some hints of fresh sparkle to their sound, their isn't anything we haven't heard two times before...
Opener (and first single) 'Guerilla Radio' with it's harmonica sounding guitar solo is great, but it just sounds like 'Bulls On Parade' (from their last album) pt 2.; which is alright, as it's a great song, and there's no doubt about that - but I really think they should move their sound on; start from a new set of building blocks (while retaining their roots, of course) and challenge their existing fans with a record that's really new and somewhat hard to swallow, really!
That aside, Zack is still a moving shouty bloke, and his lyrics are intelligent and moving as ever, and Tom has added some more arsenal to his box of guitar tricks; while bassist Tim (known as Y.tim.K) on this album has decided not to totally 'rage against the machine' (a prophecy by the band not to use computers to aid their music to date...And now they use a sample on one song! *shock horror*) and used an effects pedal on his bass. Drummer Brad Wilk's drumming also sounds more natural with his parts hardly being edited and being recorded in one continuous take per song (as with the rest of the band, courtesy of Pearl Jam producer Brendan O' Brien's vision for a more 'gourmet' sound, who produced their last album too).
Songs like 'Calm Like A Bomb' and 'Mic Check' sound very eerily like Bob Marley
and The Wailers resurrected for the new cold millennium, while 'Born Of A Broken Man' and 'Maria' see the band go a bit more folky and Springsteen like, something they haven't extensively done before; which is great! Elsewhere 'Sleep Now In The Fire' sounds like a hip-hop version of Nirvana's 'Breed', and 'Ashes In The Fall' provides us with an upgrade of RATM's current aural crescendo (my favourite song on here), only to end with the truly funky 'War Within A Breath'.
It's a great album, very natural, cohesive and tried to be different; and we'll let them get away with that just, this time, but RATM really need to deconstruct/reconstruct themselves for the next album, or they'll be forgotten; seriously! Hopefully the band will be fresher after Zack completes his impending solo album soon though...

Summary: