CD REVIEW: Rage Against the Machine “XX”

Rage Against the Machine “XX”

                When Rage Against the Machine released this album some odd years ago (Don’t make me feel old), I was very much into it and them as a band on the whole.  I could point out all of the great things that RATM has done not only for music but for society, but instead I’d rather point out our own trouble in the world right now.

                Ever since RATM went away, there has been a gaping hole left in the music scene.   Bands like System of a Down have tried to fill it, but it just simply cannot be done.   Tom Morello has made a name for himself both on his own and with Audioslave (Which some like to call Soundgarden Against the Machine), but what happened to Zach De La Rocha?  You know, I read somewhere that he actually recorded some tracks with musical backing by Trent Reznor.  I would love to hear those, but right now I’d say we’d have as much shot of hearing that as we do of hearing what Kurt Cobain had recorded for the follow up to “In Utero”.  (On second thought, no, the De La Rocha/Reznor project would probably be more likely to be heard)

                If you buy this special re-release bundle, then you get a lot of bonus stuff and, well, even if you bought this album within the last year (or longer) then the bonus material alone makes picking this up worthwhile.   For me?  I let someone (I don’t recall who, but I’ll blame an ex-girlfriend) borrow this album and I haven’t heard it since so it’s a nice blast to the past as well as a constant reminder of how much trouble our music scene is currently in.    They are big shoes to fill, but someone please step up and fill the void left behind by this amazing band.