Renegades

Although this album is more hip-hopish than the others it makes a great addition to the Rage legacy, Zack de la Roca is and excellent lead singer/rapper!! tom morello mastery of the guitar is excellent! good album!! a must have!!

I do not agree with Rage's message in trying to take down the government but I LOVE their music. Tom Morello is a genius on the guitar, Brad Wilk is an amazing drummer, and Zach is a singer full of pure energy.

I grew up listening to RATM and even though I do not agree with all of their political views I still admire their music. This album is absolutely great, I understand most songs on this album are about a political view [Kick out the Jams, Ghost of Tom Joad, Streeting Fighting Man, Maggies Farm] but tying that in with other songs like [Microphone Fiend, Down on the Street, Pistol Grip Pump] is just brilliant. Listen to the original recording of one of these songs and then listen to RATM's cover. When most of the bands in todays time cover a song it sounds exactly the same as the song they are covering, Rage puts their own unique mix on the song. I think this album is amazing.

While you won't find Rage's amazing lyrics or political fire on this, their final album, you will find something much more amazing. Rage's high-powered rock attack on the classics. The Ghost of Tom Joad. Amazing. Intense. Everything you would expect from a Rage song. There is so much fire and intensity on this album, and yet, it's often their most forgettable album. Probably because the Rage you expect to pummel you with their message, ultimately beat you into submission with their ability as musical artists. A must for any fan.

So Rage Against the Machine was a pretty popular rap/rock group for most of the 90's with a strong political message, and then they broke up. The singer did his own thing while the rest of the band played with Chris Cornell as Audioslave, although recently that act broke up too, and now Rage is playing shows again and people wonder if they're going to do some recording. Renegades was their last studio album, but it wasn't a normal one, as it's a collection of covers. Some are song by contemporaries like Cypress Hill, others are of more classic bands. Some of them are interesting, although most just transform it into a typical Rage song. That's fine, as a normal Rage song can be pretty awesome. But too much of the same thing can get pretty tiresome, and since they didn't really write these songs, they don't get much credit for crunching, angry guitars and rapping lyrics someone else wrote.

"Microphone Fiend" gets it started just the way you'd expect, a lot of attitude and a lot of bass. "Pistol Grip Pump" is one of the standouts. It's actually quite repetitive, but there's just something enticing about the riff and the beat. "Renegades of Funk" has a catchy sample and is a pretty good single. "Beautiful World" is about the only song on the album that doesn't sound like Rage Against the Machine, very mellow and respectful of the original version. "How I Could Just Kill a Man" is another enjoyable, hard rocking track. "Maggie's Farm" rounds out the album with a loud, angry, typical finish that you expect from a band that rages so much, especially against the machine. My copy is actually a special edition with two live bonus tracks, although neither is especially compelling and just stretch out the experience. They really just lessen the impact of ending on "Maggie's Farm" which was actually fairly good. It's a pretty decent album, although I think huge fans might have wanted a bigger last hurrah.

Ill start out saying that i do truly love Rage with a passion. Sure there are a few songs that don't catch on as much as others, but i do love the political meaning and the attitude behind every one of their tracks. No going soft, even when doing covers for every song in Renegades. I honestly had no idea that Bob Dylan wrote "Maggie's Farm" since they pretty much only kept the lyrics and made it one of my favorite Rage songs. Others like "Pistol Grip Pump" and "How I Could Just Kill A Man" never EVER get old to me. Now all i have to do is find a way for Rage to have a concert in Hawaii, then i'm set.