The Battle Of Los Angeles (studio album) by Rage Against The Machine

They bring their classic dynamic and explosive sound onto this record and it rocks the whole way through. It is a very consistent album in that every song is at least good but only a few go beyond that quality. The guitars and drums work so well together and almost feel like one entity with how cohesive they are. They explode onto the scene on the first track and then maintain that energy throughout. The vocal is also very aggressive and powerful when delivering their messages. However, the lack of outstanding tracks keeps this album back from being considered one of the best. With basically all the big songs coming at the start as well it can become a slog by the end and does get a little repetitive. Overall, an album that is very easy to rock out to and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Not sure I agree with all of these lads' politics, but hey who cares when the music is this good. A very easy listen - 12 tracks of pure energy (+ No Shelter depending on which version you get - which is another classic). Highlights are Guerilla Radio, Testify, Sleep now in the fire... "I'm deep inside your children, they'll betray you in my name".

From Larcx13 12/23/2020 11:44

rocked this whole album for the first time yesterday and today it's album of the day...

good stuff

Great album. First half full of dynamic furious tracks. 'Sleep Now in the Fire' being my favorite of all Rage songs. Starts tailing off with the last 5 songs though.

From Brad1770 05/05/2018 08:14

Incredible to think 'The Battle Of Los Angeles ' remains RAT's most recent release of original material , the album is now nudging 19 years by 2018

IMHO this is a real mixed bag...

"Guerrilla Radio" is sublime and one of THE great songs period

"Testify " , "Calm Like a Bomb" , " Sleep Now In the Fire " and " War Within a Breath " are all GREAT and I could listen to them all day

The other tracks are merely ok and "Maria" is a bit of a stinker

Fortunately the terrific tracks carry this album and I definitely prefer its more polished package versus their debut which was way too ARGHHHHHHHH ..... from beginning to end

You must jump on to YouTube and check out the official videos for Guerrilla Radio / Sleep Now In the Fire and Calm Like a Bomb . They really are incredible and compliment this album perfectly

65/100

Better than Evil Empire, but not as exhilarating as their debut. A little "Safe" in comparison, but wtf, it's a good album.

From xMUSICSNOBx 05/03/2016 16:29

I really enjoyed this album a bit. Energetic and explosive instrumentals through and through. The lyrics did seem a bit forced and disjointed at times, as if hes just shouting random political words. But other than that i really enjoyed it, definitely in my top ten albums of its decade.

Simply a great record!

About equal to Evil Empire for me.

On one hand, this album does feel a bit "safe" to me. More or less, Rage has returned to the sound of their self-titled debut. Only this time around, the songs are shorter in length and have less profanity, making them more radio-friendly.

On the other hand, this album is definitely more consistent than Evil Empire, and it contains one of my favourite RATM songs: "Calm Like A Bomb".

Very very good. Explosive! Maybe better than Evil Empire