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PROPHETS OF RAGE Prophets of Rage gets 7.5/10

Prophets of Rage
Prophets of Rage
Sony

7.5/10

An empty void of musical justice was created in 2000, when Zack de la Rocha parted ways as frontman from Rage Against the Machine and since then the world has been allowed to run wild in the streets; uncontested, as de la Rocha’s unique voice of political defiance fell silent over the airwaves.

Luckily for us Prophets of Rage have swooped down out of the shadows, like a mighty rap-metal eagle and picked up the torch, bringing with them a deluge of well produced, catchy beats, so reminiscent of the RATM era that it’s hard not to instantly fall in love with their unmistakable sound.

The recently released self titled album Prophets of Rage is everything veteran RATM fans will undoubtedly enjoy and offers a fresh voice of political angst for a new generation of politically disgruntled fans to embrace with a closed fist towards the sky.

Whilst the instrumental sound is strongly lead by Tom Morello’s distinctively creative guitar work, the band boasts the unambiguous vocal talents of front men Chuck D (Public Enemy) and B-Real (Cypress Hill), making it a cross genre album for rap and metal fans alike.

Chuck D’s vocals are, without a doubt, the smooth caramel centre to this hard shelled outfit and will arguably be a rosetta stone in the foundations of the band’s longevity.

The amalgamation of rap and rock/metal bands isn’t a new concept, where the likes of Cypress Hill teamed up with Pearl Jam and Sonic Youth in the 90s to produce music for the soundtrack to the vastly overlooked movie Judgement Night. Needless to say B-Real hasn’t been without his taste of cross genre co-labs.

One of the strengths of Prophets of Rage lies in their incredibly wise decision to use seasoned producer Brendan O’Brien who has worked with RATM, Audioslave, AC /DC and Aerosmith, to name but a few. They seem unabashed in pinning their reputation on the Rage Against the Machine days as the band name suggests. Even the 2017 tour, entitled “Make the World Rage Again” denotes a sense of picking up where we left off.

Every track on this album warrants a good listen, with strong tracks manifesting in the form of Unfuck The World, Who Owns Who and Living on the 110, which was released as a single.

The weakest song on the album is Strength in Numbers, with an intro that sounds like it was ported directly from the cutting room floor of Rage Against The Machine’s debut album and infused with a repetitive guitar riff that mimics the cluck of a well-loved farmyard bird.

Other tracks worthy of mention are: Red Hot Chili Peppers-esque Take Me Higher and Hail to the Chief; whose controversial music video depicts President Donald Trump as Hitler.

With a hefty, robust sound, Prophets of Rage is a great album to get angry to, offering political food for thought in its lyrics. Whilst the band is new and the content is new, the sound is certainly one we’ve heard before, but that’s not a bad thing.

SIMON TUBEY

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