The new album by Rage Against The Machine(Zach de la Rocha on vocals, Brad Wilk on drums, Tom Morello on Guitar, and Y tim K on bass) is The Battle of Los Angeles, the band's third offering. Rage has managed to produce some of their best music to date. Fans will definitely not be disappointed. From top to bottom, there is not a track to skip complying one of the best albums of this decade.

The Battle of Los Angeles is filled with 12 funky, hard rocking, politically charged tracks. Tracks "Ashes in the Fall" and "Sleep now in the Fire" highlight Tom Morello's amazing guitar skills, producing sounds that are "heavy and sonically funky." Morello uses every trick in the book and then some(perfecting the sound of a DJ's Scratch by using his guitar will leave you breathless).

Zack de la Rocha has written the tightest and hardest hitting lyrics to date. de la Rocha is able to poetically paint pictures of the struggles of oppressed peoples everywhere and the revolution he hopes to bring about. de la Rocha's topic range from the Media's blind and bias reporting("Testify"), to religion ("Ashes in the Fall"), to Mumia's fight for justice ("Voice of the Voiceless") to bringing the Raza together and starting a revolution in the city of Angels("War within a Breath").

Stand out tracks are "Voice of the Voiceless" (Zach powerfully whispers to the powers that be that "This little brother's watching you too"), the ballad-like "Maria" and the perfectly blended styles of "Born of a Broken Man"(The drastic change of tempo from slow and melodic to heavy and dark is just mind blowing).

Rage's hard rock/punk sound enhances Zack's furious raps, and makes the music that much more powerful. This is also Rage's funkiest album. Credit Tim C. and Brad Wilk with such funky rhythms that Rage's music has heads banging and feet moving. Tracks Mic Check(a reggae-ish hip hop track done purely on instruments) and Calm like a Bomb best illustrate the funky beats.

The only bothersome issue of the album is that many fans might confuse "War without a Face" from the Evil Empire album to "War within' a Breath". Also the hook from "Vietnow" is similar to the hook in "Guerrilla Radio". A small insignificant issue considering that the only similarity of the tracks are the titles and the hooks, but the music and lyrics are definitely different.

An important album(theme and subject matter wise) that is also so musically brilliant is just pure genius. The bands theme throughout the album is the call for unity and the screams for action to be taken now against the oppressor. Rage continues the struggle that no one else is willing to. The theme of the album is best summed up in "Guerrilla Radio".

"It has to start somewhere, It has to start sometime. What better place than here, What better time than now. All hell can't stop us now."

With this musically and lyrically magnificent album, nothing can stop them now.

Written by: Richard Montes