Aren’t live albums just a way of cashing in on the devotion of diehard fans? Surely Epic are guilty of exploiting RATM’s legacy in the most despicable fashion? Whatever.
Opener ‘Bulls On Parade’ sets out the formula: middle eights are for facist sympathisers – Riff, raps, b-movie sound-effect guitar solo, breakdown, build-up, riff with screaming repeated vocal – this is the way of the Zapatista. Their arsenal is limited, but powerful; ‘Calm Like A Bomb’ – fluid bass line and astonishing Matrix Quality guitar effects – represents all you want from a song about police brutality; ‘Bombtrack’ – unflinching in delivery and content and benefitting from cohesive modern production, with bass and drums sounding tougher and meaner than even the original album versions.‘Guerilla Radio’ is a brilliant composite of political rant (‘What better place than here? What better time than now?’) and goodtime rock chorus (Radiohead take note – this is how to stick it to The Man).
But the guitars on ‘Killing In The Name’ seem lightweight (Ed Wood-esque solo aside) and the ending turns into jazz-fusion. The MC5’s ‘Kick Out The Jams’ blends into a moshtastic ‘Know Your Enemy’ containing yet another blistering solo from drop-tuned Sci-fi Guitar anti-hero Tom Morello. They close with the anti-consumerist ‘Freedom’ (‘What does the billboard say...Forget your history and Culture and just Buy’).
Its substance over style approach is at odds with the recent incarnation of guitar rock but this set triumphs on sheer will and energy.