For Week Ending:
25 August 2023

Probot - Probot (2004)

[Metal]

Over his lengthy career Dave Grohl has time and again proven himself to be full of surprises, but none probably turned heads more than Probot. At a time when the Foo Fighters were heading into their most consumable and radio friendly music yet, Grohl decided to record a metal album. Originally for fun, but later growing into a full project, Probot as a concept was simple - Grohl would write the songs, and invite his favourite metal vocalists from the 80s to feature on them. What takes the album to the next level is Grohl's ability to perfectly mimic the styles of music the guest vocalist are known for. 'Shake Your Blood' featuring Lemmy on vocals is the song Motorhead should have recorded, whilst 'Red War' sounds so Max Cavalera in style that it is uncanny. 'Sweet Dreams' featuring King Diamond is an 80s metal masterpiece that never was. The album was hyped upon release, but quickly disappeared to no more than a foot note in Grohl's repertoire - but that is unsurprising considering his audience were probably scratching their heads at voices like Cronos of Venom and Snake of VoiVod. One song has seemed to endure though - a hidden track called 'I Am The Warlock' with Jack Black front-and-centre explaining how he is going to destroy the listener's life, in the way only Jack Black can.

Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine (1992)

[Alternative Rock]

In some of my reviews I start with understanding why a band and their release became so popular in the years to come. 1992 was a tough year for any band to release something that would catch the attention of anyone listening to Rock, Metal and now Grunge. RATM doesn't fit into any of these so how/why? I challenge anyone likely to be in their teens or early 20's to identify that RATM is essentially a protest band. I certainly didn't. It wasn't about the lyrics back then, it was the infectious, uniqueness of Morello and how he massaged his guitar to make some sounds that are quite obscure but captivating. Encourage anyone to look up some vids on how he plays. Then you have the angry man Zack. And he is angry. He can play the peaceful, sorrowful, worrying, merciful vox. Next he has built up the rage, anger, spite, revenge type vox. If you read the lyrics, their protest is real - Zack a descendant of those involved in the Mexican revolution and Morello with a Kenyan father that was involved in their uprising in the 1950's and ended up being Kenya's first ambassador to the UN. Anger is a Gift. In any case if there is a poll on best first releases for a band, you have Pearl Jam (Ten) up there and RATM wouldn't be far down the list in my view.