SOUND BITES

For a middle-aged guy like me, a certain suspension of disbelief and a heavy mental investment in nostalgia are requirements in order to take a project like Prophets of Rage seriously. While there's no doubt a great deal of talent involved with the group (most of Rage Against the Machine, plus members of Public Enemy and Cypress Hill), it takes some pretty thick blinders to not see Prophets of Rage for the nostalgia factory it is. Oh, sure, it's presented under the guise of activism, and we're told to believe this exists because the world desperately needed it to. If we're being honest with ourselves, it sure seems like just another way for the non-Zack members of RATM to supplement their various solo endeavors with at least one financially viable project by substituting their former singer with reasonably viable or interesting stand-ins. It worked when they recruited Chris Cornell for Audioslave, at least for an album cycle and change, so why not recruit two of the m...

Whether or not the Prophets of Rage project (Rage Against the Machine - Zack de la Rocha + Public Enemy's Chuck D and DJ Lord + Cypress Hill's B-Real) will expand beyond their current touring plans remains to be seen, but the EP they released to coincide with the tour is a little slight. Two studio tracks (one original and one Public Enemy cover) and three live covers (1 RATM, 1 Public Enemy, 1 Beastie Boys) are all we get; and, as fun as it is to hear these tunes reworked, something about the whole thing seems lackadaisical. Maybe if Zack de la Rocha came aboard and some incendiary new tunes were written, there would more cause for excitement. As it stands, The Party's Over is an okay use of twenty minutes of your time, but at the $7 I paid for the CD it's barely worth the price of admission. August 26, 2016 • Caroline/Universal Highlights Prophets of Rage • Killing In the Name (Live)