In a manner similar to when both Radiohead and The Stone Roses were imminently announcing details regarding new materials and tours, over the past 48 hours rumours have been intensifying that political rock group Rage Against the Machine are set to make an announcement of some sort.
A new website has been set up, titled ‘Prophets of Rage‘ along with a countdown for just under two weeks time, along with the hashtag #takethepowerback which seems to reference a RATM song of the same name; incidentally ‘Prophets of Rage’ is a song by Public Enemy and that combined with the fact that Public Enemy’s Chuck D has been tweeting about RATM seems to point towards some sort of collaboration from the two:
Rage Against The Machine – Testify – Live At Finsbury Park, London / 2010 https://t.co/LwDMCBQ71t via @YouTube
— Chuck D (@MrChuckD) May 17, 2016
Not just that but people based in LA have been seeing flyers posted around the city with the new logo of whatever ‘Prophets of Rage’ represents:
Has anyone seen these mysterious posters appearing around Los Angeles? #TakeThePowerBack https://t.co/UhG07gziJz pic.twitter.com/UomEzhRR5u
— FlippenMusic (@flippenmusic) May 17, 2016
Rage Against the Machine are of course world famous for their blend of rap and rock; mixing political lyrical flow from lead man Zack de la Rocha with rock/metal from the rest of the band. It is in the lyrics of de la Rocha wherein they found their fame, his social commentary gave voice to a generation of disillusioned leftist music fans during the 90s. However RATM were also well known for their incredibly lively live performances and defiance against what they deemed as authoritative figures; this displayed most famously during a (now infamous) performance of ‘Killing in the Name’ for BBC Radio, where they were asked to not swear, as I’m sure you can imagine, that didn’t go down exactly too well:
Rage haven’t performed together in over four years, with their last performances coming during 2012. More than that, it has been 16 years since the release of their last album: ‘Renegades’ which came out 2000 (if you hadn’t figured that out!). So in that regard, any news from the band will be massively significant!
