Now that their frontman Zack de la Rocha has finally upped and left, these notoriously polemical rap-rockers are officially history. So this album is their final statement and on the face of things it doesn't seem too promising: a collection of covers that looks as if it's been churned out to fulfil some contract or other. In fact, however, the band sounds fully engaged and energised as they produce sterling performances of old rabble-raising standards such as the Rolling Stones' Street Fighting Man and Bob Dylan's Maggie's Farm. Giving these songs an electronic treatment and shrieking out the vocals will feel like heresy to some and you probably wouldn't want to listen to more than a few tracks at a time. Still, one-dimensional though it is, this parting shot shows that RATM always had a certain naïve sincerity that helped to keep ridicule at bay.
