So why is Downset on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
It’s strange, the places that music can take us in our minds.
For example, Downset, a terrifically angry and explosive debut album that’s deeply rooted in Los Angeles circa the aftermath of the 1992 LA riots – stemming from the acquittal of four police officers on trial for brutally beating Rodney King while he was in their custody – oddly reminds me of late ‘90s London.
The simple reason for this is that in my first week of living in the UK, I stayed in a hostel in London (in a communal room with a crew of Swedish travelers and a Danish guy named Remy I quickly befriended), and jogged through dense urban streets to explore and exercise.
A mix tape that had Rage Against the Machine on one side and Downset on the other was my soundtrack during this entire brief but memorable phase of my life.
To this day, I tie the two bands and their two magnificent, self-titled debut albums together, which also makes sense simply in terms of both bands’ LA roots and the way each transcends what would soon become a full-fledged sub-genre of “rap metal.”
Of the two, Downset is grimier, “louder” (if that’s even possible versus RATM?), and perhaps even angrier.
Which brings us to “Anger,” the leadoff track and something of a thesis statement for Downset the album and Downset the band.
Anger means hostility toward the opposition, Rey Oropeza tells us several times at the beginning of the song, before launching into a howling rap-metal proclamation about oppression, race, and violence on the streets of Los Angeles.
Heavy – and I mean heavy – metal guitar is laid down by Rogelio Lozano, augmented by some of the best metal sound production I’ve ever heard, thanks to Roy Z and the rest of the band.
“Anger” finally lands on the repetition of April 29, Florence and Normandie, calling out the location of the attack on Reginald Denny in the midst of the LA riots as a repercussion of the fury unleashed by four white cops getting off the hook for nearly killing a person of color.
“Ritual” leverages the same level of passion and headbanging rage at the topic of rape, a surprisingly progressive and even brave topic for a band working in the aggressive hardcore space to take on.
The anger in “Ritual” is then turned around beautifully with this lyric:
We gotta meet this hatred with love
From a purely musical perspective, “Breed The Killer” is my favorite track on Downset. It includes maybe my single favorite headbanging hardcore metal groove I’ve ever heard (and yeah, I’m putting that up against RATM, Black Sabbath, Metallica, you name it).
I’m not qualified to speak about the lyrics on this one (white dude from the suburbs of Long Island, New York here), so I’ll just say that it’s powerful stuff.
If it’s not clear yet, Downset is not an album to be taken lightly, and it’s definitely not for everyone. And on that note, “Holding Hands” dives hardest into the band’s caustic, hardcore punk-meets-metal influences. It’s a lot, and if you’re into it, it’s bracing and incredible.
“My American Prayer” best represents Downset as a whole – much like “Freedom” does on Rage Against the Machine.
The guitar riff is more epic on this one, while “This is America the hateful!” does a lot of work in summing up Downset’s downbeat take on the state of American society and racial tensions circa 1994.
Downset never quite captured the combustible magic of their debut release again, though Do We Speak A Dead Language? (#533) is also excellent.
Nonetheless, it remains striking three decades later and well worthy of sitting on the cusp of the Top 50 of the best 1,000 albums ever.
Some stats & info about Downset
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Metal, Alternative Metal, Rap Metal, Hardcore Punk, Heavy Metal
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4 out of 5 stars
- When was Downset released? 1994
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #52 out of 1,000
Downset on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Downset that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Anger: hostility towards the opposition.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.