1. downset (1994) -- Their debut CD contained fast-paced in-your-face political lyrical action with mostly mediore music lines.

2. Do We Speak a Dead Language? (1996) -- With this release, downset developed their music, including catchier bass lines. The vocals became tied to the music more instead of being mere rap.

3. Check Your People (2000) -- In 2000 downset utilized heavy musical action supplemented by strong vocals and minor repetition.

4. Universal (2004) -- Most recently, they put out some catchy slap bass and average guitar riffs with shorter weakened lyrics. The songs follow a trend of painful repetition.

As you can see, I feel that downset reached a high point in 2000 with Check Your People, combining the lyrical punch of their self-titled release and the musical advances of Do We Speak a Dead Language? Naturally, I was disappointed to see the waver in Universal. I personally prefer the unintelligible jumble of political ramblings that made downset lyrics stand out from others and the music that went with the vocals perfectly.


Good   January 1, 2009
Sibelan Forrester (The Shire)
This CD has heavy guitars and socially-conscious lyrics with positive messages. An obvious comparison is going to Rage Against the Machine, but bear in mind NOBODY can imitate Tom Morello, and thankfully downset don't try to.


decent, but not their best   January 25, 2005
C. Pedersen (Lake Mary, FL United States)
I've been a Downset fan since the self-titled debut..and seen them in concert a couple of times. This is probably my least favorite CD by them, but it is still good. I really liked some of the uptempo, less rappy, more hardcore songs that they did on 'Do We Speak a Dead Language?' and have always wished they would do more of those.


Getting better with age...   December 15, 2004
R. Hord (San Antonio, TX)
I started listening to downset back in '96 when the title album came out... the song "Anger" just really grabbed me. Well i loved that album, then a couple of years later got "do we speak a dead language", and at first it wasn't as good to me as downset was.... but i grew to love it... and in fact i ended up liking it more than downset.

the same thing happened when "check your people" came out. The first time i listened through it, i thought it was horrible... didn't appeal to me at all. But the more time i gave it, the more i loved it... and now, i like it better than the first two albums combined. it is more of a produced sound, so you don't have that raw edge you heard in downset... HOWEVER, the production is good, and it works. Reyes really conveys his messages well in this one, and in the first track the vocals are sung off key and kinda poorly... but it works on this track, and almost sounds like he sings off key on purpose... give the first track a listen and you'll understand what i'm saying.

The first track is both melodic in the chorus and the hardest track of the CD... don't judge the whole album by the first track alone though.... the song "2000" harkens back to "Anger", by the repetition of the title of the song.... and it works well... every track on this is solid, and they have even included the requisite track in spanish called "en el aire", and it is great... soft in the beginning and slamming vocals once it gets going.

this whole album is great, and if you always like downset and have grown up with them, you will appreciate the bands maturity in this album. the production has changed for the better, but the sound is good old downset. you can't go wrong with this one.

if you are new to downset, i recommend starting out with the album "downset.", and working your way more recently... if you are younger and can't appreciate the original, you might enjoy this if you liked the second album.

Downset doesn't really sound like any other band... you can't lump them into a specific category, if not LA-based metal, or latino hard rock. I love their sound and the whole thing works.