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Rage! is Lettuce's third release, but their first studio effort in seven years and the very first album that was preceded by a serious rehearsal. "We wanted the record to sound like the old stuff we were paying tribute to," says Coomes. "So, we recorded with an old board, old mikes, old tube compressors."

And pay tribute they do, as Rage! tips their collective hat to all of funk music history. "Blast Off" is a fitting title for the opening track as the septet wastes no time cutting a deep groove and setting a marvelous atmosphere. "Blast Off" is a fast, full, straight-driving, horn-dominated piece, and is followed by the equally groovy "Sam Huff's Flying Rage Machine." Lettuce slows things down a bit for a solid cover of Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up," which features R&B vocalist Dwele. Of the remainder of the album, the four closing tracks are exceptionally catchy and high energy, especially "Mr. Yancey," a hard-hitting nod to J Dilla. This last cut would fit equally well at a funky jazz bar or a packed nightclub. It reminds the listener that three members of Lettuce (Krasno, Coomes and Deitch) have spent considerable time working on the music behind the biggest money-making artists in the country: 50 Cent, Talib Kweli and Redman, to name just a few. 

Long story short, Rage! is just plain fun. It could use a few extra minutes of music (total running time of 53 minutes), but overall it was easy to enjoy this album.