Tom Morello - The Atlas Underground

Tom Morello
The Atlas Underground
2018
Spotify

Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine has made an EDM album. You read that right, it's 2018 and guitar legend Tom Morello has made an EDM record. If this confuses you, you're right and I am right there with you. The mere existence of this record makes you scratch your head and wonder what in the hell is going on. Did Morello see the sucess that Drummers and DJ's had for about 12 seconds and think "Hey, maybe I can do that with guitar"? Buckle up because with this album you are getting rap rock mixed with EDM on a major level. "Rabbit's Revenge" has a verse from Big Boi that sounds like it is straight up sampled ont his track with an assist from Bassnectar and Killer Mike. While Rage's other titular member Zach De La Rocha records almost nothing Morello seems to have side gig after side gig actively participating in like five bands at once. It makes his releases feel less special, and more thrown together every time. Prophets of Rage, a super group of the instruments from Rage Against the Machine, Chuck D and B. Real was supposed to be the new Rage, but it could not have landed with a more Dad-Rap thud. The feature list on this thing is fucking insane; everyone from Marcus Mumford to Steve Aoki and damn near everyone in between. Vic Mensa delivers one of his typical social justice inspired performances on "We Don't Need You" but the message is so generic and surface level that it falls totally flat over Morello's guitar pedal extravaganza.

The Aoki collaboration features vocal by Tim McIlarth of Rise Against and it is exactly what you would imagine a song that Steve Aoki and Tom Morello would make would sound like. It has all the blarring horns of Aoki's brand of EDM and then some random guitar here and there just to confrim that Tom is still participating. I just don't understand why Morello would even venture into this territory. Not only are most of the collaborators here about five years out of date, but so is the music. This isn't what's new in electronic music, nor is it what is happening in rock, it just feels like men in their 40s and 50s latching on to a moment they think is still happening. It's really fucking odd. "Lucy" which features K-Flay is the one time where Morello actually sounds like He is making the acid fueled anguish of a Rage song and amazingly it works. When Morello sticks with what made him great in the first place, you get it, but the experimentation here is just so...off. The thing is Morello is at a point where He really doesn't give a fuck what you think. He has solidified himself as a true living legend in the rock world, and if you don't like his music, He doesn't care one bit. He wants to be free to make whatever the hell He wants, but we're also free to say when it sucks. This record sucks.

3.9 out of 10