Tom Morello Rocks with Portugal. The Man, Tim McIlrath on 'The Atlas Underground'

Tom Morello Rocks with Portugal. The Man, Tim McIlrath on ‘The Atlas Underground’

2018-10-11

Story by Charles Ken, photo by Anne Erickson

Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine has a new solo album, “The Atlas Underground,” out this week, and it’s brimming with different musical styles

Tom Morello is poised to release a new solo album, “The Atlas Underground,” this week, and the album brings a lot of novel moments for the Rage Against the Machine guitarist. This album is the first to arrive under his own name, his first to include a bevy of high-profile guest musicians and his first to feature some electronic and EDM influences.

Morello says he stove to make “The Atlas Underground” different from any other kind of record. In a new interview with Kerrang!, he says the album, which marks his third solo release, challenged him to step outside the typical rock ‘n’ roll moniker.

“I’ve been making records since 1992, and…as a guitarist, I wanted to challenge myself, and to really make this new alloy of (music),” he said. “I’m a huge fan of rock n’ roll and of heavy rock n’ roll, and I wanted to be uncompromising on that front. But I also wanted it to be not just another record of me playing guitar. It had to be more than that.”

Morello recruited a range of artists in different musical genres to perform on “The Atlas Underground,” including Rise Against’s Tim McIlrath, Mumford & Sons’ Marcus Mumford, Portugal. the Man and K. Flay, to name a new. While Morello’s efforts have been sternly focused on “The Atlas Underground,” the guitarist has actually already begun work on his next solo album.

“I’m already half-through making the next record,” he says. “There’s about six or seven songs in the can.”

“The Atlas Underground” will hit stores and online outlets on Friday (Oct. 12).

Outside of his solo work, Morello also puts his musical efforts into the super group Prophets of Rage, which features Rage Against the Machine members Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk with Public Enemy’s Chuck D and Cypress Hill’s B-Real

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Charles Ken

Meet the expert - Charles Ken is a graduate of Michigan State University where he studied writing and history. He's a longtime music buff and covers classic rock for Audio Ink Radio. Contact him at ken@audioinkradio.com.