City Newspaper Archives - 6/2007
The Nightwatchman "One Man Revolution"
Epic
Published by Saby Reyes-Kulkarni on Jun 05, 2007
What can we expect from a mostly acoustic-and-voice album by a guy who built a career on heavy-ass mosh riffs and flashy lead-guitar fireworks? The fact that it's Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello making this puzzling move is bound to arouse curiosity, but quickly backfire on Morello, whose deep baritone voice is arguably the most pleasant surprise on this album. Morello has said he's more nervous playing acoustic in a coffee house in front of 12 people than he is rocking stadiums. He should be - other than the initial shock of presenting himself as a Woody Guthrie disciple, he's hardly breaking any barriers here; the music merely provides a backdrop for Morello's leftist inclinations. It's understandable that he'd be itching to wax polemical after six years in Audioslave alongside the stridently apolitical Chris Cornell, but he should know that people are dying to hear him go off like a machine gun again with his Rage-mates. If this album heightens the demand for that to happen, then it will have served its purpose.
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