The Nightwatchman
One Man Revolution

THE REVIEW

But was it really necessary? Audioslave breaks up, so far so good: the last album was little more than mediocre. It was fair to expect a grand return from Cornell (after all, You Know My Name gave us high hopes) and instead we get an album worse than Euphoria Morning.  And what does Morello do? While waiting for a new Rage album, he decides to "delight" us with a grand solo album.

What's good about this CD? Forget Morello's distinctive style and his guitar scratching: the CD is folk, so only acoustic guitar. Granted, Morello knows how to play the guitar and some melodies are quite catchy, but in the end, all the songs tend to sound the same and by the third song a deadly boredom sets in. Nothing that makes you want to listen more than once (if you even make it to the end without indignantly pressing stop), nothing that particularly captures your attention.

So what remains of this album, once it's left to gather dust on some shelf? The annoying jingle of "One Man Revolution" stays stuck in your head, the horrendous title track, with an absurdly stupid and self-congratulatory lyric (I hope Tom doesn't take himself too seriously...): on the streets of New York / the cabs don't stop / on the street where I live / they called the cops, and so on. The soporific slowness of "The Garden Of Gethsemane", "Until The End" and "Let Freedom Ring" remains, and the ridiculous "Flesh Shapes The Day" and "House Gone Up In Flames" where Morello attempts to do something more with his voice, but fails miserably (it makes one wonder why Commerford always did the backing vocals in both Rage and Audioslave...). In my opinion, the only two songs worth saving are "The Road I Must Travel" and "The Dark Clouds Above". They are the only ones with drums and bass, and you can feel the difference. Nothing transcendental, but compared to the rest of the album, they’re almost masterpieces.

In conclusion: avoid it. Because if you know Tom Morello, it means you're a listener of rock music (Rage or Audioslave), and therefore this album is not for you. If you're really that curious, go to the official website and listen to the songs in streaming. Have a laugh.