The Nightwatchman - Black Spartacus Heart Attack Machine [folk rock]

I think one of my earliest CDs was The Battle of Los Angeles by Rage Against The Machine (I don't think my mom quite realized what kind of music it was...). Although RATM itself dissolved about a year after I started getting into them, they nonetheless featured rather prominently in the stuff I listened to throughout high school.

Having taken a particular liking to the style of guitarist Tom Morello, you could imagine my excitement when I first heard about Audioslave (RATM members minus Zach with Chris Cornell). Of course I was disappointed when Audioslave too had called it quits. But, that is the inevitable fate of most (if not all) supergroups, I suppose.

Sometime later, as I was loitering in some store, I was inexplicably (well not that inexplicable) drawn to a magazine dawning the familiar face of Tom Morello that had an article about his folk-rock side-project The Nightwatchman. This was initially an outlet for his political views that couldn't, at the time, be channeled musically due the apolitical nature of Audioslave.

The Nightwatchman breaks away from Tom Morello's more signature electric guitar in favour of an acoustic, his voice (I don't think he had ever sung in any official capacity within RATM or Audioslave), and occasionally the harmonica. Well, four years after his first album, Tom Morello is still at with his third LP release World Wide Rebel Songs released in 2011. This is "Black Spartacus Heart Attack Machine", a song with great energy and a solid message.

To end off, in the great words of Nardwuar (well, Neil Young), keep on rockin' in the free world, Tom!