Tom Morello has unveiled a long list of guests who are set to be making an appearance with his upcoming solo project.
Over the last few decades, there’s really only one word that can describe guitarist Tom Morello: busy. Having risen to fame as the guitarist for iconic ’90s rockers Rage Against The Machine, he soon made a name for himself as one of the most innovative artists to have ever picked up the instrument. When Rage broke up in 2000, Morello and the rest of the rhythm section recruited Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell to form Audioslave.
Recently though, Tom Morello has been working hard with Prophets Of Rage, a project which combines members of Rage Against The Machine with Public Enemy’s Chuck D and DJ Lord, and Cypress Hill’s B-Real. Despite having just toured Australia and releasing a new single from their upcoming second album, the group’s guitarist has apparently found time to work on yet another musical project.
Two years back, we heard rumour of something called Atlas Underground, which came to light after Morello teamed up with Aussie duo Knife Party at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Florida.
“Atlas Underground is not a band, it’s a plan,” explained Morello at the time. “One part Marshall stack blowtorch heart and soul, one part Mecha-Godzilla titanium bass drop. Heaven help you all.”
Now, we’re starting to get a bit more info.
Over the last couple of days, Tom Morello has been gradually mentioning Atlas Underground on Twitter and Instagram, sharing videos that consist of his signature riffs, some dirty bass drops, and information which illustrates that the new project is set to contain collaborations with the likes of Skrillex, X Ambassadors, and Matt Shultz of Cage The Elephant.
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THIS IS A COMMUNIQUE FROM THE ATLAS UNDERGROUND pic.twitter.com/Qt4hkXHERl
— Tom Morello (@tmorello) July 25, 2018
The latest video, which is backed by Morello’s ‘Battle Sirens’ collab with Knife Party, also features an immensely long list of more artists who have contributed to this new project, making Atlas Underground seem like less of a solo project and more of a who’s-who of rap, rock, and electronica.
According to the new video, Atlas Underground is set to feature contributions by Mumford And Sons’ Marcus Mumford, Vic Mensa, Portugal. The Man, K.Flay, Whethan, Big Boy, Bassnectar, Run The Jewels’ Killer Mike, Gary Clark Jr, Nico Stadi, Steve Aoki, Carl Restivo, Rise Against’s Tim McIlrath, GZA and RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan, Leikeli47, Herobust, and Pretty Lights.
Needless to say, this looks like it’s shaping up to be a pretty major project. While there’s no set date as to when we should be expecting new music from Atlas Underground, the video does end by telling us that it’s coming soon, so start preparing yourself for one heck of an aural assault.
Check out Tom Morello teaming up with Knife Party on ‘Battle Sirens’:
