Legendary guitarist and political activist Tom Morello has had a storied career in music. From his early years as guitarist in the meteorically successful Rage Against the Machine through the acoustic folk of The Nightwatchman to his two supergroups, Audioslave and Prophets of Rage, he has shown himself to be a versatile and eclectic musician even if, at the heart of almost all his work (The Nightwatchman aside), there lies that oh-so-familiar guitar tone.
Here, on Everyone Gets Everything They Want, Tom ditches the band identity for his own name, bringing all his influences together into a guest-packed, twelve-track album. Frequently heavy, always interesting, if somewhat inchoate, it is a schizophrenic record that keeps the listener guessing as to where it may land next.
The album opens with a giant, industro-metal stomp titled Beth from Electronics. Sat somewhere between Rage, Audioslave, and Them Crooked Vultures, it’s built around a riff of exceptional power. As such, follow-up Everyone Gets Everything They Want doesn’t quite land with the force it might, simply because the opening track is so cataclysmic. Nevertheless, once you get past the slight anticlimax, the track emerges as a cracking rocker, complete with semi-spoken word verse, massive Rage-baiting riff, and a surprisingly addictive chorus – especially considering the dark subject matter of the lyrics.
Having set the scene, Tom hits hard with Adjourn It. The lead single from the album, the track features both Tom’s son Roman and SOAD singer Serj Tankian and, despite having been released as the lead single, it has lost none of its power through familiarity. Heavy, groovy, and with a chorus that will staple itself to your brain, it’s a brilliant song and easily up there with the best of Rage and Audioslave. Similarly impressive is Soldier in The Army of Love, which harks back to Prophets of Rage with its cool opening riff, strong lyrical message, and unexpected gospel chorus. Eclectic yet recognisably Morello, it underscores just how much Tom’s previous bands leaned on his musical vision.
The tone shifts again with I Am Not Yours to Command. Despite a title that is pure Rage, the track itself is closer in style to Roger Waters circa Amused to Death thanks to its stripped-down piano and world-weary vocal delivery. It’s actually a rather lovely piece of music with thought-provoking lyrics, although it feels a little awkwardly placed, bringing the album to an absolute halt where you feel it may have worked better as a side closer or even a coda. Things soon pick up, though, with Unconquered. A brilliantly potent rocker that recalls the likes of Asian Dub Foundation with its hard-edged clash of styles, it finds Irish rappers Kneecap delivering ferocious rhymes over Morello’s eclectic sonic backdrop.
It’s not all quite so successful. The uneven sequencing finds Date Night suffer in comparison to its predecessor, and it feels like the song would have worked better closer to the start of the album as a brisk scene setter rather than at its heart. Indeed, had the dusty, Dylan-esque folk of The Last Rung on The Ladder followed Unconquered, it would have felt much more natural, the songs linked by their lyrical thrust rather than sonic similarities.
If you’re looking for contrasts, however, the explosive return to full-bore rock on Everything Burns finds Tom unleashing a riff of real power and, while the vocal from Beartooth is far too processed for my tastes, it’s easy to imagine the audience going nuts for this one live.
The final three tracks cover the album’s sonic gamut in microcosm. First up, Pretend You Remember Me mixes Audioslave and The Nightwatchman into a surprisingly dynamic folk-rocker. It’s followed by alternative-rock-flavouredUntethered; all semi-spoken verse set against a melodic, STP-esque chorus powered by a suitably humungous riff. The album wraps up with the simple folk of You Can’t Kill Us All, which finds Tom offering a final fuck you to the powers that be over a simple guitar track.
Tom Morello has always been an eclectic artist and, across the course of his career, he has done well to ground his work with a strong humanitarian lyrical thrust to connect a series of otherwise disparate influences that range from acoustic folk and earthy hip hop to alternative rock and full-on metal. However, where his previous work largely kept these elements separate, Everyone Gets Everything They Want lumps it all together in a manner that is only partially successful.
Taken individually, the casual listener might find any track on the record to be a successful outing and, indeed, you could argue this scattershot approach may play better to the streaming crowd as a result. However, for those expecting a coherent album, the approach works less well. This is particularly apparent in the segue from Beth from Electronics into the title track, and in the unfortunate pairing of Unconquered and Date Night but, in truth, the whole album suffers from trying to jump too far and too fast between genres.
That’s not to say that Everyone Gets Everything They Want is a bad album. Far from it. The production is strong, the lyrics powerful, and the guest spots tastefully executed. As a result, anyone who has followed Tom’s career over the years will find something to love. For my money, Adjourn It, Unconquered, and Untethered emerge as the strongest tracks, but each listener will find their own favoured moments depending on their own tastes.
Overall, Everyone Gets Everything They Want finds Tom Morello exploring his own influences with skill, even if it does feel more like a mixtape than a coherent album, making it a solid if unspectacular entry in his canon. 7/10
