Courtesy of Wikipedia

Melodic guitar strumming accompanied with inspiring songs sung by a smooth, strong voice: those less familiar with the man will be surprised this describes the album of rock legend Tom Morello. Morello’s second studio album “The Fabled City,” produced by Epic, is another display of Morello’s impressive songwriting capabilities.

Performing under the alias The Nightwatchman, Morello puts down the electric guitar that made him so famous in bands such as Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, and picks up a traditional acoustic guitar, putting on a folk-rock oriented show.

With most folk musicians, the emphasis of the music is based upon the lyrics themselves, and the contents of “The Fabled City” are no different. Apart from a few exceptions, Morello’s songs don’t experiment with metaphors or poetic lyrics; instead they are literal and outright, leaving no doubt in the mind of the listener what the song is about. Morello’s constant involvement in the political realm is reflected in his lyrics, as every song relates to some form of social injustice in the world, whether it is immigrant labor or basic submission to capitalistic control. However in most of the songs, there is a twinge of hope that perhaps the masses will one day shake off their shackles.

Musically speaking, the album is very diverse as well. Although each song is lead by an acoustic guitar, various instruments accompany it on every track, and it wouldn’t be a Morello production if there wasn’t.

Altogether, “The Fabled City” is one of those albums that the listener can easily enjoy every track of . While there are no shredding guitar licks to leave listeners with their jaws dropped, the lyrics will have the same effect.

Artist: The Nightwatchman / Tom Morello
Album: “The Fabled City”
Record Label: Epic Records
Grade: A-