Release Date: 13 February 2012
“The Fabled City” is Tom Morello's follow up album to his 2007 debut “One Man Revolution” (Nightwatchman). The album retained the core sentiments of the previous album but also sees Morello adopting a more allegorical approach to the subject matter. Whilst the former album was a stripped down affair, with a single minded focus on the pairing of the acoustic guitar with Morello's coarse voice, this newer recording is an altogether more elaborate affair, with a considerably greater variety of instruments all making appearances on the albums tracks. Album titled “The Fabled City” opens the album with a driving, percussion fuelled beat overladen by guitar with the occasional sparse piano note accompanying Morello's sombre narrative. “Whatever It Takes” continues this sense of urgency with a rhythmic bassline and resolute lyrics that paint a picture of Morello's absolute dedication to his cause. The mournful harmonica found on “Gone Like Rain” provides the outline to the bleak tale of disappearance and loss. Shooter Jennings lends his voice to “The Iron Wheel” which, whilst it might not be the album closer, does provide the listener with a sense of subversive triumph in the fact that “those who spin the wheel” ultimately are subject to its whims. This sense of victory is however tempered by the ambiguous conclusion to the final track, “Rise to Power”.No less angry or urgent than “One Man Revolution”, “The Fabled City” is the next step in the Nighwatchman's manifesto for change: whatever it takes.. - A.B.
Disc 1 The Fabled City Whatever It Takes The King of Hell Night Falls The Lights Are On in Spidertown Midnight in the City of Destruction Saint Isabelle Lazarus On Down (feat. Serj Tankian) Gone Like Rain The Iron Wheel (feat. Shooter Jennings) Rise to Power