Alex Lifeson and Kirk Hammett Join Tom Morello on New Song
Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello has enlisted Metallica's Kirk Hammett and Rush's Alex Lifeson for a song titled “I Have Seen the Way” off his new solo album, The Atlas Underground Flood.
The new collaborative track, which you can hear below, is an aggressive electro-rock hybrid, powered by a pulsating drum beat and featuring ample time for all three axemen. Hammett unleashes his signature wah-drenched licks and Morello employs his usual whammy bar tricks, while Lifeson’s evocative leads tread more experimental, progressive territory.
Released today, Flood is the third installment in Morello’s Atlas Underground series, and it arrives less than two months after The Atlas Underground Fire. “I Have Seen the Way” began simply, with Morello sending a few riffs to Lifeson and encouraging him to play whatever he wanted over them.
“Being the contrarian, I did all of [these other styles], not just heavy rock stuff,” Lifeson told UCR in June. “We were all talking to each other while we were doing it, and we just had such a riot.” At the time, Lifeson added that he was “hoping that [Morello] might have something else to send along.”
Morello has made no bones about his love of Rush, advocating for the trio before their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2013.
"Their musicianship was very important to me as an aspiring guitar player," he said back then. "And they eschewed some of the cornier trappings of hard rock music — the devil stuff and the groupie stuff, which I could never really relate to. And three of the greatest players were somehow in the same band. Their music was just very compelling to me."
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