Editorial Reviews

Recorded in the run-up to the 2004 presidential election and initially slated for release on Election Day, this genre-jumping all-star collection takes on a decidedly different, considerably more cautionary personality now that the dust has settled. The brainchild of Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave's Tom Morello and System of a Down's Serj Tankian, Axis of Justice is a loosely configured aggregation bent on pushing buttons with both agitation and art. Naturally, a good bit of this live disc is given over to covers that are either politically charged by nature -- a rousing, surprisingly melodic take on Bob Dylan's "Chimes of Freedom" -- or songs that take on a more political tone in the hands of the musicians involved. That category is headed up by a careening version of U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name," on which Morello's anthemic riffing is overlaid with the buoyant harmonies of Tool/A Perfect Circle's Maynard James Keenan and power-popper Pete Yorn. Morello, in his Nightwatchman guise, goes the old-school protest tune route on "Union Song," while Tankian uses "Piano Improvisation" to prove that plaints for freedom don't necessarily even need verbiage. The package is fleshed out by a DVD that reprises some of the CD's performances, adding several spoken-word pieces and interviews with folks like Janeane Garofalo and Michael Moore. David Sprague, Barnes & Noble

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