Tom Morello & Serj Tankian Release Political Anthem "Adjourn It"

Heavy Song of the Week is a feature on Heavy Consequence breaking down the top metal, punk, and hard rock tracks you need to hear every Friday. This week, we highlight the new single “Adjourn It” from Tom Morello featuring Roman Morello and Serj Tankian.

You cannot separate politics from art. Part of this is from just the definition of what politics is: It’s the interrelation of things to each other and to themselves and what we do about it, everything from how you split household tasks to how you prioritize your free time to how you govern a nation. Politics is not life itself, but it emerges so fluidly and perpetually from it that its better thought of as an organ to the organism rather than something entirely separate. Art is exactly the same. If life is a body, then politics is the liver and art is the flora and fauna of the intestines. They are interlinked and inextricable, eradicatible only at the cost of the life of the organism.

Tom Morello and Serj Tankian pick up the flag they’ve always flown with “Adjourn It.” Anyone familiar with the often quite explicit politics of either of the two will not be shocked by what is tackled here nor the ferocity with which its tackled, nor will they be particularly shocked at how the video ties in Mexican-American miner strikes and the Hollywood blacklisting in the the 1950s. It is not just the punk spirit but the rock spirit, touching all the way back to rock acts getting banned from white clubs for expectations of uniting people of all races under class consciousness. As Morello notes, the song is “inspired by the persecution of immigrants across the land and the heroic resistance to the rising tide of fascism.”

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But it’s the music that makes us talk about these two, not just the politics. The vibe is classic Rage Against the Machine with Tankian giving off some Zack de la Rocha vibes on the chorus. There’s a thrash metal bridge and the song closes with an absolutely monumental guitar solo from Tom Morello’s son Roman, who is a phenomenal player. It’s an absolute ripper, with a powerful message to boot.

Honorable Mentions

Elder – “Sigil to Ruin”

Why the band did not select this as a single for their new album Through Zero I will never understand. “Sigil to Ruin,” the opening track, showcases in its 10-minute runtime every single reason to love this band, from the sensuous and playful way they incorporate odd time signatures without every missing the groove to the more supple Pink Floyd-isms they weave in, this time pulling from the perfection of the “Echoes” instrumental arpeggiated part. The drums swing with a jazzy Sabbath-ian approach while the band plays rolling riffs that remind you of Yes at their most elastic and freewheeling early 70s era at the crossroads of country, classical, rock and jazz.

Havok – “Fifth Generation Warfare”

Havok’s openly political thrash reaches a paranoiac Philip K. Dick style apex here mirrored by the additional avant-punk Voivod vibes of these riffs. Given the topic of the song, it all fits, playing its mad content straight enough that it leaves it in the eyes of the viewer whether the narrator is a loon or sober mind. They continue to be simply the best modern thrash band, one of the very few to grasp the idiosyncrasies that made Megadeth, Pantera and Exodus so powerful without coming across as mere copycats. This is a genre that benefits from an amphetamine-friend atmosphere, the same geeked-out hardwired punk energy that conveys life at the edge of sanity. Havok have never failed to rip and they certainly haven’t started here.

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The Ocean – “Light Pollution”

What’s the best way to announce a new lineup? With some stellar new music. The Ocean, who recently shuddered their full lineup save for bandleader Robin Staps, dropped this new song featuring a new 7-piece band as the lead single of their album Solaris based on the Tarkovsky film and Lem novel of the same name. The result? A more electronic sound tinged with slight touches of black metal in a blend of light and dark that doesn’t feel as obvious or obnoxious as that can sometimes be. The Ocean show the continued strength of what you can get when you apply absolute virtuoso’s to a great groove and melody, with tons of pivots of accent and harmonic structure without ever losing that slow headbang inducing power. Staps now leads the third lineup of the Ocean and yet retains the same power, underscoring the power of his vision.

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_Originally reported by [Consequence](https://consequence.net/2026/05/heavy-song-of-the-week-tom-morello-adjourn-it/)._