Tom Morello had high praise for his Rage Against The Machine bandmate, Zack de la Rocha. During a recent interview, Morello took the time to single out de la Rocha as the best of the best.

“In my opinion, [he's] the greatest frontman of all time," Morello raved. "He’s the punk rock James Brown. There’s no one in the history of Western music that has the sort of the totality of spiritual commitment onstage and in the studio as that guy.”

Morello and de la Rocha have been bandmates for thirty years now, so, it's no surprise how highly they think of each other. Morello went on to say de la Rocha's talent is "matched with a brilliant intellect." Since he's a "tremendous musician," Morello finds it to be "an unbelievable combination." Ultimately, Morello says, he just feels "fortunate to be in a band with him.”

His Rage Against the Machine frontman wasn't the only collaborator Morell had high praise for, though. He also took a moment to discuss the talents of the late Chris Cornell, who he worked with as part of Audioslave. “The thing that is one of his great gifts, on top of his startlingly good looks, and hair, and eyes, and all the stuff, you’re like, ‘Are you magical? You’re like a magical being!’ Blessed in so many ways, and a lovely dude," Morello began.

“He had this ability to craft melody, beautiful and ferocious melody out of the ether," the guitarist continued. "And I remember making that first [Audioslave] record with Rick Rubin. And Rick‘s like, ‘You don’t understand how lucky you got. I work with a ton of vocalists and it’s difficult to make a great melody. And this guy is just throwing them right and left!”

Morello clearly loves collaborating with his fellow musicians, as is obvious on his new feature-filled solo project. The Atlas Underground Fire is out now.

Billy Greenwood

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