Tom Morello featuring Serj Tankian & Roman Morello – “ADJOURN IT’
Description
Tom Morello featuring Serj Tankian & Roman Morello – “ADJOURN IT” (2026)
“Adjourn It” is a 2026 protest song by American guitarist, songwriter and political activist Tom Morello, featuring Serj Tankian, lead vocalist of System of a Down, and Morello’s teenage son, guitarist Roman Morello. The single was released on May 29, 2026, through Commandante LLC under exclusive license to Mom+Pop Music. It appears as the third track on Morello’s album Everyone Gets Everything They Want, scheduled for release on September 25, 2026.
The track was written by Tom Morello, Serj Tankian, Roman Morello and producer Zakk Cervini. Cervini also produced, mixed and mastered the recording and performed guitar, bass, drums, percussion and synthesizer. Tom Morello provides vocals and lead guitar, Tankian performs vocals and served as vocal producer, while Roman Morello plays lead guitar. Recording engineer Julian Gargiulo contributed additional guitar and assisted with the mix.
Background
Tom Morello is best known as the guitarist and co-founder of Rage Against the Machine, whose combination of heavy rock, hip-hop and politically focused lyrics became highly influential during the 1990s. He subsequently co-founded Audioslave with Chris Cornell and other members of Rage Against the Machine, performed with Prophets of Rage, developed an extensive solo career and toured and recorded with numerous other artists.
Political activism has been a consistent element of Morello’s career, both in his songwriting and his public activities. Much of his work has addressed labor rights, racism, economic inequality, war, immigration and political power.
Serj Tankian, best known as the lead singer and principal lyricist of System of a Down, has similarly incorporated political, historical and human-rights subjects throughout his career. Morello and Tankian have been longtime friends and collaborators and have worked together musically and politically on a number of projects.
In discussing “Adjourn It,” Morello cited that longstanding relationship as one reason for bringing Tankian into the recording. He also described a much newer creative relationship: writing music with his son, Roman Morello.
Roman Morello and the Main Guitar Riff
Roman Morello was 15 years old when “Adjourn It” was released.
The collaboration is particularly notable because the song’s principal guitar riff originated with Roman. Roman has said that he regularly records riffs while practicing and that his father sometimes hears—or discovers—the ideas and incorporates the strongest ones into songs.
In the case of “Adjourn It,” Roman recalled recognizing the riff when his father first played the developing song for him. He later joked that Morello had effectively taken it from the voice memos on his computer. Tom Morello has described their songwriting philosophy as “may the best riff win,” regardless of whether the idea originates with father or son.
Roman receives an official songwriting, lead-guitar and featured-artist credit on the recording.
The collaboration is part of a developing musical partnership between Tom and Roman Morello. Roman also appears with his father on material including “Soldier in the Army of Love” and “Date Night,” both included on Everyone Gets Everything They Want.
Composition and Recording
“Adjourn It” combines the heavy, rhythmic guitar approach associated with Morello’s work in Rage Against the Machine with the distinctive vocal style of Serj Tankian and a multi-generational guitar collaboration between Tom and Roman Morello.
The track was produced by Zakk Cervini, a producer and engineer known for his work with contemporary rock and alternative artists. In addition to producing the track, Cervini performed much of its supporting instrumentation and handled both mixing and mastering.
The official personnel credits list:
Tom Morello
- Vocals
- Lead guitar
- Songwriter / composer
Serj Tankian
- Vocals
- Vocal production
- Songwriter / composer
Roman Morello
- Lead guitar
- Songwriter / composer
Zakk Cervini
- Producer
- Guitar
- Bass
- Drums
- Percussion
- Synthesizer
- Mixing
- Mastering
- Songwriter / composer
Julian Gargiulo
- Guitar
- Recording engineer
- Assistant mixing engineer
Lyrical Themes
“Adjourn It” is explicitly presented by its creators as a protest song.
Morello described the recording as a call for justice and said its inspiration came from the treatment of immigrants in the United States and what he views as a broader rise of authoritarian and racist politics. Tankian specifically connected the song to U.S. immigration enforcement and ICE actions, including family separation, racial profiling and questions surrounding due process.
The title uses the legal and parliamentary term “adjourn,” meaning to suspend, dismiss or bring proceedings to an end.
Morello explained that the word operates on several levels within the song: as a call to end policies and practices he opposes and as a reference to legal proceedings involving immigrants. Tankian similarly connected the word to immigration cases in which he believes defendants should be allowed to complete the judicial process rather than being detained before their cases are resolved.
Rather than presenting these subjects indirectly, the recording follows the tradition of politically explicit protest music associated with both Morello and Tankian throughout their careers.
Serj Tankian Collaboration
The pairing of Morello and Tankian predates “Adjourn It” by many years.
Morello has described Tankian as a longtime friend, noting that the two musicians have performed together, recorded together and participated in political organizations and activism.
Their musical connection is particularly natural because both came to international prominence during eras in which heavy music was frequently combined with political commentary: Morello through Rage Against the Machine and Tankian through System of a Down.
On “Adjourn It,” Tankian’s vocal performance is set against the Morellos’ guitar riffs, while Tankian also participated directly in the songwriting and vocal production rather than appearing solely as a guest singer.
Music Video
The official music video for “Adjourn It” was released alongside the single in May 2026.
A significant component of the video is footage from the landmark 1954 independent film Salt of the Earth.
Rather than being used simply as vintage imagery, the material was selected to parallel the themes of labor rights, racial discrimination, immigration and resistance addressed by the song. Morello’s release materials described the historical footage as reinforcing the song’s message of solidarity against prejudice and division.
Salt of the Earth
Salt of the Earth was an independent American motion picture released in 1954, directed by Herbert J. Biberman, produced by Paul Jarrico and written by Michael Wilson.
The story was inspired by the real 1950–1952 strike against the Empire Zinc Mine near Silver City, New Mexico, in which predominantly Mexican-American miners fought over unsafe working conditions, wage inequality and discrimination.
The film also placed unusual emphasis for its era on the role of the miners’ wives, who became central participants in the labor struggle.
The history surrounding the production was itself highly political.
Biberman, Jarrico and Wilson were among filmmakers affected by the Hollywood blacklist during the anti-Communist investigations of the era. Much of the cast consisted not of professional actors but of actual miners and members of their families. Production took place under intense political pressure, and the finished picture had difficulty obtaining conventional theatrical distribution in the United States.
Over time, however, Salt of the Earth underwent a major historical reassessment.
In 1992, the Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, recognizing its cultural, historical and aesthetic importance.
Its inclusion in the “Adjourn It” video therefore connects a contemporary protest recording to an earlier American work centered on labor organization, Mexican-American civil rights, discrimination, political blacklisting and collective resistance.
Release
“Adjourn It” was released digitally on May 29, 2026.
The commercial release credits identify it as:
Title: “Adjourn It”
Artist: Tom Morello
Featuring: Serj Tankian and Roman Morello
Release date: May 29, 2026
Length: approximately 2:47
Genre: Alternative rock / hard rock / protest rock
Label: Commandante LLC / Mom+Pop
Producer: Zakk Cervini
Album: Everyone Gets Everything They Want
Everyone Gets Everything They Want
“Adjourn It” was released in advance of Tom Morello’s 2026 solo album Everyone Gets Everything They Want.
The album is scheduled for September 25, 2026, through Mom+Pop Music and contains 12 tracks. “Adjourn It” is listed as track three.
The album includes several collaborations, among them Serj Tankian, Roman Morello, Beartooth and Kneecap, and continues Morello’s combination of guitar-driven rock with political and social themes.
The announced track listing is:
- Beth From Electronics
- Everyone Gets Everything They Want
- Adjourn It – featuring Serj Tankian & Roman Morello
- I Am Not Yours to Command
- Soldier in the Army of Love – Tom Morello & Roman Morello
- Unconquered – featuring Kneecap
- Date Night – Tom Morello & Roman Morello
- The Last Rung on the Ladder
- Everything Burns – featuring Beartooth
- Pretend You Remember Me
- Untethered
- They Can’t Kill Us All
Historical Context
“Adjourn It” continues a tradition running through much of Tom Morello’s recorded career: using heavy guitar music as a vehicle for explicit social and political commentary.
What distinguishes the recording within that history is the combination of three generations and traditions of politically engaged rock music: Morello’s legacy with Rage Against the Machine, Tankian’s work with System of a Down and the emerging musicianship of Morello’s teenage son Roman.
The use of Salt of the Earth adds another historical layer, connecting the song’s 2026 political concerns with a film created more than 70 years earlier amid battles involving workers’ rights, racial discrimination, the Hollywood blacklist and freedom of political expression.
Rather than treating the archival film as background decoration, the “Adjourn It” video deliberately places images of a previous generation’s labor and civil-rights struggle alongside a contemporary protest song.
Video / Recording Information
Artist: Tom Morello
Featured artists: Serj Tankian and Roman Morello
Song: “Adjourn It”
Year: 2026
Released: May 29, 2026
Running time: approximately 2 minutes 47 seconds
Album: Everyone Gets Everything They Want
Album release: September 25, 2026
Producer: Zakk Cervini
Songwriters: Tom Morello, Serj Tankian, Roman Morello, Zakk Cervini
Label: Commandante LLC / Mom+Pop Music
Video archival footage: Salt of the Earth (1954)
From the Bohemia AfterDark / BVMTV Vault — preserving music television, performance, independent culture and the history surrounding the artists and recordings.
