According to Pitchfork this is Neil Young's "rawest release of new material since at least Ragged Glory, maybe even Rust Never Sleeps... " According to me it's about as immediate as his last 10 years of plod. It plods along and has the same plodding pace as his last 'Decade' of work, except this time it has some overtly political lyrics.
There's no doubting that this is protest music of the most literal order, but where his 60's protests like Ohio or Southern Man were relevant and emotional, the plodding Shock and Awe, Lookin' For A Leader or Let's Impeach The President have nothing like the weight, and certainly not the political commentary of an angry album like Radiohead's Hail To The Thief
I wish he'd get on with re-releasing his missing old stuff, rather than forever moving 'forward'....although judging by by 2004's 'Greatest Hits' even that could be a mis-fire.