Few albums receive as much anticipation as Audioslave’s new release and for good reason. This group is composed of two of the best bands the 1990’s had to offer, Rage Against the Machine, and Soundgarden.
For nearly a year, fans of both have anxiously awaited the release of “Audioslave” to see if it lives up to the hype.
Chris Cornell, from Soundgarden fronts Audioslave. He was known for his powerful, raspy, moaning singing style which helped propel Soundgarden to global notoriety, and earned him a devoted following.
He is backed by former militant rockers Rage Against the Machine, composed of Tom Morello on the guitar, Brad Wilk on drums, and Tim Commerford filling in the bass. Singer Zack de la Rocha, unfortunately, is no where to be found, as he left Rage early last year.
Enough biography, does the music hold muster? The first track on the CD is “Cochise,” which is also the first radio-single. This song has worked its way well up into the rotation on rock outlets, and can be heard just about every other time you turn on your radio or television.
This song is a good example of what this entire album tries to do; seamlessly blend the two styles of these very different musical backgrounds. A steady, simple, heavy guitar riff repeats in classic rage style, though it seems a little dumb down. Over a steady pulsing melody, Cornell belts out his lyrics in the booming voice that made him famous. This song by no means marks any musical landmarks, but it does blend the styles well and produces a tight original sound as a final product.
Not all offerings on this album are quite so palatable, however. There are good songs and good parts to this project, but as the tracks progress, inspired moments of rock stretch fewer and farther between.
In an ultimate sign of radio-conformity, of course there are ballads on the album, several that are flat out horrible. “Like A Stone,” is receiving extensive radio-play, with it’s slow and steady beat, choppy instrumentals, and Cornell’s wailing, which by this point is starting to sound a lot more like whining. Points must be awarded for originality, but this song illustrates that the band is definitely struggling.
The final track, “The Last Remaining Light,” crosses over from borderline dullness to outright craptacular. This entire song consists of Cornell bleating like a dying goat over gentle background noises supplied by Tom Morello’s famous effects pedal. Lyrically, musically, and in every other way, this song is horrible and the world would be a better place without it.
Not to dump on the band too much, there is good music on this CD if you are willing to search for it. But the element is definitely lacking which made both former bands great and makes the ability to play the album front to back without a single cringe. Both Rage and Soundgarden produced albums that were chalked full of inspiration, musical and lyrical insight, and just plain rocked. Rage took up a message with their music, fighting for awareness and causes such as the liberation of Mumia Abu Jamal. Driven by the hip-hop vocals of de la Rocha, Rage was a musical institution not likely to be succeeded by this offshoot, and the same goes for Soundgarden.
For fans of Rage and Soundgarden, Audioslave is an interesting project, and does contain some righteous musical content, but don’t expect it to live up to the greatness that was Rage and/or Soundgarden.
