audioslave

Posted by: Matt Gear on 25 November 2002

got my copy of the self titled album from new "supergroup" audioslave on friday, and after listening to it over the weekend thought i'd post a quick review.

for those who don't know, the group comprises of ex-soundgarden front man chris cornell, and the 3 remaining members of rage against the machine since their "singer" zack de la rocha left.

if you liked soundgarden or rage against the machine i'm sure you'll be keen to check this out. it certainly sounds more like ratm on a first listen than it does soundgarden, which is unsurprising baring in mind the rythmn section and guitarist are from the latter band.

as i know both bands very well, the songs do come as a bit of a shock. when the first song opens up, you expect the rap lyrics of zack de la rocha to come in, but instead get the keening wail of chris cornell. once you get used to that (assuming you're familiar with both bands) it's a very good album.

there's quite a lot of range on the album, going from big bombastic riffing, to far more subtle numbers.

the only criticisms for me are the over-doing of the effects on some songs. tom morello gets some truly bizarre sounds out of his guitar, but often they seem out of place, and don't really add a great deal to the songs. also, the drumming from brad wilk on some of the songs is somewhat less than inspiring, and seems to tend towards the dull "boom, crash, boom boom, crash" template a little too often.

apart from that though it's a very good album and is getting better with each listen.

recommended

cheers

matt
Posted on: 25 November 2002 by Ed R
I heard a couple of tracks over the weekend. At first I thought "who are the Led Zep soundalikes" then recognised the RATM clone music, then the penny dropped and I realised!

For all that, it sounds pretty good, but I get the impression they are more "industry" oriented than RATM were ever going to be. I reckon one more album before the acrimonious split.

Regards,
Ed.
Posted on: 25 November 2002 by Matt Gear
ed

you're right. they are rather in the led zep mould. must admit, i was hoping chris cornell was going to do another solo album. this will do for the time being though...

cheers

matt