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I bought the new Audioslave album on Tuesday, and I've listened to it thoroughly, enough to give it my Amazon type review. Overall, it's more coherent than their first album. They sound more like a band, instead of Chris Cornell singing over Rage Against The Machine. The downside is that it's not nearly as hard as the first album. With a few exceptions, every song is along the lines of "Like A Stone" or "Getaway Car." No song on the album can match the power of "Cochise," "Set It Off," "Exploder," or "Show Me How To Live." Mostly, it's the lyrics that got softer, and more abstract. Chris hasn't written completely metaphorical stuff like this since "UltraMegaOK." Other weird stuff: a lot of steady drum solos from Brad, and a lot of trick guitar work from Tom. Here it is song by song:

"Your Time Has Come" 9.5/10: The second single, and possibly my favorite song on the album, very catchy.

"Out Of Exile" 8/10: Sets the true tone for the album, soft and metaphorical, but redeemed by a riff that sounds a lot like "Defy You."

"Be Yourself" 9/10: The first single. It sounds really good, but the verses don't quite fit the chorus. I could've written better ones.

"Doesn't Remind Me" 7.5/10: The soon to be third single. It has some great lines, but it's way too soft.

"Drown Me Slowly" 7/10: Not bad, but nothing special.

"Heaven's Dead" 7/10: Sounds a lot like "Getaway Car."

"The Worm" 5/10: Worst song on the album; it's stupid.

"Man Or Animal" 9.5/10: The hardest song on the album, and one of my favorites.

"Yesterday To Tomorrow" 8.5/10: Some sort of love and time song, I think.

"Dandelion" 9.5/10: Sounds like something from "Euphoria Morning," Chris's solo album. It's another candidate for my favorite song.

"#1 Zero" 6.5/10: It's pretty lame, but it's alphabetically first on my Dell DJ.

"The Curse" 7/10: I was hoping for a stronger closer.


I was supposed to get a free poster with my purchase, but Circuit City said they didn't have them in yet, but I was free to call, and they would reserve one. In case you were wondering, my favorite song on the last album was "Shadow On The Sun," or possibly the unreleased "Gilded Dreams."

I finally got around to listening to Audioslave, and I was not impressed in the slightest. I listened to three songs (Your Time Has Come, Getaway Car, Be Yourself), and they all sounded so generic I wanted to vomit. There was nothing there that people oculd like. They didn't rock out hard enough to be considered anything close to sometrhing you could mosh, or even get into. They weren't too artistic or differet form other bands, their lyrics were nothing special, and there was notihng thatg set them apart. I would definitely not spend $15.00 on an album.

First of all, I only paid $10.00, and second of all, they're not meant for moshing; they're meant for listening. You have to listen hard to pick up all of the tricks in Tom Morello's guitar work, and even harder to pick up the tricks in Timmy's bass. Most importantly, you have to be in awe of the power and majesty of Chris Cornell's voice, while you ponder every metaphor and piece of imagery. The three songs you mentioned are not the "harder" ones, but I doubt that any would satisfy your lust for shit that takes ten minutes to write and produce.

Quote:They weren't too artistic or differet form other bands, their lyrics were nothing special, and there was notihng thatg set them apart.

Name one vocalist who sounds like Chris Cornell. I can only think of one, but you probably have no idea who he is. Here's a tougher one: name a guitar player who sounds like Tom Morello. That's absolutely impossible. Morello has the most distinctive guitar playing of any guitarist ever. Yes, even more unique than Hendrix or Santana. As far as the lyrics go, I'll admit that I wasn't crazy about the ones on the latest album either, but you probably haven't heard what Chris did with Soundgarden. Listen to "Outshined," "The Day I Tried To Live," "Superunknown," and "Blow Up The Outside World," and then tell me he's nothing special. If you want to judge Audioslave fairly, go by the best songs on their first album, "Show Me How To Live," "What You Are," and "Shadow On The Sun."

Nothing special in those songs. They didn't really experiment at all, they didn't have great lyrics, and their guitars were all that special. It was midly interesting ("The Day I Tried To Live"), but notihng really set them apart enough. It's the same reason I don't care for Dismember.

Quote:Nothing special in those songs. They didn't really experiment at all, they didn't have great lyrics,

"Outshined" inspired the movie title Feeling Minnesota. How many movie titles have Iron Maiden inspired?

It's a movie title. Big deal.

Iron Maiden inspired a great deal of metal bands. Eddy (that zombie that appeared on all of the Iron Maiden album covers, which are great) is the king of metal.

By the way, did Audioslave experiment at all? Any lasar light shows at the concerts? Did they practically create an entire new instrument for Rock? How about new Genres?

You know you two are point counterpoint with this review.
I liked the two songs I've heard from it and they're not that bad. I once quoted "Be Yourself" in a forum discussion and it went over real well.

Quote:By the way, did Audioslave experiment at all? Any lasar light shows at the concerts? Did they practically create an entire new instrument for Rock? How about new Genres?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again; laser light shows are meant to pander to potheads, and that's their sole function.
Actually, they did practically invent a new instrument. That's exactly what I'm trying to say. Tom Morello makes his guitar have all kinds of sounds that have never been made before by any other instrument.

Lasar light shows are kinda to make the concerts interesting. It be artisitic is not to be on drugs. And why would Pink Floyd support drugs? Their lead singer went (literally) insane because of drugs in the late 60s!

And the guitar was pioneered LOOOONG before Tom Morello. I have not seen Tom Morello be creative with a guitar that isn't truly amazing.

By the way, when I was talking about the new intrument, I was talking about the synthesizer, an intrument which had not been used much or to any important extent by any band before, and hardly any mainstream bands since. They also created art rock and because of them there exists a synth rock.

Quote:And the guitar was pioneered LOOOONG before Tom Morello. I have not seen Tom Morello be creative with a guitar that isn't truly amazing.

Of course not, it's something you have to hear, and you have to have sensitive ears. I'm talking about how he can get sounds out of his guitar that you'd think had to be made by a synthesizer, like the beginning of "Clear The Lane," or 30 seconds into "The Worm."