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Volume CXXXII, Number 10 |
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Sounds that rage
DEREK KRAFT
CONTRIBUTOR
Recipe for rock: take three parts Rage Against the Machine, one part Soundgarden, remove any lingering political protest agenda, and throw them in a studio for a year. Then add a garnish of hype and release it to the public. This is Audioslave.
There is not a great deal of new ground being broken on this album, and definitely nothing surprising or unexpected. This is not to say it is a bad album, it does provide a healthy dosage of rock.
The songs are heavy, catchy and only get better with volume. The album fluctuates moods, going from pounding pump-up tracks such as "Bring Em Back Alive," or the first single, "Cochise," to meandering, sad, almost ballad-like songs such as "The Last Remaining Light," which is the closing track of the band's 14 song effort.
Tom Morello's guitar playing is unstoppable as always, not only setting the backdrop for Chris Cornell's heavy vocals, but often taking on a life of its own. At times it seems as if Morello's guitar has only one purpose: to rock your ass back to whence you came. Yes, it's that good. If, by chance, you have just regained your sense of hearing, or somehow missed out on Rage Against the Machine, you can imagine the riffage as a sort of distorted, funked out Led Zeppelin.
If you are a seasoned Rage fan, and you can get over the feeling that it should be Zack de la Rocha behind the mic, and listen to the music for what is, it is actually a very good disk. Just don't expect any rap-metal, this is straight up rock. This is the kind of rock that is reminiscent of when rock was good.
Any fan of rock music should consider adding this cd to their collection. It should be a no-brainer purchase for Soundgarden fans, however I would recommend that fans of Rage Against the Machine listen before they buy.
In short: buy it, crank it, and piss off the neighbors. If you are one of those people who like to quantify everything, you can consider this album a four out of five.
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