audioslave

i never bought audioslave. and by "bought," i mean i never believed what i was hearing from audioslave; i never felt these guys were serious. it always sounded like old rage against the machine songs dubbed over with chris cornell's dubious vocals that sort of spilled nonsensical lyrics.

well, with the release of their third album, revelations, i now believe them. i finall "get" them. it no longer sounds like two different bands trying to force something to work. revelations works on so many levels and i finally believe that these two separate entities have finally shed their baggage to create quite a good album.

i've always felt that rage against the machine had one of the best rhythm sections of modern rock and it's no different with audioslave (of course, they are the same people, so that was really a dumb statement).

i also felt that chris cornell was sort of riding the coat tails of the ratm members, never sort of pulling his own weight. well, he's actually very good here; his voice sounds strong and vibrant. he's got that instantly recognizable voice that is sorely lacking in modern music these days; everyone sounds the same. but cornell's voice you instantly know, no matter what song it is. i really believe the best thing to come out of the seattle sound of the 90's are the distinct singers. cornell, layne staley, eddie vedder... these guys basically have a brand with their voices.

just a couple of beefs: tom morello's solos still bother me. i miss the days when he'd just give a solid, rocking solo. now, he's more into making funny noises with his guitar, which works sometimes and doesn't most of the time. when it doesn't work, it just sucks you right out of the moment of the song, and that's a shame. the second beef is with the band's name. audioslave is a horrible name for a band. terrible. just terrible.

here are a couple of videos:

original fire - tom's solo here doesn't work for me.



revelations - tom's solo here is much better.