After releasing their self-titled debut in 2003, Audioslave released a string of singles and ended up wielding a number 1 hit with the song
Show Me How To Live. It seemed that former Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell and former Rage Against the Machine members Tom Morello, Tim Commerford, and Brad Wilk were riding the high life when only a couple years ago they were in question about where their musical careers were headed. Many people called Audioslave the first super group of the 21st century, but could they retain such a profound status with their second album?
Well, for me the answer is complicated. You see, Audioslave’s debut album was something exciting and was filled with fun guitar riffs and great vocals. You could still relate the band to Rage Against the Machine or Soundgarden, but Audioslave had it’s own uniqueness. The only real problem that their debut album had was that it would become repetitive fairly quickly and that is still an issue with
Out of Exile, the sophomore album from the band. The vocals from Chris Cornell are still great as always, but that’s mainly from the production of Rick Rubin. The guitar playing from Tom keeps that same style that it has always had which is good, but at times it seems that he depends on effects too much. Which is my first real problem, whenever Tom plays a solo it seems as if it is just a variation of some other song that the band has written and the solo therefore feels uninspired. Other than that however, the guitar playing throughout the album is generally great. Brad Wilk continues to show on this album that he can only come up with drum beats that revolve around the same formula and while complimenting the music nicely, he shows no real talent. Tim Commerford’s bass playing is what I expected it to be, fantastic, or at least when it comes to being able to branch out on his own which he does do somewhat throughout the songs on this album, which is evident on songs such like
Drown Me Slowly. Also, Tim’s backup singing stands out more than it did on the self titled album and shows some nice improvement from him which really adds to the songs.
Favorites on the album are first single
Be Yourself, mainly for the excellent guitar work on the album and the relaxing pace it has. For me this song is really the only grower where I at first disliked it, but soon found it one of my favorites.
Heaven’s Dead is also another favorite of mine on the album for it’s guitar work and I would have to say is one of the slower songs on the album.
The Worm is easily my favorite song because all of the instruments come together well to make for one of Audioslave’s best songs so far and Chris completely owns the song with his voice. There aren’t to many duds however on here, but the song
Out of Exile, to me is the most repetitive song on the whole album despite some nice guitar work from Tom.
-Pros-
+Chris Cornells voice sounds good, but that might just be because of production.
+Bass playing and the guitar playing from Timmy C. and Tom is generally above average.
+Audioslave has their best songs on this album with Be Yourself and The Worm
-Cons-
-Sometimes Tom Morrelo’s guitar playing and solos feel truly uninspired and dull.
-Brad Wilk shows no talent anywhere on the album.
-After only a few listens this album will start to become dull and for most it won’t be a grower either.
Overall for Audioslave’s second album that is fifty-three minutes long, I would say that it doesn’t impress as much as their first one did, but this album still features two of their three best songs to date with
Be Yourself and
The Worm with the song
Set it Off from their first album as my favorite. As a follow up album though, it just doesn’t capitalize like it should have done. The album seems to get repetitive even faster than their self-titled did which is the main problem, leading this album to only manage to receive a good rating of 3 out of 5. Comments are welcome about this review, album, or the band. Thank you for your time.
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