Audioslave Serves Up A Big Helping Of Goat Cheese... Err... Cochise
Feb 15 '03
Author's Product Rating
Pros
Good lyrics, generally good music, musical growth from all members
Cons
There's some forgettable material here, some inappropriate guitar work
The Bottom Line
Far from revolutionary, but an excellent album nonetheless. On a side note, didn't Class of '99 rule? Yeah, I thought so.
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The supergroup, as it is usually called, has become an important and essential part of rock and roll history. From the earliest tales of the Masked Marauders (a fictitious supergroup consisting of Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison; a Rolling Stone gag that went a little too far) to the Travelling Wilburys of the late eighties and early nineties, there’s always been a need for supergroups, collaborations between some of rock’s most talented artists.
Lately, however, the supergroup train has begun to dry up somewhat. Sure there have been exceptions, but as of late, the number of non-rap collaborations have been fewer and far between. Sure there was the short-lived Class of 99 featuring, who else, Tom Morello on guitar and Layne Staley on vocals, but I can’t think of a single other ‘new’ supergoup (with the possible exception of one of Primus bassist Les Claypool’s jam bands). But in 2001, the drought was ended when one of the nineties most influential bands joined forces with one of the same decade’s most famous vocalists, forming a pseudo supergroup known by the moniker of Audioslave.
Rage Against The Machine was one of the most influential groups of the nineties, one of the first significant acts to create a hybrid of rock and rap music. Guitarist Tom Morello was responsible for developing some of the most innovative uses for a guitar, while the group’s political rhetoric made waves with its audience. Whether you agreed with their stances or saw them as a group of hypocrites, you had to at least give them points for encouraging their audience to think freely. Unfortunately, after the release of the band’s fourth album Renegade, an LP consisting of fourteen cover songs paying homage to everyone from the Rolling Stones to MC5 and Cypress Hell, rumours of infighting between the group began to surface. The rumours were apparently based in truth, as vocalist Zach De La Rocha quit the band in October of 2000, supposedly due to a spat over band management.
Soundgarden, on the other hand, was one of the four primary acts in the Seattle grunge revolution. While they were neither the most successful (Nirvana) nor the most critically respected (Alice In Chains), Soundgarden fit neatly into the movement, producing several albums that combined ferocious riffs reminiscent of 70s metal with lead singer Chris Cornell’s unique vocals. The collapse of the grunge genre, regrettably, was too much for the band to endure, and so they split in 1997, the last of the major grunge groups to do so (by this time Pearl Jam were no longer releasing “grunge” records, and Alice In Chains was on pretty much permanent hiatus so they don’t count - don’t go trying to get me on a technicality). Cornell tried his hand at solo music, releasing the critically acclaimed Euphoria Morning in 1999. But despite glowing praise from the critical side of the fence, the single Can’t Change Me wasn’t enough to propel the album to commercial success. In fact, the album performed dismally, considering Cornell’s fame, selling only about 300,000 copies (the closest estimate I can find as of right now).
So Rage Against The Machine was left without a vocalist whilst Chris Cornell was left without a back-up band. Again, rumours flew, this time linking both Cornell and Alice In Chains’ frontman Layne Staley to the three remaining Rage members. Not surprisingly, the rumour mill was again correct, and early 2001 found Chris Cornell going into studio with Rage guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk. The group pounded out hour after hour of new material, and bonded as a group. At one point Cornell quit the band, putting an end to what was supposed to be a spot on the Ozzfest line-up, but would return before years end (although he still maintains that he’s out of there if anyone “so much as looks at him the wrong way,” as he so eloquently put it). The groups original moniker, Civilian, was abandoned for legal reasons in favour of what has to be the worst band name in rock music today, Audioslave (why not RageGarden or Sound Against The Machine?). When the newly tagged band left the studio, they had what amounted to hours of new songs (most of which can be found on KaZaA by searching for Audioslave or Civilian). These hours, however, were pared down to a set of fourteen tracks that would make up the group’s debut album, the rather uncreatively titled Audioslave.
The cover of the self-titled album is a sight in and of itself. Strom Thorgerson, the same artist behind some of Pink Floyds most elaborate and, frankly, pretentious (I mean that in a good way, though) album covers, worked with Cornell and the group to develop a cover of equally elaborate proportions. The result is a massive sculpture of a flame sitting in the middle of a desert landscape (on an island off the coast of Africa, I believe), with Strom himself looking up at the colossal carving. The sheer grandiose of the cover is enough to get anyone’s attention. Of course, the problem is that, well, it’s the music that matters. How does the music stand up? With a couple exceptions, I believe that Audioslave’s self-titled debut is a consistent album filled with well-written and excellently arranged rock tunes.
The big question that a lot of people are asking (or maybe should be asking) is, “So does it sound like Rage or Soundgarden?” And, actually, it’s rather hard to develop a definitive answer to that question. While Tom Morello’s distinct style almost has to automatically be linked to Rages music, and Cornell’s vocals are so unique, the music of Audioslave doesn’t really take an approach that’s too similar to either of the previous groups. If there’s anything that links them, it is really only a newfound sense of melody that the Rage members have developed.
With the exception of the misleading first single Cochise (which I’ll get to later), the band displays a talent for subtlety that they wouldn’t have possibly been able to use on a Rage Against The Machine record. There’s no longer a need for a full-on rhythm attack, and Morello actually tries his hand at more traditional guitar arrangements, although there’s still a significant number of the spaced-out, quirky riffs that he’s known for. Commerford and Wilk are unspoken but contribute tremendously to the effort, laying down a solid layer of rhythm and power from which Morello and Cornell do their thing. It seems that the time with Cornell has given the group more of an understanding of musical dynamic. While there’s a significant number of straight-out full on rock numbers, the listener is occasionally rewarded with a more mellow, slowed down and spacey feeling song.
The other big difference between this group and Rage Against The Machine is the lack of political motivation. While Cochise is named after an Indian chief who went on a killing spree, the song itself has nothing to do with the name, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything else on the record that can be taken in even a remotely political context. It looks as if another condition of Cornell’s partnership was that they had to leave the politics out. That may disappoint some of the hardcore fans of Rage, but for the general music audience it’s just fine. Morello instead has focused his political efforts elsewhere, starting a website (http://www.axisofjustice.org/) dedicated to many of his and former bandmate Zach De La Rocha’s beliefs, and organizing a number of protests. Rather than fuelling the group’s music through external conflict, Cornell uses the same writing style he developed in the past while working with Soundgarden as a solo artist. His writings take a mostly introspective approach, with the most common themes seeming to be religion, inner turmoil, and veiled references to love.
On the whole, the combination of Cornell’s lyrics and some of the improved technique of Morello, Commerford and Wilk result in a set of songs that is generally quite good, with a number of highs and very few lows. The music is layered, elaborate, and has quite a lot of musical depth to it. However, there are lows here, with the group occasionally getting to excessive for their own good. A couple of the heavier tracks on Audioslave just don’t come off as having anything relevant to say, and there are also moments where Morello reverts back to his usual guitar histrionics, often at the most inopportune of times.
Audioslave’s first cut is Cochise, an excellent song that is, unfortunately, very misleading for the general listening public. Cochise sounds, frankly, like exactly what you’d expect to hear from Rage Against The Machine and Chris Cornell teaming up. That’s why it’s inappropriate that this was the first single from the album, as there are several other cuts that display far more musical diversity than this. On the other side of the coin though, this is the very song that will guarantee getting the cash from otherwise disgruntled RATM fans, who will settle for nothing less than Rage’s music with Chris Cornell’s vocals. The track, given the name Cochise because Morello felt it ‘resembled the ferocity of the Indian Cochise on the warpath,’ is structurally set up just like a Rage track. A thumping beat slowly develops into a driving guitar riff soaked in distortion. Cornell delivers the lyrics in a raspy scream, reminiscent of, you guessed it, Soundgarden. Despite being an excellent song, Cochise is a problem because it really doesn’t fit in anywhere, and it may have turned away early buyers who wanted something entirely different and musically diverse than the standard Rage music.
The rest of the first half of the album consists of hard rock numbers where the band takes a more conventional rock approach. Gasoline is a hard number with a funky intro and the anthematic chorus of Give me that Gasoline, while the deliberate thumping verses on Show Me How To Live progress into a full-on heavy metal guitar attack. The latter number, though, is unfortunately hurt by its solo, a squealing mess of notes that effectively hurts the song’s mood. Like A Stone is a mid-tempo number that has the vague feeling of a love song, and Set It Off takes the same anthematic approach as Gasoline, with Cornell crying out to the listener Set this f*cker on!
Shadow Of The Sun has a moody feel, a dream-like quality that comes as a result of the quiet guitar part and Cornell’s stretched-out vocals. I Am The Highway is the first real departure from the usual approach on the record. Vaguely resembling an Incubus intro (which sounds very cool even though I don’t care for them in the least), the song sees Cornell dealing with the aforementioned inner turmoil using a series of metaphors and riddles.
Pearls and swine bereft of me
Long and weary my road has been
I was lost in the cities
Alone in the hills
No sorrow or pity for leaving I feel
I am not your rolling wheels
I am the highway
I am not your carpet ride
I am the sky
Exploder, Hypnotize, and Bring ‘Em Back Alive are easily the most forgettable trio of tracks on the album. While none are truly bad songs, the three are all rather forgetful and see the band getting a little too experimental for their own good. Getaway Car is similar to I Am The Highway in its minimalist approach, and is easily the highlight of the album. The track is beautifully melancholy and has the same abstract trippy feeling as the verses on Shadow Of The Sun. The guitar is slow and deliberate, utilizing little of the standard distortion. In fact, there may or may not even be an acoustic guitar somewhere in the mix. Cornell’s vocal performance shines as he gets a large space to operate, resulting in an absolutely gorgeous, slow and spacey song.
All things considered, Audioslave’s self-titled debut is a good album - great in many respects. The members of this new super group have all visibly matured as musicians, exploiting a number of musical techniques that they possibly would have used improperly in the past. While there are a couple of forgettable numbers, and there’s an occasional inappropriate appearance by Morello’s whammy pedal and his whirs and clicks, these are few and far between. For the most part, the writing is solid, the arrangements are appropriate, and the songs are layered to create a musical depth that Rage never possessed. Similarly, the group also shows a sense for melody and balladry that Soundgarden only began to master in the last years of their decade-long existence. The result of the collaboration between two of the most notable entities of the nineties is so far a good one. Audioslave is an impressive album from a band still in their infancy - and the fourteen tracks that make up Audioslave are only scratching the surface of the material the band has recorded in some capacity or another.
Audioslave probably won’t have the impact that Rage Against The Machine and Soundgarden did on popular music in the nineties, but they’re going to take a stab at it anyways. 'Cause Hell, it's worth a shot.
Recommended
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
headlessparrot
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Member:Brian Jansen
Location: Ontario, Canada
Reviews written: 135
Trusted by: 174 members
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