Slave Against the Rage Garden

Take one part Soundgarden, add three parts Rage Against the Machine, mix thoroughly and you have Audioslave, a supergroup made up of four of the biggest players from the 90’s alternative rock explosion. Thankfully, they aren’t resorting to the played-out tricks of today’s rap metal sound (which Rage, with vocalist Zack de La Rocha, helped pioneer.) Audioslave preserves the tone of Rage Against the Machine perfectly, practically photocopied from Rage’s last release. Likewise, Cornell’s vocal tracks could have been lifted directly from his solo venture Euphoria Morning. Audioslave sticks to the Black Sabbath-soaked heavy metal sound that defined past projects but there is some interesting cross-pollination. “I Am the Highway” finds the former Rage rockers playing ballads, an unexpected turn. On “Shadow of the Sun” Cornell does his harshest vocals since Badmotorfinger attempting (unsuccessfully) to match the lung capacity of de La Rocha. Nor is Cornell able to match his predecessor’s lyrical substance, instead giving us downer cliché poetry between ‘woahs’ and ‘yeahs.’ Sample lyric: “When you asked for light I set myself on fire, and if I go far away I know you’ll find another slave.” Overall, a respectable first release of mostly what you’d expect.