Since the 2002 release of their self-titled debut album, Audioslave has been an effective personal defense system for anyone attempting to avoid annoying Rage Against the Machine fans. Whenever I'm confronted by said fans, I simply say, "Well, I think it's great that those guys didn't stop making great music when Zack de la Rocha left." Or, "Audioslave is pretty awesome right? Like, better than Rage."
And so, with such sarcasm in mind, I volunteered to write a review of Audioslave's newest album, Revelations, perversely looking forward to writing an inimical review and being able to bask in my own musical snobbery; I was looking forward to, in short, making Audioslave into my own personal punch line.
Audioslave won't cease to be my method of choice for ridding myself of unwelcome company, but admittedly, Revelations is a pretty good album. Lead singer Chris Cornell's distinctive wail shares the spotlight with the rest of the band more equitably than on previous efforts, and the rhythmic emphasis signals a continued departure from the band's RATM roots, begun in 2002 when the group declared they would leave the politics at home.
This is no longer Rage Against the Machine with Chris Cornell; Audioslave seems to have fused completely and are forging their own sound.
The album's opener, "Revelations," opens with simple arpeggios before Tom Morello launches into an energetic single-string guitar riff that drives this simple rocker. Despite bearing the same title as the album, the song is oddly non-representative of the rest of the material the band offers. Revelations is diverse, overtly funky and at times even fun, while "Revelations" is straightforward and formulaic.
"One and the Same," a wah-wah-ing foot stomper, is possibly the highlight of the album, with the exception of the soulful single, "Original Fire." The shifting "Broken City" and the pulsing "Moth" are evidence of the increased rhythmic presence, albeit at the expense of Morello's trademark crunchy riffs.
The energy of the album's first two tracks disappears (and I swear a frat boy drove by my house blasting Lynyrd Skynyrd when the CD changed to "Until We Fall") until the manic "Original Fire." But it slackens again until the positively delightful closer, "Moth," which will wake you up after you fall asleep during tracks seven through 11.
Lyrically, there's nothing new here; Cornell's lyrics are vapid and transient, which isn't that much of a negative, for it allows to listener to focus on the music. Some of the tracks are still awkward and clunky -- a case of trying to do too much and a trademark of Audioslave's previous releases.
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