Audioslave - Audioslave (Review: Ben)

Aside from 'Cochise', I'd never really listened to Audioslave and so it was with baited breath after a string of healthy reviews from everyone else that I delved into their self-titled offering. So, let's start with what we know, Morello is a guitar genius and Cornell is a fantastic vocalist. But what to expect from this 'supergroup' combination?



The album begins with a solid opening track, a nice riff and a song which promises good things from the album. Unfortunately, I found 'Show me how to live' went in the opposite direction and prepared me instead for a much more challenging listen. The song was solid enough and by no means terrible but it lacked something to keep me interested, a trend I found consistent throughout the album.



Influences of RATM were obvious from the outset but I felt the album as a whole lacked the stand-out, in your face kind of tracks that have become such a trademark of RATM. Ok, so this is not RATM and Audioslave are clearly trying to do their own thing, but I just can't help but feel the album as a whole is solid if unspectacular and almost drifts by without leaving much of an impression. Having just finished listening, I can name maybe 2 tracks other than 'Cochise' which stuck in my head. 'Like a Stone' showed a much more diverse style to Audioslave and proved their undoubted quality to write a song with a lot of depth and meaning, typified by another fantastic Morello solo. However, 'I am the Highway' stands out for me as the real anthem of this record. It is a much slower song but has so much emotion in it and really showcases Cornell's vocals. It hints at something epic within this band and I was hugely disappointed that no other track managed to reach these heights. Despite these two tracks, the album fails to really engage the listener and by the time I'd reached track six (Set it Off) there was a sense of "heard it all before".



So, to conclude, I thought that this was an average album that despite showing in parts great promise to deliver something epic, ultimately fell way short of consistently delivering memorable tracks. Audioslave left me with a great sense of unfulfilment and so I give it a score of 2.5 out of 5.