Audioslave - Audioslave
This time we want to start the review with gratitude...
We ask all of you to join hands and say "thank you very much" (you can say it silently if you want).
Thank you so much Rick Rubin !!
One day a large, jagged explosive barrel rolled into Rick Robin's studio, which looked very dangerous, but Rick, a fighter and a sapper by profession did not hesitate for a moment and put the barrel in his studio. After a while, he notices that that barrel is missing something small but very important... a detonator! After all, without the detonator, the barrel will not explode... Robin sat, thought and thought and thought and finally remembered that he had a detonator, not just a normal detonator. This very special detonator was forged and created in Seattle in the 90s, a one-of-a-kind detonator. Rick tried to connect the detonator to the barrel and an amazing connection accrued, the connection was perfect as if the barrel and the detonator were just waiting for someone to connect them together as if they were meant for each other. But to his amazement, this caused a chain of inevitable chemical processes that created a sequence of three big and crazy explosions when the biggest explosion that started the deadly blast wave, was the first explosion, this album !!
If you are still with us after this amazing metaphor (in our humble opinion) then we will explain what we meant...
On November 18, 2002, the debut album of Audioslave was born.
After Zack de la Rocha left Rage Against The Machine in October 2000, the "Rage Trio" sought a sequel. They knew they wanted to continue together but did not know who would fill in the blanks. Rick Robin, we mentioned above knew the band, heard their frustration, and offered them the Soundgarden singer, yes the one called... Chris Cornell. The band members were immediately excited about the idea that the singer of "Badmotorfinger" would be part of their band and the excitement was almost at its peak but only almost... Rick picked up the phone and invited Chris, who was working on his second solo album and they set up a jam session to see if there was any chemistry or dynamics that could work. The rage trio entered the studio with Chris (we're building a drama here so don't stop) with Rick Robin in control. Tom Morello picks up the guitar and starts producing a kind of rising and falling metallic sound, a sort of alarm, and when all of a sudden Brad Wilk enters on the drums and Tim Commerford on the bass and suddenly Tom changes the sound to a blown distortion. After a powerful opening of 8 charts, the three land the power and waits for the response of Chris... He goes to the microphone, opens his mouth, and sings "In my hour of need, On a sea of gray" and in one moment the excitement explodes into thousands of magical shards and cosmic waves wrapping the entire studio !!!
Tom said he could not believe what his ears heard "it was not good... it was sublime" !!!
And we have no other way to describe Chris' voice than sublime !!
So yes, this session was a demo of a song that will be called "Light My Way", this is the first song that the members played together and immediately they felt that the chemistry is perfect and the pairing is from heaven.
We must admit that this combination took two slightly different worlds and connected them together. On the one hand an aggressive band with sharp riffs that throws political and social messages mercilessly and is devoted to confrontations and on the other hand a huge singer with personal baggage with drug and alcohol problems who sings mostly about life, frustrations, and everything but political/social positions. But that's what's beautiful about this thing, this phenomenal supergroup takes both sides and gives them a twist, each in the other direction.
The rage trio softens a bit and brings a style that still shortens and kicks but does so extremely softly and melodically, with no political or social rage. Chris on the other hand finds himself more roaring and howling than before, with a lot of extremism that combines aggression and roars as well as tenderness and caress.
This debut album, named after the band, is nothing short of fireworks and explosions of music at its best, just like in the music video of the song that opens the album. This is a classic example of a situation where the parts are bigger than the whole. Each song is huge in itself, there is not a single song on this album (and it does not matter if you agree or not) that is weak, small, or insignificant. All are a collection of pieces that are well done with sheer talent.
The album opens with the anthem and the great chief "Cochise" Morello's helicopter guitar, what a drama... what a build-up... starching us like a spring, and then with a slight finger movement press the trigger. Fly in the air you can not resist it.
From his first note, Chris screams his soul out as if he was just waiting for this trio to come and allow him to unload all his luggage out so aggressively. Just like in the music video, our ears are shooting fireworks at the sound of this deadly combination of the trio of rage and this crazy vocalist.
Next comes the heavy beat with the snare and bass that knocks you down, with Morello playing as if to make you crawl on the floor.
"Show Me How To Live" is nothing short of an exemplary anthem, the fragility between the verse and the chorus creating an abyss that draws you to scream out loud. No matter what religion you believe in or who created you, you turn to your creator and scream. Some say that the reference here is at all to the creator of the monster who is Frankenstein and not Jesus, but for us, it is not important, we will decide who to scream. By the way, if you were wondering what the special effect is on Cornell's voice at the end of the song, then it is not an effect, it is Cornel himself who pats his hands gently on his throat.
Now let's "calm down" a bit with "Gasoline", here too the pattern of the calm verses returns with the eruption of the chorus, this time it is with gasoline so be careful not to burn everything.
In "What you are" we start with the mesmerizing fret and the sweeping rhythm when at the 22nd second Chris starts singing in a kind of soft and caressing voice as if he takes us to a soft and pleasant ballad, but it seems that the trio does not cooperate and again they give him a chorus when Chris shouts "Now I 'm Free…"
Take handkerchiefs, put an onion next to you so that there will be an excuse because now we come to the moving climax of the album (so fast), "Like a Stone". The song brings together the trio of rage with its soft side. Here too we start calmly but the chorus here does not explode too much and lets Chris continue with the soft and caressing voice. This is one of the most moving songs on the album if not the most moving. Even Tom's solo cries over what Chris did as he sat in his room waiting. You may laugh but this is 21st-century poetics and it's just moving to tears, how powerful how much energy a person can transmit in his voice (by the way, the castle where the music video was filmed, was where Jimi Hendrix lived and created).
Let's have a glass of water and continue because here things change and we ignite the explosion again with "Set It Off" starting with a sound that like something went wrong in the studio and Rick fell asleep on the buttons when he edited Tom's recording. But then it starts to burn because someone "lit it". If we used to have a tin of "gasoline" here you are asked "to set this fucker off" so go ahead and go for it, we are not looking.
We think the combination of Tom's items and Chris' voice is something heavenly, now add to that the bass line and you've got the formula for creating a strong vibration in the heart (yes we pour here and we do it with full awareness, so no need...) Now let's add the drums to the chorus and it's just a pleasure, "we can not tell you why" maybe it's because of the "Shadow on the sun". The end of the song from 4:40 is an explosion of the trio of rage that sounds like Chris is screaming and encouraging those who have already moved the sun.
Now close your eyes and feel Chris, here the trio of rage really calms down and lets him stand out in a strong way. "I Am a Highway," some say it was written about Chris' separation from Soundgarden and some say it was written about the separation from his wife, it doesn't really matter because it's a thrilling song anyway. Anyway, feel how it takes the song and like the lyrics: he is the highway and not some wheel. He is not the hitchhiker, the magic carpet, but he is the sky, and we definitely agree with that.
Going back a bit to Rage's style as Chris makes his voice rough and explodes, an explosive barrel we said? "Exploder". We think the song was written about Chris' struggles with himself and his addictions, but that's just our opinion.
The song "Hypnotize" sounds like it's undoubtedly taken from the demos that Chris recorded for his solo album. Other than Tom's little riff it has nothing to do with the style we've heard so far but we love it. It's refreshing, it's different and we can only imagine the trio of rage playing this song.
Now please bring them back and we'll move on to "Bring 'Em Back Alive" which has scents of religion and faith with Rage's funky yet softened style.
Another song that is the anthem from the creator of the supergroup that of course opens with the sounds of Tom that simply port us on the electrical connections in the brain and create uncontrollable distortions in the facial expressions, "Light My Way" is huge even with a bit of Chinese in the background. "Do not save it for another day" Listen to Chris, click Repeat and listen to this song again.
Let's relax a bit with "Getaway Car" which here too Chris leads the song and gets on stage with "The Escort Band", what a beautiful thing, how much blues there is here, how much good music.
This album ends with the song "The Last Remaining Light" which sounds like Tom is playing a broken guitar and Chris is sitting alone in a dark room recording the lyrics. But leave everything... Listen to the sound of the snare. Try to concentrate on the sound of the snare and see how it is elevated more than everything else as if it wants to say something as if it is giving commands to everyone and creating perfect harmony between all the instruments.
We've said it many times, but let's say it again,
Music is a wonderful thing !! And this album is no less wonderful !!
The album cover is the work of artist Storm Thorgerson, who has had hundreds of albums by bands such as Queen, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and many more. In the first version of the album cover, the man standing in front of the fire was naked but in the end, they decided to choose clothing.
This is the band's most successful album, it reached number seven on Billboard and brought them a nomination at the 2004 Grammys with the song "Like a Stone".
It would be ridiculous to tell you to click play now because if you do not do it automatically, there is nothing to talk about at all ...
So go ahead, do not make us vent ... Spotify, Apple Music