Jolt Country

It is somewhat fitting that I listened to this album in my car, under gloomy, gray, drizzling skies, for this may in fact be the darkest moment of my music-loving life.

Where to start, though. I don't want to spend too much time on this, because it's so horribly depressing to me right now that I just want to be done with it, and then delete the Countdown thread so we can all pretend this never happened.

The first instinct is to accuse Audioslave of "selling out", but quite frankly, I can't imagine how more people will buy this album than the debut album. I mean, take the best part of Soundgarden, mix with the best parts of Rage Against the Machine, and then completely rip away any sort of soul or energy that either of those two great bands had? This is "selling out"?

As the album sloughs itself from one meandering, uncreative nonsong to the next, it's really hard to figure out what they were thinking. From the repetitive, abrasive, and altogether annoying opener "Your Time Has Come" to the plodding, atonal, yet insomnia-curing closer "The Curse", the worst part is when you start to wonder if any of these guys actually did have any talent, or if your (my) previous affinity for their work was clouded by hype or personality or their own press.

Seriously, sitting here writing this now, I'm really wondering if I'll ever be able to respect any of these people again, or ever listen to their previous work with the same level of joy and admiration.

Perhaps one single album is not enough to discredit 15 years of work. But seriously, if one is bad enough to do it, this is the one.

A disaster. A true, horrible disaster.

It's a sad day, friends. That's all I can tell you. A sad, sad day.

And so much for 2005 being the greatest year in music history.

=(

Maybe LUCY can suck the pain away.

Bruce

Well, take some solace in the fact that girls will still be stripping to this album in Canada, Pinner. Someone will get some enjoyment from it... somewhere.

Ha HA!!!!! I LIED!!!! And I MADE YOU LOOK!!!!!

Because it DOESN'T SUCK!!! Because it's TOTALLY WAY AWESOME AND I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER ABOUT IT!!!!!

Out of Exile is the greatest rock album to come out since Physical Graffiti. Anyone who disagrees with this is an idiot.

The most amazing thing about it, is it doesn't sound like it was made in 2005. It sounds like a classic rock album, like all the best parts of Zeppelin, Sabbath, maybe a little Skynyrd in there for good measure, they all got together and made an album, and then got the guitarist really high and made him start making goofy sound effects with it.

I was disappointed with the debut album because I wanted it to sound exactly like Rage. But it sounded like Rage with Soundgarden trying to sing on top of it, with nobody quite sure they knew what they wanted, what they were doing.

I am THRILLED, though, with this album, because it sounds like neither of them. It sounds like a solid, cohesive band of dudes who can just rock the muthafuckin' house in any old way they choose.

Check it:

Your Time Has Come starts off somewhat predictably, with Tom reassuring you that, yes, he can still play those same five notes that he's been playing for the last 15 years. Here he plays them all in order, as if he's learning them for the first time. But then! But then? But then the chorus kicks in, and what the hell? Audioslave goes country rock or something? The hell's going on? And that's a mere, meager harbinger.

The next song, Out of Exile, is essentially this album's version of "Show Me How To Live" from the debut, except much, much better.

The single Be Yourself is next, and the first of the ostensibly "slow songs". Not my favorite, but highlights the difference between Cornell's singing on the debut and this one, which is: Gone is the mumbling. He's actually SINGING again, rather than sounding like a petulant 15 year old whose voice just changed and is all angsty and crap.

But then you hit Doesn't Remind Me, and that's when you realize what you're really dealing with here. I swear, this song is straight off of Led Zeppelin III. Not a furious, metal rocker, just a really wonderful rock tune which coulda been written in 1972. From there, it's on.

Drown Me Slowly features Tommy trying to redo every solo he's ever done in a single song.

Heaven's Dead starts as a crooning ballad, but then ramps up the power at the end with some really addictive, chilling guitar/bass harmonies.

The Worm is a Sabbath tribute, and Tommy's solo in this one will give you TEH NIGHT TERRORS, it is so freaky.

Man or Animal, a romping, foot stomping rock blaster which I figure is pretty much impossible for anyone to dislike.

The rest of the album continues in similarly unexpected, creative ways, which make it really hard not to just smile spontaneously while you're listening. I swear, half the time I was driving down the road with a goofy grin on my face, and never realizing it.

It's just WONDERFUL.

If I had a complaint, it's that, other than making sound effects, Tom still only knows how to do that one solo, which he invented on Know Your Enemy on the debut Rage album, and it shows up at least three times on this album, but who cares. Call it an homage to himself.

Best. Album. EVAR.

Grade: A

BEST YEAR IN MUSIC HISTORY, BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

pinback wrote:Best. Album. EVAR.
Grade: A
BEST YEAR IN MUSIC HISTORY, BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe LUCY can suck the insanity away.

Bruce

Like a Stone was the best song on the last album... are you saying all the guitarist's solos are like that? Because that was brilliant. You NEVER hear something that sounds like it came out of a Dr. Who show on a CD.

Of course, you predictably hated it so much that you refused to do anything like it for Necrotic Drift, though you were asked at least 20 times.

So... you're saying that some songs on this one are better than LaS?

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:Like a Stone was the best song on the last album...

Absurd.

are you saying all the guitarist's solos are like that?

No. Here are the different kinds of solos that Tom can do:

1. Turntable scratching (Bulls on Parade, Drown Me Slowly)

2. That one where he does scales really fast (Know Your Enemy, a bunch on the new album.)

3. That thing where he makes it sound like a broken vacuum cleaner without touching the actual guitar strings with either hand (Bring Em Back Alive, Out of Exile)

4. The one where he pulls one note really hard and does weird crap with it (Like a Stone, The Worm)

5. Random funky wailing (Various)

6. Hitting the wah pedal fifteen million times (Be Yourself).

So, the solo in The Worm is the closest, I think, to the solo in Like a Stone. But the song is not for GAY HOMO FAGOITS like LaS was, so you might not dig it as much.

So... you're saying that some songs on this one are better than LaS?

Every song on this album is better than LaS.

This is what I hate about that album, even though i have never heard that album. They play 'Be Yourself' 25 times a fucking day on each and every single one of the radio stations I listen to, and not only does the brilliant opening fade into some crybaby platitudinal bullshit, but, never remembering that when just 1 chorus is recorded and used throughout the whole song, anything annoying about it is now also repeated multiple times in the song. 'Be yourself is all THACHOO can doooooooo'. What's up with every single band these days never enunciating anything correctly anymore? How many songs has 'THACHOO' for "that you" and 'WITCHORE' for "with your." See if you don't notice it now, each and every single time he says it. Go ahead, see. Listen to it right now and see if it doesn't annoy the hell out of you. I'll wait.

Well, that's not what I would call the "high point" of the album, granted.