AUDIOSLAVE „s/t”

I was really devastated when I realized that I would never experience another Soundgarden album. But what do we have here? A great substitute! Chris Cornell (Soundgarden's vocalist) joined forces with the remaining members of what used to be Rage Against the Machine. The result: a diverse album that is a perfect hybrid of the two bands mentioned above. Before the bands called it quits both of them played music that fed on 70s rock. There were many similarities between them already then. Soundgarden reperesented the metal side of grunge and RATM were considered rap-metal (a stupid description because I've always considered their music heavy rock).

The main men in the songwriting are: Chris and Tom Morello (guitars). Tom wrote the main part of the music and Chris is the melodyman and lyricist. The riffs are more grungy than what you're used to with RATM due to the fact that Audioslave have melodic vocals. Tom works double shifts, so to speak: there are many nice arrangements with two guitars. RATM was more stripped down but here Tom's qualities as a song writer are more complex. Everything is mid-tempo but even some ballads are included on this album. Chris does a great job as always. The production is very clean and the rock these guys represent is not shitty but crystal clear and powerful.

If you are into 70s rock, harder grunge or even stoner rock this one is a keeper.

note: 9 out of 10