Audioslave

Audioslave's second album is aided significantly by the quartet's increased familiarity with one another. These veterans have carved out their own space now, independent from their pasts in Rage Against the Machine and Soundgarden, even if they do borrow a trusty riff from the old Rage playbook now and then.

They remain, for better or worse, as apolitical as imaginable. There isn't much evidence that the years with three-quarters of Rage have changed Chris Cornell's worldview. In fact, there's little lyrical evidence that Cornell thinks about much other than himself and his inner circle (which increasingly, on songs like "Halo," seems to include a higher power as a member). He is most compelling when he's working in abstractions. When he veers into "you" and "I" territory, he often sounds like he's been writing on his refrigerator with a sackful of rock 'n' roll magnetic poetry ("Heaven's dead when you get sad / I see your wishes fly out of time"). Even one of the best old school, late-night riffs of 2005 ("Be Yourself") is marred somewhat by the public service announcement feel of the clumsily executed chorus.

All of that aside, Cornell still has a killer voice. It's been tempered somewhat by age and strain (and maybe some inner peace), but time has also added better range and a rustier edge. He and Tom Morello have grown to better complement one another, resulting in less time for Morello's signature flourishes, but more organic songs and clearer emotional arcs. Musically, Out of Exile aspires to be little beyond stadium rock with chops, although the band does sneak in some surprises, the best of which is the downright jaunty "Dandelion." It's an uneven album overall, and it certainly carries some dead weight. Still, there are enough high points -- "Dandelion," the title track, even the lyrically encumbered "Be Yourself" and "Heaven's Dead" -- to indicate that even if their finest hours are behind them, their finest hour as Audioslave may well be yet to come. And, yes, that's still something worth getting excited about. - Adam McKibbin

Given that most supergroups last little longer than a single album, it was easy to assume that Audioslave -- the pairing of Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell and the instrumental trio at the core of Rage Against the Machine -- was a one-off venture. That suspicion was given weight by their eponymous 2002 debut, which sounded as if Cornell wrote melodies and lyrics to tracks RATM wrote after the departure of Zack de la Rocha, but any lingering doubts about Audioslave being a genuine rock band are vanished by their 2005 second album, Out of Exile. Unlike the first record, Out of Exile sounds like the product of a genuine band, where all four members of the band contribute equally to achieve a distinctive, unified personality. It's still possible to hear elements of both Rage and Soundgarden here, but the two parts fuse relatively seamlessly, and there's a confidence to the band that stands in direct contrast to the halting, clumsy attack on the debut. A large part of the success of Out of Exile is due to the songs, which may be credited to the entire group but are clearly under the direction of Cornell, sounding much closer to his past work than anything in Rage's catalog. Even the simple riff-driven rockers are tightly constructed songs with melodies and dramatic tension -- they lead somewhere instead of running in circles -- while the ballads have a moody grace and there's the occasional left-field surprise like the sunny, sweet psych-pop gem "Dandelion"; it's the strongest set of songs Cornell has written in a decade. Which is not to say that Out of Exile is without excesses, but they're almost all from guitarist Tom Morello; his playing can still seem laborious, particularly when he clutters single-string riffs with too many notes (the otherwise fine opener, "Your Time Has Come," suffers from this), and his elastic stomp box excursions verge on self-parody on occasion. Still, these are isolated moments on an album that's otherwise lean, hard, strong, and memorable, a record that finds Audioslave coming into its own as a real rock band. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide