Out of Exile
Audioslave sound less like a meeting between famous previous bands on Out of Exile. The parts fit together more naturally, especially when Chris Cornell relaxes into a melody and the musicians leave room around him. The album's confidence comes through in that shared sense of space.
Your Time Has Come opens with an energetic riff and the firm rhythmic foundation expected from Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk. The title track is similarly strong, using a repeated figure to support a vocal melody that keeps growing. Cornell has a way of making a chorus sound larger without requiring the instruments to change their entire approach underneath him.
Be Yourself takes a simpler route. Its appeal lies in the direct melody and the restraint of Morello's guitar solo, although the song can feel a little too determined to make its message plain. Doesn't Remind Me is more interesting. The loose, almost casual verses make the heavier passages count, and the arrangement leaves enough room for the vocal to establish its own character.
The rhythm section keeps the album moving even when the writing is unhurried. Heaven's Dead uses that steadiness well, giving Cornell a softer setting without letting the song collapse into a pause between rock tracks. The band's lighter side feels like a natural extension of the same musicians rather than a separate assignment to produce a ballad.
Man or Animal and The Worm give Morello more room to interrupt the surface with his distinctive guitar sounds. Those details are welcome because the underlying structures can be conventional. Not every chorus has the melodic strength to make that familiarity irrelevant, and a few lyrics are less convincing when placed so clearly at the front.
Still, Out of Exile is an assured collection with a real balance between force and ease. Its strongest songs let the musicians contribute without making each contribution a feature. That is a useful development for a band whose individual histories could so easily have occupied all the space.
