When you get to this level, and Audioslave are undoubtedly as part of the machine as the next band, nothing ever happens without being pored over, analysed and justified (financially, not morally). So it can be no mistake that this album bears the name ‘Out of Exile’. And why is that exactly? Well here we have a band who exist under the premise that they are renegades, cast out and regrouping covertly on the fringes after their previous, more significant, employment terminated. So ‘Out of Exile’ says all that needs to be said by the PR cogs behind this highly finished production, like this album is some kind of momentous stride forward, a victory, a return that hasn’t been without anguish, like the period between albums was spent in a harsh, stony solitude. The sooner that they drop the pretence though and stop chasing former glories the better, because this isn’t a bad album, but would be better playing entirely to its own strengths.
The mistake they made last time was to release ‘Cochise’, a fiery brute of a single, groaning under the weight of leaden riffs and sky reaching intent and the hint that promise would actually be satisfied (together with a video with more fireworks than a busy night in Baghdad), and then following it with a lacklustre album that didn’t match up. At least this time round they saw fit to accompany the album with just about their weakest, competitively average, effort yet (‘Be Yourself’). Partially because of that, this album succeeds. Because that single is the exception to the rule, and that rule is that the riff is mighty, and more malleable than you think.
‘Your Time Has Come’ and the title track are a sturdy enough start to the album, a showcase for the sound they established the first time around, but sounding more like an angry Pearl Jam than either of their former bands, with a reasonably strong performance from Chris Cornell. But it’s later on in that the record starts taking chances and bending its remit. ‘Heaven’s Dead’ is them back on a chilled tip, but with much more success than the likes of the testing ‘What You Are’ off the first record, sounding like Led Zepp in a Desert Session, also reminiscent of Soundgarden at their most tender. ‘Man or Animal’ does mimic RATM’s ‘Bombtrack’ somewhat, and out of its original context its never going to be as potent, but it gives a frantic base for Cornell to prove his worth. And ‘Dandelion’ could show them at their hazy best, without relying on heaviness and what is expected of them. It’s still not a patch on their best pre-Audioslave work, but it is more what the debut should have been.