AUDIOSLAVE - as an amalgamation of Rage Against The Machine and Soundgarden - were always going to be a force in rock music.

The band is made up of the rhythm and guitar section of Rage Against The Machine and the earthy vocals of Soundgarden's Chris Cornell.

The result is a band far less political than Rage but none the worse for it. The ambiguous lyrics penned by Cornell marry well to the thundering percussion of RATM.

Moreover, the bands in their new form have moved on to a new era of producing music. Not many rock bands can claim to have the experience and maturity that Audioslave as an entity possess.

Cochise, the fist track on the album to be released as a single, has a pounding thrash element that belies a more mellow tone that is threaded through the overall album. This band will hopefully be around for sometime to come.

Three and a half Globes out of five. ETM