Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 62/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | |
| The A.V. Club | favorable |
| Entertainment Weekly | A− |
| NME | 4/10 |
| Pitchfork Media | 1.7/10 |
| PopMatters | favorable |
| Robert Christgau | |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Stylus | F |
| The Village Voice | unfavorable |
The album was released on November 19, 2002 and entered the Billboard 200 chart at position number seven after selling 162,000 copies in its first week. It was certified gold by the RIAA less than a month after its release, and by 2006 it had achieved triple platinum selling status. It is the most successful Audioslave album to date, having sold more than three million copies in the United States alone. The album spawned hits such as "Cochise", "Like a Stone" and "Show Me How to Live".
Despite its commercial success, Audioslave received mixed reviews. Some critics lambasted the group's effort as uninspired, and predictable. Pitchfork Media's reviewers Chris Dahlen and Ryan Schreiber praised Cornell's voice, but criticized virtually every other part of the album, calling it "the worst kind of studio rock album, rigorously controlled-- even undercut-- by studio gimmickry." They described Cornell's lyrics as "complete gibberish" and called producer Rick Rubin's work "a synthesized rock-like product that emits no heat." Jon Monks from Stylus Magazine had the same opinion. He considered Rubin's production over-polished and wrote that "lacking individuality, distinction and imagination this album is over-produced, overlong and over-indulgent." On the other hand, other critics praised the supergroup's style reminiscent of 1970s heavy metal and compared it to Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, saying they add much-needed sound and style to contemporary mainstream rock music, and have the potential to become one of the best rock bands of the 21st century.
Read more about this topic: Audioslave (album)
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