In the red corner…
When Soundgarden split in ‘97, the grunge world grieved the loss of one of the greatest bands of the era. Frontman Chris Cornell was revered for his distinctively scorched, 40-a-day vibrato, and songs like ‘Black Hole Sun’, ‘Jesus Christ Pose’ and ‘Pretty Noose’ were quickly adopted by 90’s rock kids as the anthems of a generation. Cornell’s subsequent foray into solo territory with Euphoria Morning was an initially successful one, however news of a follow up never materialised.

In the blue corner…
Rage Against The Machine had established themselves as a rap metal tour de force, bringing punk ethics and political motivations to mainstream music culture. Songs like ‘Killing In The Name’ and ‘Sleep Now In The Fire’, the video for which was shot on Wall St and directed by Bowling For Columbine man Michael Moore, fuelled their fanbase and reputation, and when Rage frontman Zach de la Rocha departed the band in October 2000, we all thought it was the end.

However, in 2002, four moths after the departure of de la Rocha, Cornell joined up with Rage’s Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk to form a band called Civilian, and commenced recording with Rick Rubin. The group disbanded a month later citing management difficulties, only to reform again – this time, as Audioslave.

Hailed a supergroup before they’d even released a single, the band finally made public their self-titled debut album last November.

Check out the riff heavy, gnarly voiced single ‘Cochise’ high quality regular quality
and the unsettlingly melodic ‘Like A Stone’ high quality regular quality