Your Opinion Is Wrong™

So here I am, at work and listening to 'Gravity Won't Get You High', The Grates' first full-length release, and rather liking it. See, Lucas had suggested we cover one of their songs, 'Nothing Sir' (which is coming along nicely...I still have some ideas for some crazy Ted-Style rhythm changes, which should mess it up sufficiently), and upon realising I liked the song, lent me the whole album.

Apparently these guys are getting many comparisons to The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Never heard much of their stuff, so I shouldn't comment. I will comment, though, because this is Your Opinion Is Wrong™, not Your Opinion Is Probably Right, But I Wouldn't Know, Because I Haven't Looked Into The Subject In Enough Detail To Interject Your Claim™.

The Grates sound more like The White Strips with some of the lyrical qualities of The Dresden Dolls.

edit: ...and now I'm listening to 'Out Of Exile', Audioslave's newest (?) album, which my sis got for me as an early christmas present. I think.

Being a fan of Soundgarden and having been rather into Rage Against The Machine many moons ago, you'd think I'd like Audioslave, but their first release kinda didn't do it for me. It wasn't bad, it just didn't seem to have any of the good qualities of either Soundgarden or RATM.

This one seems OK, though. Second time I've listened through it.

You'd think I'd be relieved that Chris Cornell decided to cut his hair and wear a goddamned shirt once in a while, but since he has done both of those things, he doesn't seem able to sing quite like he used to. Coincidence?

Nay! Drugs!

Instrumentation is generally all good. Nice bass-heavy nearly-radio-friendly alternative rock with occasionally-weird guitar playing over the top, which is what detracts from the radio-friendliness.

An interesting note: I seemed to know exactly how quite a few riffs would end before actually hearing them, which hasn't happened since I listened to...uh, Jet, I think. Hmm. While Morello does still pull off some strange stuff, his playing in Audioslave seems to be a little more conventional-sounding than his earlier playing.

I get the feeling how he used to play had very little to do with drug abuse, though.