I was faced with this choice today while in the CD shop. After listening to both Audioslave's self entitiled album and Metallica's 'St. Anger', I have come to the conclusion that Audioslave rock and Metallica have washed up.

I was a bit sceptical about Audioslave at first, being a 'super band' and all that, and I thought that it the album may underperform and not meet expectations. I've listened to the album a few times and I think it's great - I can listen to it all the way through and I like all the songs. Chris Cornell is simply a great singer and songwriter, and he's backed by ex-members of RATM, which was an excellent band.

Oh dear, what will Metallica do? They'll never be able to release an album that'll compare to the Black Album. 'St. Anger' just sucks balls, and they're blaming piracy for their waning record sales? Pah! All the songs sound the same and James's voice becomes annoying after a while. I must give the aging metallers credit for trying to 'rip it up' with the heavy riffs and the stop-start rhythms, but it gets tired after a while and it just doesn't seem to cut it. Jason Newstead made the right move.