As a Chris Cornell fan from about 1989 it is very telling that I've very rarely been disappointed by this artist.

I was heartbroken when Soundgarden broke up and a bit wary of Audioslave... then I fell under the Cornell/Morello spell. Then there are his three solo albums. All have their positives and negatives. "Carry On" is Cornell's one album I really had to work a bit get into, but eventually did.

Then came "Scream". I have to admit, upon the first listen I was thinking, "What the hell IS this? He's gone down some funky, poppy, R&B road!" But man... once I got hooked by one song (Enemy) it wasn't long before I was hooked on all the rest. Plus, with the way the songs are designed to flow into eachother, I find it nearly impossible to just listen to one song at time.

This album, though a huge departure, is by far Cornell's most energetic, addictive and just plain enjoyable solo album to date. He is a true artist who obviously has no interest in rehashing what he's done before and brave enough take a risk on new genre... and, as one would only expect from him, DOMINATE it.

If you are purely a genre fan, no matter the performer, and you only tolerate the rock genre, then this album is probably not for you. But if you are a fan of an artist and trust a gifted one to create something special, then I highly recommend this album.

When I first heard Cornell would work with Timbaland, I braced for the worst, especially after hearing the awful work he did with Duran Duran last year. Usually, I find Timbaland's work too sterile (the beats, while danceable, too perfect to really groove). And that's somewhat the case here. I really like a lot of the old style synth sounds that are used, and the textures and deep bass are great, but the whole thing sounds a bit artificial. It's saved somewhat by Cornell's voice. Timbaland's usual pop or rap pairings mostly can't sing like this, so Cornell can take the songs up a notch. And as with Cornell's last solo album, the vocals are sounding much better than in the Audioslave era. He constructs some pretty memorable melodies. The thing that's missing vs. his previous solo work, however, are all the open guitar tunings and harmonic color provided from them. These songs give up so much to the rhythm of the loops that there isn't much room for the more interesting chord changes that characterize Cornell's best stuff. Some people will reflexively give it 1-star, but it's far better than that. Nevetheless, it's not as interesting as his first two solo albums, and so we hope its a transition on toward something more expansive. I admire his guts to try a project like this, but I might have chosen a different (more musically diverse) producer than is Timbaland. To go in this type of direction, someone like Danger Mouse might have been a hipper choice.