Audioslave

If Audioslave are going to live up to their promise of putting out an album a year, they need to either release fewer singles or get them out there faster, and what fun is there in releasing fewer singles?

With Out of Exile only seven months old and "Doesn't Remind Me" still on Billboard's Modern Rock Singles chart, Audioslave have just released the album's fourth single, "Out of Exile."

"That song in particular is just a very unique combination of musical influences," singer Chris Cornell said at the VH1 Big in '05 Awards. "If I would've seen it on paper I would've never thought it worked. It's still got a big rock riff, but it ends up sounding sort of like a Civil War ballad at times."

The song includes some of the most personal lyrics on the album. "On the altar of a sunrise/ Was a wedding in the waves," Cornell sings. "And inside her shone a young light/ From her labor I was saved."

"I was writing the lyrics for the record when my wife was pregnant with her," Cornell said pointing to his 14-month old daughter. "So that's kind of what the song is about, about me turning my life around and her and my wife helping me."

As for the album-a-year promise, Audioslave seem to be on pace and have already logged a few tracks, but not with Rick Rubin, who oversaw the group's first two LPs. Brendan O'Brien, who's produced or mixed most of the major rock bands of the past 20 years, including Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine, is helming the as-yet-untitled record.

"We've all worked with him before in our previous bands and we've already actually recorded a couple of songs with him for the new record and it was great," Cornell said.

"He's an amazing guy, a great musician," added bassist Tim Commerford.

Audioslave have 20 songs written and will return to the studio in early January to finish recording them.