Revelations is the third and, with the departure of lead vocalist Chris Cornell in February 2007, final studio album by American rock band Audioslave. The album was released on September 5, 2006 in the U.S., and a day earlier in the UK (see 2006 in music). Brendan O'Brien, who has produced or mixed the albums of numerous major rock acts of the past twenty years, including Soundgarden, Rage Against the Machine, Stone Temple Pilots, The Offspring, Pearl Jam, Incubus, and Bruce Springsteen, was at the helm for this record. Audioslave had 20 songs written (a few of which were sampled during their 2005 tour), and returned to the studio in early January to finish recording them.
Guitarist Tom Morello described the sound as "Earth, Wind and Fire meets Led Zeppelin".
On July 3, a private listening party was held for fan club members and non fan club contest winners. The album gained a strong fan review, noting a darker tone, and anthemic choruses. Love, life and loss are all themes on the new album. Political activism is also starting to rear its head in Audioslave's music with songs such as Wide Awake, which uses the Hurricane Katrina disaster and George W. Bush as subject matter.
Prior to the album's release, the title track appeared in the video game Madden NFL 2007. The songs "Wide Awake" and "Shape of Things to Come" were featured in the 2006 film Miami Vice.
Musically, the album is similar to Audioslave's previous album, but with a twist. The band incorporates soul and funk influences in many (if not all) of the songs on the album.
Revelations entered the Billboard 200 at the #2 spot with 150,631 copies.
Many of the tracks have not been performed live, as Cornell left the band in 2007. "One And The Same", "Wide Awake", and "Sound Of A Gun" were played by the band during the Out Of Exile tour, and Cornell performed alone recently acoustic versions from "Until We Fall", "Original Fire", and "Wide Awake". Lacking a lead vocalist and with the band's future in question, the remaining members have not toured in support of the album.
The album has been certified Gold in the following countries:
The album has sold nearly 1 million copies worldwide.
When marketing for the album, the band had the fictional nation dubbed Audioslave Nation shown on the album art featured on Google Earth. http://audioslavemusic.com/audioslavenation/
