Chris Cornell - Scream

Chris Cornell should get a pat on the back for the risk he's taken on new solo outing 'Scream'. The rocker - who formerly found his way as the frontman for Audioslave and Soundgarden - has worked with Timbaland for the entirety of his third record and who could blame him? There's no better producer to reinvent your career - afterall, this a man who transformed Justin Timberlake from his eternal boyband status into this generation's Michael Jackson.

One of the strangest collaborations put to paper, the results of 'Scream' are not necessary the kind of thing to shout out loud about. Especially when two acts of their calibre are let loose in the studio.

R&B, hip-hop and electropop are the essence of the longplayer, which should leave the longtime Cornell fans disgusted. Split 50/50, on one hand we have the brilliant electro beats and FutureSex-isms of 'Part Of Me', 'Never Far Away', 'Enemy' and 'Get Up; a bunch of songs that find Timbaland at his most pop creative. Bleeps, synths, electronic bass, hard beats - in other words, the best parts of his 'Shock Values' album rolled into one.

Then there is the plain odd - the Indian mysticism and psychedelic vibes of 'Take Me Alive' - and the harmonica blues of the finale 'Two Drink Minimum', which seems misplaced when compared to the heavy electronic sounds of the previous 13 songs. Others, such as the ballad 'Long Gone' and 'Other Side Of Town' bring 'Scream' down to the levels of snoredom and should have been left on the cutting room floor. Only Cornell's worn, frayed at-the-edges gruff vocals manage to add some interest.

A pop experiment that has its moments, but should have been worked on for longer to achieve what these two are truly capable of. 'Scream' is an ambitious project that fails to hit as hard as it should.