It’s unlikely that with this album Chris Cornell deliberately intended to say his goodbyes to rock music, but we’re afraid the final result will make a lot of rock fans turn their backs to 'Scream'. The very first thing you notice when you play this and I mean really the first thing is not the Cornell’s voice at all but the clean, sparkling production typical for Timbaland. The second one is the poppy songs, almost MTV stereotyped. And then the third thing is Cornell’s remarkable voice, screaming over mainstream music. Not that it’s necessarily bad, it’s just… weird. To understand 'Scream' we need to stir the shit a little. Nobody is expecting from Chris to be the young bruised poetic soul he once was with Soundgarden. Neither we expect him to go back and research the ruins of Audioslave. While his first solo album 'Euphoria Morning' was a beautiful piece of art, the second one 'Carry One' was a jerk. Well, obviously not the jerk we are experiencing with 'Scream'. But the question is: Is it re-e-e-e-ally a jerk? After listening to it for half a dozen times, I must say, no, it’s not. It’s obvious. Mr. Cornell’s days of frown and rebellion are long gone and nowadays he most probably needs to be taken seriously by a wider world. He had the good looks and the musical credibility to overcome his past. Plus Timbaland is really pushing the hidden (but always obvious R’N’B) vocal tanets of Chris outside. Songs like 'Sweet Revenge' and 'Watch Out' are clear evidences of what Cornell/Timbaland’s attempted to do. Sometimes it works ('2 Drink Minimum'), sometimes it doesn’t ('Time'). We all know Timbaland is good about pumping out hits, but sometimes you ask yourself isn’t it too much. In the end, I suspect rock fans, who dislike pop music won’t dig this album. There’s nothing for them in there. Like the previous one, this album puts Chris Cornell closer to Jeff Buckley than to Curt Cobain and waves goodbye all illusions that anything can be the same as then, be it grunge or the age.