Review Summary: Soundgarden have a strong musical legacy, one that fans were afraid could have been tarnished by their new album, a fear that ultimately has been squashed...
"School is back in session, Knights of the Soundtable ride again" - Indeed.
Soundgarden have a strong musical legacy, one that fans were afraid could have been tarnished by their new album, a fear that ultimately has been squashed...
King Animal features everything you could love abot SG and then some more: The odd time signatures, the sludgy riffs, Matt Cameron´s drumming, great basslines, great lyrics (the best lyrics from Cornell from over a decade), and a musical maturity that is natural given the time they took to come together and make a new album.
I won´t put an extensive track by track review because the album is pretty solid from top to bottom, but will point out the songs that seem to stand apart as the best of this record, and perhaps of SG career:
- By Crooked Steps: Just.Listen.To.It. The lyrics are amazing, the guitars as sludgy as ever. This song is pure Soundgarden.
-Black Saturday: Acoustic intro that really fits with their style. Longtime fans will absolutely love the psychodelic bridge, very much in the vein of Led Zeppelin.
-Atrittion: Kickstand part. 2, on steroids. Really solid song that just exudes the band´s early punk influence.
-Eyelids Mouth: Definately One of the best SG songs ever. Gets better with every listen.
-Rowing: Next to Eyelid´s Mouth, this song has the best vocal performance from Chris Cornell since euphoria Morning. This song has a really positive aura to it. The solo from Kim Thayil is amazing.
Like I said before, the album is really solid, really good. Had really good expectations, but the final result was much better than what I had hoped for. It demonstrates a natural evolution for the band, and the fact that none of their albums sound the same, but instead show a new phase of them is what sets Soundgarden appart from other bands of their time.
One of the best albums from this new decade, that only gets better with each listen.
