Soundgarden - King Animal - Review

Soundgarden - King Animal 2012



I suppose my story with Soundgarden goes back to 1991, when Nirvana was hitting their stride with the song Smells Like Teen Spirit, while competing with Soundgarden's song Outshined off of Badmotorfinger released that same year, typifies the right mix of extreme tone, and melody with a nod and wink to the 70's rock anthem vocality.

The problem with the late 80's to early 90's alternative style was there was this constant shoving, and pushing to get ahead of the pack. It was in result of the underground scene coming out with a lot of great talent, whom were gaining foot hold in their respected locality, in this case Seattle Washington. When Nirvana came into the scene with such a blistering force with Nevermind, Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger was pushed behind for the latter. For me Badmotorfinger is their swansong of sorts before the change in 1994 with Superunknown. 

Two things I like about Soundgarden both involve Kim Thayil and Chris Cornell's guitars. There is great respect to both Kim, and Chris's achievements as guitarists,  because they accentuate each other. They play off of the comrade and elicit this with a friction of tone, and extreme contextualization to the songs they compose. How does King Animal stack up to the prior knowledge? Dubious at best. Due to the passage of time, and the fact Chris Cornell's is older, his vocals do sound exhausted, and tired. There is such a thing as long past prime.

Sure King Animal is a return to form, only that it is 16 years later after Down On The Upside dropped. I felt utterly depressed by that record, as it felt lost, unhappy, and unsure of its place. Fast forward and again I'm not a fan of this record either. It embraces cliche which plays on nostalgia, whereas evoking brand association in which sets up a expectation that falls completely short.

I'm not trying to bag on the whole record, its a pleasant mix of what they're known for, but underneath I felt kind of robbed of the truest essence of the pre-Superunknown era material. Which in itself brings back that whole nostalgia aspect. Therefor this reunion record definitely cheapens the experience, and I wished bands would stop doing this.

I think their transformation with Superunknown in 1994 put them in the big boy camp with pop inflection, and tonality. With King Animal this is as by the book with it's hooks, as it also employs all the trappings devoted Soundgarden fans want/need to hear. Nothing with this record is memorable for me in that it is rehashing a lot of that pop construct for the sake of melancholic response. Thanks for reading.

B.