Soundgarden - King Animal

[Talking Backwards]

I don't know what they were thinking with the early preview, because it made them sound much more like AC/DC than Soundgarden. I'm not sure what anyone was expecting the new album to sound like, but I can say that I was pleasantly suprised.

I can't say yet whether or not it will be even as good as Down on the Upside, but it does feel a lot like it picks up where that album left off; which is still better than any of the Cornell solo albums or Audioslave. Cornell also doesn't have his "old" range any longer, but he sounds a hell of a lot better than he did with Audioslave.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpJPIpM_Ot4&list=PLu8wck6TPb-iVuYiYoJSFNi71owKp-t2K&index=5&feature=plpp_video[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLXnQyKBRtM&feature=BFa&list=PLu8wck6TPb-iVuYiYoJSFNi71owKp-t2K[/ame]

 

[orbsonb]

meh...feels kinda stale to me. very plodding and unremarkable. as far as music in the "heavy alt rock" paradigm goes i think i'll stick with Torche.

Whereas it used to be really impressive and an atmospheric sticking point of the music, I think Cornell's voice largely just gets in the way now. it sounds like he's constantly straining and every note is sucking the life out of his body. here he sounds a bit better than he did in Audioslave, yeah, but his age is really showing.

 

[Talking Backwards]

Honestly, those are not even the most interesting songs. They are kind of average. The only reason I didn't post the "better" songs is because they have "download the album here!" plastered all over them. The full album is streaming on ITunes if you use that. And yeah, he does sound like he's straining on those songs, but he really doesn't at all on the more mid-paced songs. He actually sounds good again. Much of that is probably due to the songs actually being written with him in mind, because he sounds like himself instead of an imitation.

 

[rebirth]

Honestly, those are not even the most interesting songs = dude you dont't know shit, with your half ass meanless rants ok

 

[Talking Backwards]

your half ass meanless rants ok

 

[Dead Winter]

lol rebirth

 

[neal]

didnt listen to these yet, but the song they are playing on the radio is horrible. it doesnt sound anything like soundgarden in tone or style, it sounds like old guys trying to make crappy modern rock or something.

 

[Talking Backwards]

If it's Live to Rise from the Avengers (not on the album) and Been Away too Long, those are the songs I was referencing in the first post. They sound nothing like the majority of the songs on the album and were a bad choice for anything other than getting some popular radio music out there to get them noticed by people who don't even know about the band.

At least seven or even eight of the thirteen tracks on the album sound like they would fit perfectly (aside from Cornell's raspy parts) slightly before or after DoTU. The rest just seem like a combination of Audioslave, Soundgarden and little of his solo work. That doesn't make those songs awful, but just much less exciting.

If you have a chance, listen to Bones of Birds and Black Saturday.

I'm also not suggesting this is their "best" album, or even close to it. My point was simply that it's nowhere near as bad as I was (and possibly you) expecting at all.

as far as music in the "heavy alt rock" paradigm goes i think i'll stick with Torche.

Just listened to four songs by this band. They don't even sound like the same genre. More of a modern "happy" sludge band than anything. Unless I just listened to the wrong tracks.

 

[orbsonb]

i guess it is kind of an invalid comparison to this new material...it's not exactly the same, genre-wise (definitely sludgier) but I like a lot of their stuff for the same reason that I liked old Soundgarden material; groovy, gritty and ballsy without ever getting too dark or over-the-top. all the new soundgarden music i've heard just feels like it's flatlining to me.


i can see a jam like this on a classic Soundgarden album with Cornell singing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO7nPEouHt0

 

[~Lynn~]

Nothing will top Louder than Love.

 

[rebirth]

7/10 its getting aroud the world

 

[Talking Backwards]

i can see a jam like this on a classic Soundgarden album with Cornell singing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO7nPEouHt0

Yeah, I can too. That song is pretty good, and nothing like the other songs I heard that had more of a Greenday vibe going on.

 

[Talking Backwards]

I've probably listened to this album twenty times by now, and it actually sounds like two seperate albums. They frontloaded the radio rock--where a few aren't bad at all--and then decided to actually write Soundgarden songs again, or visit the B-Sides catalogue from Superunknown or Down on the Upside. I can't tell if they just added a bunch of older, unreleased and reworked tracks or if they were trying to appease two seperate crowds. The last half is definitely the strongest and doesn't sound anything like the first half.