Superunknown

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
"Fell on Black Days", indeed. Seattle sludge slingers Soundgarden made a living out of cathartic, woe-is-me wailing (we're talking the banshee vocals of Chris Cornell and the crypt-creaking guitar of Kim Thayil), but this wallowing in grim depression ironically proved to be the band's most uplifting career effort. When the reclusive Cornell ventures out of his shy-guy shell, it's typically via a primal scream of cathartic emotion--he might camp it up with a sophomoric "Spoon Man", but most of this vicious disc leaps straight for your jugular. Generations in the post-millennial future will one day refer to this record to discover exactly how 1990s rock & roll was done. --Tom Lanham

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Description
As the first grunge band to be signed by a major label, Seattle's Soundgarden opened the pop floodgates, and a deluge of thrash-o-rama bands began swamping the airwaves. Followinga series of trend-setting releases on the independent Sub Pop and SST labels, Soundgarden's initial A&M releases LOUDERTHAN LOVE and BADMOTORFINGER signaled the return of the classic guitar band to popular consciousness.
Using the time-honoured Led Zeppelin/Aerosmith approach as a jump-off point--not to mention influential bands like Black Sabbath, MC5,The Stooges and Killing Joke--Soundgarden has formalised their own approach to raw power. Their stylised melodic hooks,however, along with their sometimes surreal lyrics, set them apart from the pack. Whether they get dazed and confused on the vamping "Limo Wreck", or cut loose with a wham- bam-thank-you-ma'am 4/4 cruncher like "Kickstand", Soundgarden canrock and roll with all the jet-propelled, no-nonsense crunch of all your favourite bands, from Zeppelin to the Ramones--and lead guitarist Kim Thayil's chops never outrace his melodic imagination.
But Soundgarden is doing a lot more than simply recycling their best bits for another run up the charts. With SUPERUNKNOWN, they're stretching out and putting some distance between themselves and their imitators, incorporating different styles into their own mix, and creating a fresh modern sound. Certainly, there are not many bands who could rock convincingly in 5/4 time without sounding like slumming jazzbos, but Soundgarden's "My Wave" is a fist-shaking anthem that suggests the tone of the Stones' "Get Off My Cloud". The curious mixture of psychedelic blues elements, Near-Eastern tonalities and Indian ragas which make "Head Down", "Black Hole Sun" and "Half" so distinctive indicates thatSoundgarden didn't simply cop their ideas from a Hollywood soundtrack. With his guttural Steve Tyler-like growl, frontman/songwriter Chris Cornell can turn a spoon player into a street shaman on "Spoonman", give in to despair on "Let Me Drown", or rail against authoritarian types on "Head Down". With slamming production by Michael Beinhorn, SUPERUNKNOWN is the hard rock event of 1994.

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Customer reviews

review by: Ego Mystikal date: 2008-05-25 rating:
soundgaaaarrgden
to any young unpolluted minds/souls out there this sucks! alwys has done! theres no crunch just the smooth disguised as the crunch, dont believe these reviews! listen to funhouse by the stooges or you might end up thinking you enjoy soundgartden and form a crap band, like many others have thought they enjoyed doing, but this is no road to enlightenment, no yellow brick path, no route, 69 its a road to nowhere!

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review by: date: 2008-01-25 rating:
Super - Known
I've finally decided that Soundgarden's 'Superunknown' is my all time favourite album!

I'm not gonna be so arrogant as to say "it's the best", because like any art form, it's all down to personal taste and opinion.

After nearly 15 years, it's easily the album I listen to the most and get the most out of.
Only Pearl Jam's 'Vs' and Blind Melon's 'Soup' come anywhere near.

I just find it incredible that an album with so many obvious influences, can still manage to sound totally unique, original and innovative.
You can hear the slow, sludgy riffs of Black Sabbath. The mystical musings of mid-career Led Zeppelin. The psychedelic rock of Pink Floyd. The pop melodies of the Beatles. As well as hints of AC/DC, Tom Waits & Grateful Dead.
But despite all this, the album sounds unlike anything I've ever heard.

It's not just the flagship songs, the title track, 'Fell On Black Days', 'Spoonman' & 'Black Hole Sun', that make the album great. The lyrics and the textured layering of the sound make 'Let Me Drown', 'My Wave', 'Mailman' & 'Fresh Tendrils' more than just straight forward rockers.
Then there's the doomsday, apocalyptic feel to 'Limo Wreck', 'Day I Tried To Live' & '4th Of July'. Had it not been written some 7 years earlier, 'Limo Wreck' could easily have been about 9/11.

The beauty of the lyrics to 'Like Suicide' and the left field Eastern sound of 'Half' just add to the complexity of the album.

When you consider that Soundgarden are the only band from the 90s Alt/Rock scene that could get away with a track like 'Head Down' and the fact that 'She Likes Surprises' could easily have been found on a Beatles album, is just the final tick in the box for me.

This, of course, along side Chris Cornell's unparalleled vocals, Kim Thayil's unique guitar sound, and also that drummer Matt Cameron & bassist Ben Shepherd add so much as songwriters and not just as musicians.

Should be appreciated as a truely great piece of art.

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review by: date: 2007-10-08 rating:
great singer - shame you cant hear him!
amount of tracks :16
excellent :4
v.good :0
good :3
fair :8
poor :1

soundgarden, along with alice in chains, were definately the very best bands to come out of the so-called 'grunge' scene. and in chris cornell they had a truly great singer. the only problem is that chris was up against it for a couple of reasons - and continues to be so with 'audioslave' - and herein lys my problem with this album.

firstly its far too long, but most importantly, the material herein is not consistently strong enough to warrant such a lengthy album. theres a lot of filler here - and there was throughout all soundgardens albums. however, when they DID hit the mark, then they were premier league quality. for me the stand out tracks are the opener 'let me drown', the fabulous 'limo wreck' and '4th of july' - the rest of the material goes from ok to average. secondly, whilst the actual production on this album is very powerful, chris's vocals are buried in the mix throughout (except for a couple of tracks) - whilst chris is a serious singer, his only downfall is that his diction can be a bit lazy at times, and that, combined with the buried vocal sound, means that the majority of the time you cant hear a word hes singing about. maybe some people dont care about that too much, but for me, it spoils the whole album. with a voice this great, i wanna HEAR it man!
im not writing this as a putdown though - i think soundgarden were one of the most important acts to come out of the 90's. but this is not their best album. 'louder than love' and 'badmotorfinger' were superior and i think its significant that the band didnt last too much longer after this release

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review by: date: 2007-01-21 rating:
One of the 90's best.
The hype and publicity that surrounded the band after the boom of grunge music was somewhat bittersweet. On the one hand it gave Soundgarden mass sales and worldwide recognition, but on the other it lead to a lot of flat-out copying and phoney bands producing sub-standard `scene' music. "Superunknown" is Soundgarden's reaction to the sudden fame and worldwide power of the Seattle scene, disposing of the full-on guitar onslaught of previous works, and creating a hybrid album, combining the best aspects of grunge, psychedelic, pop and punk rock.

Quotes from the band pretty much sum up this idea of evolving past the generic scene - Cornell said on his return to Seattle "every single person in Seattle started looking like me, all the young white boys with long curly brown hair and facial hair". He proceeded to shave his head after this, thus loosing the famed locks. He also talked about bands becoming "Seatlized", and how "Superunknown" sees the band trying to "keep things interesting", and ultimately maintain inspiration.

The result is a large body of works. This album is very long for your 90's rock release, containing 16 tracks spanning just over 70 minutes. Such length is a reflection of the ambition here, as the band really strived to create something grand, complex and varied. Apparently they had enough material to span two discs, and were even considering this option, but they all managed to agree on which songs to cut out, leaving these wondrous cuts.

The album also took on some new ears with producer Michael Beinhorn and sound engineer Brendan O'Brien, both well respected in their jobs, and they brought the Soundgarden sound to a whole new level. Previous albums had a somewhat muddy feel, and often the guitar tone lacked abrasion. This is not the case with "Superunknown" which was Soundgarden's first well-recorded and mixed release, with its warm vibe that is also punishing and powerful when need be.

One may be a little put off by this new ambition to create a hybrid album crossing the genres, as after all Soundgarden were renowned as one of the hardest, heaviest and no-messing acts around in the late 80's and early 90's. But don't worry, as the band has lost none of its rocking ability in their maturing years. "Let Me Drown" kicks things off in excellent hard rocking style combining typically gloomy lyrics of the time, concerning crawling back into the womb to die (inspired by salmon's return to their birthplace to pass away), with powerful guitar riffs, overwhelming Cornell vocals, booming Cameron drums and stylish Thayil solos. This is the sound of a hard rocking band maturing and sharpening their style. "Let Me Drown" continues this style with one of the album's most contagious riffs and an excellent confrontational vocal delivery from Cornell. This all gives way to a stunning psychedelic closing section, an aspect of the band that was somewhat swept aside on "Badmotorfinger".

This sharpening of the grunge rock anthem is perhaps best highlighted with the album's lead single, which was ultimately one of the biggest songs from the 90's - "Black Hole Sun". Yes, this song is popular, but it's for a very good reason. Soundgarden get everything spot on here, big booming chorus lines, a contrasting laid-back melancholy atmosphere in the verses and some seriously slick guitar outings, all culminating at the end to forge a massive climax. This is a truly excellent song, and perhaps the pinnacle of the band's career.

"Superunknown" is a typically gloomy and despairing album thematically. Cornell is not a happy soul, and in keeping with his style, and that of the genre, this album has some really brooding dirges. "Fell On Black Days" really hit me the first time I listened to it. The lead riff is bluesy with that special dark and menacing attitude, and Cornell's dejected vocal style which comes in-between the banshee cries in other songs is put to its best use ever here, completely swamping the song and stealing the spotlight. The title really gives away the theme of this song, it is an honest little lament about the sting of depression. Is this a somewhat self-indulgent, been-done-before theme? The answer is of course yes, but the earnest delivery is chilling and rides above the thousands of grunge ballads. Other menacingly dark pieces include "Mailman", a somewhat Sabbath-esque tune that slowly grinds away. There is the sluggish "Limo Wreck", which is a fine combination of Thayil's bleak guitar overtones and Cornell's idiosyncratic laid-back melancholy style I spoke of earlier, all contrasted with a crashing chorus, peaked by Cornell's aggressive cries of "and the wreck of you, is the death of you". And to conclude the dirge section there is the wondrous "4th of July", which is Soundgarden's tour-de-force of slow, ominous guitars, with its huge lead riff, augmented by Cornell's eerie and echoed vocals. One of my favourite cuts on the album.

The album balances these slow and gloomy tracks with a deal of up beat and ultimately feel-good songs. For example the title track is very retro-fun sounding, and contains some of Cornell's best deliveries on the album, really taking that banshee/Robert Plant influenced wail to its limits. "Spoonman" is equally up beat, fusing a catchy lead riff with some experimental tribal drumming and clattering of spoons. "The Day I Tried To Live" is the ultimate Soundgarden inspirational song. Starting with an ethereal lead intro that harkens back to the beginnings of "Loud Love" from their mixed-bag release "Louder Than Love", it moves into a stripped-down verse section which gradually builds to a glossy, beautiful chorus.

So overall, this is Soundgarden's magnus opus. It sees the band evolving from the generic Seattle sound, fusing all sorts of genres to create an eclectic body of works. This is one of the most important albums of the 90's, and really a must-have for any fan of rock music.



review by: gingerguru date: 2006-10-18 rating:
One of the very best Grunge albums
Released in 1994, this album, for me, represents the very best Soundgarden have to offer. I would also go as far as to say this is probably one of the top three albums from the entire grunge era. Forget Nevermind (which is admittedly a fine album), Superunknown is in a completely different league, matched at times only by the very best material from the limited other truly great grunge bands, i.e. Alice In Chains and Pearl Jam.
This is music of incredible depth, power and variety. And, if that wasn't enough, it just happens to be sung by one of the all time great rock singers in Chris Cornell.
There are some quite superb tracks on this album, songs which really do stand the test of time and repeated listens - just listen to Black Hole Sun, 4th of July,Like Suicide and the title track.
Be warned, if you're the sort who just has music on in the background, this will not be to your taste. This is music which demands your undivided attention and challeges your musical ear. Give it a good few listens, though, before making your judgement, as only then will you unlock the door to many years of listening pleasure. This is certainly an album for the more discerning of rock/metal fans.

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