Soundgarden – King Animal (Mercury/Universal) CD REVIEW

July 11, 2013

SOUNDGARDEN? REALLY? IN the light of Chris Cornellโ€™s disastrous solo career, does anyone really have hope that the groupโ€™s first album in over 15 years will be of any consequence? Come to think of it, after Badmotorfinger (1991), did they ever do anything good? Hang on a minute, isnโ€™t it true that โ€˜Jesus Christ Poseโ€™ and โ€˜Rusty Cageโ€™ were the singular high points of their career, and that even the rest of that โ€˜seminalโ€™ album pales by comparison?
Yes, those songs were mighty slabs of rage, although to these ears, they always sounded more metal than punk (read: grunge), and while they were anthems, there was a certain one-dimensionality to them, as well. In retrospect, itโ€™s easy to see why Nirvanaโ€™s Nevermind from the same year has retained a sense of life, because it felt real, while Cornellโ€™s presentation was theatrical, and the band drilled in metal tropes.
Still, I was curious about King Animal. Would they, could they, conjure up anything that came anywhere near the majestic rage and fury of the their formative years?
The first few tracks sounds promising, and try hard to get a full head of steam, with Cornellโ€™s rutting hairy boar of a voice doing what it does over the pneumatic sturm and drang.
But by the fourth track, theyโ€™re already trying to add some spice with a sound thatโ€™s close to โ€˜60s raga-psych, while not quite pulling it off.
Itโ€™s all okay, but thereโ€™s something airbrushed about the whole thing, something not quite real, as though the fancier guitar parts (provided by Kim Thayil) were airlifted in after the fact to add colour and texture to the sound; and the drums sound so perfect that you wonder how much auto-correction went on after the fact. Itโ€™s like the sweat and the wrinkles have been siphoned into a cryogenic sweatsuit.
Those great heavy riffs still come pounding down occasionally, but the sound as a whole lacks that big, brutal, brooding, slightly menacing atmosphere โ€“ itโ€™s like a modern, clean-skin version. That said, Cornell comes up with some nice lines, and the group are still unafraid of using a quiet/loud dynamic and the odd minor chord โ€“ although both are redolent of Nirvana as well.
On the other hand, thereโ€™s too much here that sounds exactly like hundreds of other ordinary American hard rock bands currently treading the boards. โ€˜Halfway Thereโ€™ is a case in point: itโ€™s a bit too soft-cock, too melodic for its own good, too conformist.
The freshest moments are saved until last. On โ€˜Eyelidโ€™s Motherโ€™, thereโ€™s an almost call-and-response blues/gospel quality that really lifts it, and โ€˜Rowingโ€™ has a really earthy blues feel.
King Animal is that awkward beast: a record that doesnโ€™t really justify its existence, and wonโ€™t go down as anything more than a reasonably well aimed stab in the dark, but one that fans will probably relish, regardless. GARY STEEL

Sound = 3.5
Music = 3

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Steel has been penning his pungent prose for 40 years for publications too numerous to mention, most of them consigned to the annals of history. He is Witchdoctor's Editor-In-Chief/Music and Film Editor. He has strong opinions and remains unrepentant. Steel's full bio can be found here

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