Every time a 90s rock band rears it’s greasy head from a decade or more of obscurity, I buy the album for nostalgia’s sake only to end up filing it in the overflowing folder of “albums never to give a shit about again.â€
Alice In Chain’s 2009 effort minus their iconic frontman was a sad parody of the band that used to write grunge that was so heavy just listening to it instantly addicted you to heroin.
Stone Temple Pilots and Hole both dropped Frankenstenian albums in 2010 that were nothing more than a sum of the decaying, disused parts from previous albums haphazardly sewn together and zapped (briefly) back to life to terrorise the villagers.
Garbage’s recent album Not Your Kind Of People literally had one decent track on it and the recent Smashing Pumpkins album Oceania, whilst being the best of a bad bunch, was nothing we haven’t all heard before.
Which brings us to Soundgarden’s latest effort, King Animal (in stores today!). You remember Soundgarden right? Growly, screamy vocals, monster grunge riffs, Jesus-complex lyrics (complete with hair and goatee), drums tighter than a nun’s… moral code…
Soundgarden! Back before Chris Cornell joined Audioslave and dragged both the name of Soundgarden and Rage Against The Machine through the mud? Before he decided to team up with Timberlake and record the 2009 solo album Scream, which affirmed what a gigantic fucking worthless douche he was all along?
Ok, maybe that last sentence was a little harsh. I mean shit, a failing grunge musician’s gotta eat right? But to hear one of the best lyricists of the 90s sing “That chick ain’t a part of me†was the final nail in the coffin for me.
I wrote Cornell off completely, as did millions of others, so what did he do? He picked up the phone, called Kim, Matt and Ben and was like, “Guys, I fucked up, please let’s get Soundgarden back together and make a fucking face-melting album so the world can stop laughing at me behind my back.â€
Is King Animal that face-melting album? Until I hear it, I have no fucking idea, but the first single, “Been Away Too Long†is pretty much stock-standard, meat and potatoes Badmotorfinger-era Soundgarden.
Check it:
Huh. Promising? I honestly don’t know. I’ve been let down so many times by 90s rock bands in recent years that I’m starting to think they all should have gone the Cobain route and eaten some buckshot while they were still popular and relevant.
Lemme get my hands on this filthy basterd and who knows? Maybe I’ll shock everyone’s pants off and write an album review – remember when I used to do those?
Yeah, me neither 
-ST
