Just finished listening to the new Soundgarden album for the first time. Fuck. That was depressing. I'll... just leave it at that. 
Oh dear....I was thinking of getting that for Xmas.
Depressing as in "They made a really bleak album" or depressing as in "These guys shouldn't have gotten back together"?
I've long been a Chris Cornell fan (I spent many an hour in my dorm room singing along with Superunknown).
Right now there are only two things I can really comment on. I've only listened through it once, and sometimes music takes time to grow on me.
Lyrics: Superunknown and Down on the Upside, my two favorites, both had very philosophical but accessible lyrics. They dealt in a lot of abstracts, but you could still get what they were trying to convey. King Animal... I don't know... it felt like maybe they were trying to be too abstract? I could tell that a couple songs were about facing the prospect of aging, and I think the general theme of the album is facing the harsh objectivity of the natural world. You're an animal, but mastery of yourself makes you a "King Animal". But honestly that's just a vaguely received notion from the thing as a whole. From song to song, I had no idea what they were really saying.
Bravado: They didn't have it.
Chris Cornell didn't blast it out like he used to. This perplexes me, because I know he can still do it. I saw him live just a few years ago, performing mostly old Soundgarden stuff and sounding exactly like he did in the 90s. There was a point in his performance where his mic cut out in the middle of a song. For a second I could see him still singing, but couldn't hear him. Then... I could hear him... but not through the speakers. He just upped his projection, and by the power of his own voice sang so loud that I could hear him clearly from the lawn over a couple thousand screaming people for 10-15 seconds, until the mic picked back up and I was hearing him through the speakers again. He still has a goddamn powerful voice. It's actually improved since he gave up drinking. He just didn't use it on this album. He never hits a high note or even screams out a mid-range. Through most of it, he used that scratchy, weathered voice that you started hearing him use with Audioslave. He ditches it and sings crystal clear on the very last track of the album. I don't get it.
That last track is pretty good, too. It's the only one that really stood out to me.
And I'm used to Kim Thayil putting out instantly memorable riffs and guitar solos. He has some songs, like Tighter & Tighter or The Day I Tried to Live, whose first few notes are so iconic I instantly melt when I hear them. I didn't hear anything like that on this album. There weren't any guitar solos that I recall. I just don't get it.
One thing I noticed is that the few demo versions that I listened to sounded better than the final songs. I think overproduction may have hurt the album, and toned everything down... but that doesn't nearly account for everything.
But... like I said... those are my impressions after one listen. I'll probably pick up on subtleties over time that will give me different ways to appreciate the music, but they definitely didn't put out the signature qualities that made them so instantly recognizable and impressive way back when. It's depressing. I miss them so much.
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Topic: Things that made you sad today thread. (Read 9772092 times)