UMUR "Badmotorfinger" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US hard/heavy rock act Soundgarden. The album was released through A&M Records in September 1991. It´s the successor to "Louder than Love" from 1989 and there´s been one lineup change since the predecessor as bassist Hiro Yamamoto left Soundgarden shortly after the completion of the recording of "Louder than Love (1989)", and was replaced by Jason Everman (who came from a short stint playing guitar with Nirvana). Everman toured with Soundgarden in support of "Louder than Love (1989)", but left the band immediately after the touring cycle ended. Ben Shepherd replaced him joining Soundgarden in April 1990 in time to be an integral part of the songwriting and subsequent recording of "Badmotorfinger".

Stylistically "Badmotorfinger" continues the heavy/alternative rock sound of "Louder than Love (1989)". Heavy riffs and rhythms, an almost psychadelic and pretty different sounding lead guitar style (often close to dissonant), and Chris Cornell´s strong and distinct sounding voice and commanding delivery in front. He was at the top of his game on "Badmotorfinger", singing and screaming his lungs out. Some of the screams he performs on the album are otherworldly.

The material on the 12 track, 57:47 minutes long album are predominantly mid-paced and heavy, but album single and opener "Rusty Cage" stands out with its faster pace. Along with the two other album singles "Jesus Christ Pose" and "Outshined", "Rusty Cage" are also one of the standout tracks on the album. Because of its strong melody I´d also mention "Holy Water" among the highlights. The remaining tracks are generally well written, powerful, and memorable too, but there are a couple of tracks featured on the album which never stuck in my mind.

"Badmotorfinger" features an organic, powerful, and detailed sound production, which suits the material well, and add to that the high level musical performances and the predomintly strong and memorable songwriting and "Badmotorfinger" is a high quality release and a great follow-up to "Louder than Love (1989)", which helped push the band further towards the commercial success they would soon experience. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Louder than Love" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US hard/heavy rock act Soundgarden. The album was released through A&M Records in September 1989. "Louder than Love" was the band´s first release on a major label, as "Ultramega OK (1988)" had earned them enough attention to be signed. Soundgarden worked with producer Terry Date on the album, but the writing and recording sessions for the album didn´t go smoothly because of issues with bassist Hiro Yamamoto, who had different ideas to the musical direction of the band. As a consequence Yamamoto would leave Soundgarden shortly after the recording sessions were done.

Stylistically the material on "Louder than Love" are heavier and harder edged than the material on "Ultramega OK (1988)", even touching metal territory now and again. When it comes down to it though, this is just nicely aggressive heavy rock delivered with an attitude (I hear references to artists like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Melvins just to name a few influences). While there are clear vers/chorus structures on all tracks, Soundgarden push the boundaries of the regular vers/chorus format and thereby ensure that the tracks stay intriguing while playing and interesting in the long run too. The occasional use of unconventional time signatures is also a spice to the already creative songwriting, and "Louder than Love" is ultimately a pretty adventurous and original sounding release.

There is a strong rhythmic foundation on the album, and the guitars often deliver some unconventional riffs and leads. However the icing on the cake are the vocals by Chris Cornell. He screams his lungs out on this album. Almost constantly on the verge of blowing his vocal chords (which he eventually did), but still with a great sensitivity for melodic hooks and dynamics.

The material on the 12 track, 53:15 minutes long album are consistent in quality and style. So mentioning tracks like "Hands All Over", "Full on Kevin´s Mom", and "Big Dumb Sex" as highlights, doesn´t make much sense as all tracks on the album are almost equally strong and all are worth a mention. Overall it´s also a fairly varied album, and add to that a powerful, raw, and organic sounding production and we have a high quality release on our hands. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

SilentScream213 One of those revered albums that I just don’t get. Soundgarden has been on the forefront of both the Grunge and Alt Metal movements, and consistently sprinkle in Stoner Metal influence to give themselves a groovy, but occasionally lethargic sound. Badmotorfinger is really where they get their act together, but despite playing in a still fresh genre, Soundgarden already have real trouble standing out.

The fact is, there isn’t anything in this album that grabs me. The riffs aren’t catchy nor are they sharp, just kind of groovy but without soul. The rhythm section is lethargic most of the time, and the vocals are classic yarl vocals that I personally don’t like at all. They don’t really go all out in any direction, sometimes it’s kind of anxious, sometimes it’s more chill, but it’s never doing anything stronger or better than contemporaries. The lyrics are just kind of there, and there aren’t any anthemic or memorable hooks. No memorable anything really.

It’s fine for what it is. I’m not a big fan of Grunge or Stoner so I’ve got my biases. I don’t dislike it at all, just don’t find anything in it worthy of the acclaim it gets.

ssmarcus 11/04/2021 - Since writing this review, I have come regard this album as a 5 out of 5. It appears that a remastered edition of the record has fixed some of the production issue I felt negatively impacted headphone listening. This is one of the best records Chris Cornell has ever put out.

----- Badmotorfinger is an ear-bleed inducing balls to the wall heavy trip from start to finish. Cornell pushes his vocals to the absolute limit of their range and distortion abilities. Despite being the album that brought Soundgarden into the mainstream, the song writing is better than anything else they had done as a group until then. Specifically, this album has a unique way of utilizing Cornell’s vocal leads to resolve the dissonant riffs and accompaniment.

The album’s only downside is the dated production choices which negatively affects earphone listening. But this is easily overcome when playing the album on a good stereo system.

Unitron "I'm gonna break my rusty cage and run"

People will often debate between Dirt and Nevermind as the definitive grunge album, but in my book it'll always be Badmotorfinger. Maybe part of that comes from that fact that I've practically been hearing this album my whole life, but it also defines grunge like no other album. Heavy, dirty, sludgy, it's a massive behemoth of an album, yet also off the cuff and frantic when it needs to be.

Song titles like Slaves & Bulldozers, Searching With My Good Eye Closed, and Room a Thousand Years Wide are not only great titles, but they just bring to mind images of some pummeling force before it's heard in the music. Drawing Flies is as grungy as you can get, bringing the definition of dirty and grimy to its literal form.

It's a perfect showcase of a pure band displaying their talents, no member really outshining (pun not intended) the other. Chris Cornell gives a fiery vocal performance, from the red-faced screaming of Slaves & Bulldozers to the venom spitting of Drawing Flies, he's the closest anyone's gotten to Rob Halford levels of intensity. Kim Thayil's signature guitar style permeates the album, with little being as iconic as Rusty Cage's opening riff (especially for anyone who's also played Road Rash). Ben Shepherd's bass licks can be deceivingly insane, particularly on the jagged and frantic Jesus Christ Pose, or helping a lumbering rhythm section (Slaves & Bulldozers again). Last but not least, Matt Cameron's drumming is simply a pounding force that cements each song into your head.

I could go on and on about how fantastic this album is, but I don't want to ramble. It's a genre-defining album, and one of the best metal albums of all time.