SOUNDGARDEN — Superunknown (review)

SOUNDGARDEN — Superunknown album cover Album · 1994 · Heavy Alternative Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"Superunknown" is the 4th full-length studio album by American hard rock/ metal act Soundgarden. The album was released in March 1994 through A&M Records. While the band enjoyed great succes with their last album "Badmoterfinger (1991)", "Superunknown" was the band´s international breakthrough and biggest commercial success, selling enough albums to be certified 5 times platinum in the US alone.

The music on "Superunknown" is hard rock/ heavy rock with influences from psychadelic/ alternative rock, eastern ethnic influences and some heavy metal elements too. There are not much on "Superunknown" that can be labelled metal though. What makes this album so strong and what was probably the main reason for it´s great success is the strong and memorable melodies. While Soundgarden certainly lifted the pedal a bit compared to the more energetic sounding "Badmoterfinger", those unforgetable melodies just makes all the difference. Songs like "Let Me Drown", "Fell on Black Days", "Spoon man", "The Day I Tried to Live", "Limo Wreck" (I love that track), "4th of July" and of course the excellent "Black Hole Sun" will forever stick in my head, but actually there are no sub par tracks on the album. Some stick out more than others, but even the more mellow psychadelic tracks (which at first can seem a bit dull) fit the overall musical concept of the album very well.

The band are very well playing, and the songs feature many strong riffs and ideas, but the songwriting is always in focus, which means that Chris Cornell´s strong and distinct vocals are perfectly placed in the spotlight where they belong. He has changed his vocal style a bit since "Badmoterfinger" and his vocal performance on "Superunknown" is much more mature and varied. At times I do miss the fierce energy that characterized his performance on "Badmoterfinger", but I greatly enjoy the more varied vocal style on "Superunknown" too.

The production is warm and professional. It suits the music perfectly.

"Superunknown" is one of those albums meant/destined to be a classic. The album reeks of class and with the more easy to digest and commercial/memorable songs it´s no wonder that this album also attracted a mainstream audience. Of course it didn´t hurt that the album was backed up with several succesful promotional videos that received heavy rotation on MTV. A 4 star rating is fully deserved.
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