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Superunknown
Soundgarden
A & M Records, 1994
REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 07/13/1998
Amazing as this may sound, but back when I first bought andlistened to Superunknown, Soundgarden's third major label release, I wasdisappointed by it. To my ears, gone was a lot of the rawness andunbridled energy that made their major label debut Louder Than Love a favorite of mine when I discoveredalternative rock. I got tired of hearing songs like "Spoonman" and"Fell On Black Days" on the radio.
But that was 1994, and this is today. After digging it out ofthe Pierce Archives, I made a startling discovery: I was totallywrong about Superunknown. The album might have more of a bend towardsrock radio, but the energy is still there, if not the rawness. Thisalbum truly deserved the greatness it earned.
The first single off Superunknown, "Black Hole Sun," brought a lot of LedZeppelin comparisons to Chris Cornell and crew. The song's layers,building from soft melody to a crunching chorus, is a thing ofbeauty, demonstrating that the success this band had earned to thispoint was no fluke. The riffs might have been Zeppelin-influenced,but don't you dare call them copies or rip-offs.
The energy level rarely lets up on this album. From the openingcut "Let Me Drown" to the brief furiousness of "Kickstand" to themelodic adrenalin rush of the title track, Soundgarden pull out allthe stops on this release, and challenge the listener to hang onfor dear life.
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