song of the day: july 2/2011

Soundgarden - Superunknown

Album: Superunknown [1994]

arguably soundgarden's finest hour, "superunknown" is a sprawling, 70-minute magnum opus that pushes beyond any previous boundaries. soundgarden had always loved replicating led zeppelin and black sabbath riffs, but superunknown's debt is more to zeppelin's layered arrangements and sweeping epics. their earlier punk influences are rarely heard, replaced by surprisingly effective moments of pop and psychedelia (ie. "superunknown", "my wave", "fell on black days", "the day i tried to live"). "badmotorfinger" boasted more than its fair share of amazing riffs, but here the main hooks reside mostly in chris cornell's vocals; accordingly, he's mixed right up front, floating over the band instead of cutting through it. the rest of the production is just as crisp, with the band achieving a huge, robust sound that makes even the heaviest songs sound deceptively bright. but the most important reason superunknown is such a rich listen is twofold: the band's embrace of psychedelia, and their rapidly progressing mastery of songcraft. they'd always been a little mind-bending, but the full-on experiments in psychedelia give them such a wider sonic palatte, paving the way for less metallic sounds and instruments, more detailed arrangements, and a bridge into pop (which made the eerie balad "black hole sun" and inescapable hit). the dissonance and odd time signatures are still in force, though not as jarring or immediately obvious, which means the album reveals more subtleties with each listen. a complete beast of a record and worthy of it's stature as one of the most essential albums of the 90's.

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