„It feels good and invigorating to hear Chris singing from over that horizon“
Soundgarden are hinting at an unreleased album featuring late frontman Chris Cornell on the eighth anniversary of his death.
Chris Cornell helped found the iconic grunge band back in 1984, and was the frontman up until his death by suicide on May 18, 2017. Yesterday marked Cornell’s eighth death anniversary, and bassist Ben Shepherd took to social media to share a tribute in his honour.
In the lengthy post, Shepherd hinted an an unreleased record that the band were working on at the time of Cornell’s tragic death. The album was first hinted at following Cornell’s death, with the band and Cornell’s estate settling a legal dispute that included the rights to several unreleased songs.
Shepherd provided a promising update on the unreleased album, saying one of its songs has been stuck in his head for awhile: “Its a song Chris and Matt wrote ‘The Road Less Traveled’ for our album that has yet to be named, just hearing Chris’ voice helps, I know he did that for everyone he knew…. help them, he did for me, filled with self doubt and indebtedness and in just his tone knew what i was going through and forgave me like he always did even when he was older. Its at this point of recording all of our previous albums I’d get this overwhelming hit of awe, camaraderie, power of creativity, majesty even, and love, from the music, and my bandmates…. and I guess just pure life force.
Ben went on to write: “I can tell you, it feels good and invigorating to hear Chris singing from over that horizon and hear the mighty… mighty life, of souls sharing. To hear, as a fan… and band member, a song or two Chris brought in a few years ago turn before my very ears and finger blisters into a full blown Soundgarden tune is like feeling a glacier fall away off your chest.”
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Soundgarden have yet to announce a release date for new music.
Last month, Soundgarden were announced as inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame later this year. Following the announcement of their impending induction, guitarist Kim Thayil shared an update on finding a vocalist to fill in for Chris Cornell at the ceremony in November.
Thayil said several names have come up for a potential replacement, but he’s keeping tight-lipped for now: “Some suggestions have come out; I’m not prepared to share that, but I’ll just say it’s a higher bar than the usual composite of guitarists and drummers or singers.”
Soundgarden have only performed three times since Chris Cornell’s death – once last December for a benefit event where they were fronted temporarily by Shaina Shepherd, once during a tribute show for the singer in 2019 and again in 2021 when they performed with Brandi Carlile.
In 2021, the Chris Cornell estate released ‘No One Sings Like You Anymore: Volume One’. This was a collection of cover songs handpicked by the late Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman and sequenced to celebrate artists and songs that inspired him.
At the time, his widow revealed that there was still a lot of music remaining in the vault and that there were plans to release a second volume.
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