October 8, 1991 - Badmotorfinger

Two weeks after my last release and two years after "Louder Than Love", Soundgarden released their third album "Badmotorfinger" on October 8, 1991. Soundgarden have their first line-up change of their career as bassist Hiro Yamamoto quit the band since their last album, feeling he wasn't being given enough input on songwriting. Yamamoto is a solid bassist and I love his dirty, grunge-y sound but he is replaced by new bassist Ben Shepherd and Soundgarden would continue to get more and more popular with this latest album that featured a few pretty succesful singles. The style in general is much more refined and melodic than their loose and grunge-y past but Soundgarden still maintain their heavier roots while also becoming much more accessible. Let's give it a listen!

The album kicks off with one of the singles "Rusty Cage" and Kim Thayil opens it with a catchy and cool guitar riff before the rest of the band comes in to form a nice fast-paced main riff. Chris Cornell begins the first verse and he sounds like his usual great self holding some long notes and hitting some high notes in the chorus. The music doesn't change but Cornell nicely yells "I'm gonna break my rusty cage and run" a couple times and Shepherd plays adds some cool bass as they roll back into the main riff. After another verse and chorus they move into a slightly different verse, play another chorus and then break it all down! They play a much slower, heavier version of the cool main riff and I love the heaviness to it! Cornell sings slower to match the sludge-y style and after a chugging verse and chorus this solod opener comes to a close. The next song was also a succesful single, titled "Outshined" and it has a nice slow beat to it as Thayil leads the way on guitar and Shepeherd and Matt Cameron play a solid rhythm section. Cornell sings a nice verse overtop and Thayil segues nicely into a short bridge that brings us to the chorus. Cornell sounds great yelling the chorus and both Thayil and Shepherd are playing some loud and cool guitar and bass. The solo flows right into a guitar solo by Thayil and he plays a pretty mean solo that sounds pretty sweet and flows nicely into the next verse. Cornell's vocals sound fantastic in this song and all the segues are very nicely done, showing a maturity by Soundgarden to something that is both more commercial and yet also very cool. After another verse and chorus the music quiets down and we hear some pretty great visceral yells from Cornell as he pours his emotion into his vocals. This goes into a final chorus to finish off this pretty sweet single. Track 3 is called "Slaves & Bulldozers" and Shepherd forms the backbone of this song with a chugging bass riff that sounds nice and heavy. Thayil comes in with some offbeat guitar that sounds great as well and the hits just keep on rolling! Cornell sings a nice slow verse overtop and he does a couple nice low screams as they shift into the chorus and then proceeds to hit some crazy high notes and he sounds great doing it! They hit reset and play another slow verse and chorus and then it's solo time for Thayil. He does not disappoint as he plays a very distorted and cool sounding solo until his guitar completely stops and the bass and drums quietly carry on. Cornell starts to sing another verse and slowly Thayil's guitar returns and gets louder until we're back in full swing for a final verse, but they never reach the chorus and instead end the song with Chris screaming "now I know why you've been taken" and he is just letting it all out on these last, amazing screams from a fantastic vocalist. Another great song! The next song was the first single released off the album, titled "Jesus Christ Pose" and Cameron plays a nice fast drum beat while Shepherd plays some cool bass to get things started. Thayil eventually comes in with some nice distorted guitar as they settle into a cool fast-paced main riff and Cornell sounds great singing the verse in a high voice. Things flow right into a solid chorus with Cornell hitting some nice high notes and Thayil playing his guitar higher and higher until they return to the main riff. After another verse and chorus they move into a new part that sounds heavy and pretty sweet and Cornell starts to sing a quiet verse overtop until it seamlessly leads into the same loud chorus. The music continues after the chorus and proceeds to get more and more distorted until this cool song finally comes to an end. Track 5 is a short song called "Face Pollution" and Cameron, Shepherd and Thayil all kick right into a nice fast-paced main riff with each of them playing some cool stuff. Cornell sings a quick verse to match the mood and he raises his voice for the short chorus that also has Thayil playing some nice fast guitar. They roll through another quick verse and a couple choruses before moving into a new bridge part that is a little offbeat and fast and even features some trumpet! I think it sounds pretty good and when Cornell starts to yell the name of the song things sound even better as they nicely jam out this part a bit longer and then end this one. Up next is "Somewhere" and Cornell quickly yells the opening few lines before they settle into a slow main riff with him singing the same lyrics much slower. It's a nice slow head bang of a main riff and they break down into the chorus nicely as Cornell and Thayil lead the way. After another verse and chorus they play a short new verse followed by another couple choruses that ends with Cornell holding a long "loooove" that sounds pretty great. They then move to a new instrumental riff that sounds pretty solid and this riff slowly fades out... and then fades back in as they jam it out a little longer but don't add all that much. Track 7 is "Searching With My Good Eye Closed" and it slowly fades in with Thayil playing some distorted guitar and we hear someone talking at the beginning of this one in a bit of a funny voice as he plainly states "this is my good eye". We then hear him introduce some barnyard animal noises in a strange but interesting opening until "the devil says" is followed by a long scary scream that finally takes us to the slow main riff. Shepherd drives things with a nice heavy bass riff as Cornell sings nicely overtop holding lots of long notes overtop the slow music that seems to come in waves. Cameron plays some nice drums in the quiet chorus and Thayil adds some cool guitar to the mix in the next verse. After another chorus Thayil plays a weird distorted solo that is unusual for Soundgarden but it still sounds solid. Cornell sings some echo-y vocals overtop that give things a psychedelic vibe for a bitz but somehow it leads nicely back into the chorus. After a final chorus Thayil solos in a more typical fashion as he plays some fantastic guitar and Cornell just let's loose and wails and yells, and he sounds amazing! Together this part sounds pretty freaking awesome and it just keeps getting better and better as it takes us to the end of this six and a half minute epic. The next song is called "Room A Thousand Years Wide" and it's driven by another slow and bouncing riff that is both heavy and catchy eith Shepherd and Thayil both sounding good. Cornell comes in to sing a nice verse and they rill right into a second long verse before we finally reach the chorus with Cornell singing in a higher voice but the music just continuing to rumble along. After another long verse and chorus Cornell holds a few nice long yells with his one of a kind voice and the solo in this song is actually a saxophone solo! Once again unexpected, but I love me some sax and I think it sounds pretty great alongside the heavy music and loud yelling from Cornell. The good songs just keep on coming! Track 9 is "Mind Riot" and Shepherd lays down another nice bass riff, Thayil plays some cool guitar overtop and Cameron adds a nice drum beat for another pretty solid main riff. Cornell holds some nice long, high notes in the verse and they smoothly move into a similar chorus that ends with Cornell nicely yelling "I've been caught in a mind riot!" After another verse and couple choruses they play a short bridge part that brings us back to the beginning as they build up the main riff again just in time to finish the song. Up next is a short song called "Drawing Flies" and they kick right into a fast-paced main riff with Cornell singing quickly overtop and we hear some more sax and trumpet to spice things up even more. There's no chorus really, Cornell just ends each verse by singing the name of the song and he sounds good as usual mixing in some nice yells with his great singing. I love what the brass instruments add to this tune as they keep this riff interesting for the whole song. One verse has no guitar at all as Shpeherd's bass nicely leads the way, then Thayil returns to close out this cool short song. Track 11 is "Holy Water" and it has a slow pace but sounds nice and grunge-y as they trudge along with some low bass and guitars. I love Cornell's vocals matching the slow mood of the song and he expertly leads the verse. Chris holds some long "yeaaaaah"s in the chorus and it flows right into an early short solo by Thayil that sounds pretty sweet. After another verse and chorus I was expecting a longer solo, but Thayil just plays a new guitar riff overtop of another verse and eventually it turns back into the main riff. They play a final verse and chorus before jamming out the ending with Cornell yelling "rest in me" and sounding great. The final song on the album is "New Damage" and Thayil immediately erupts into a solo and Cornell holds a long yell that sounds pretty awesome as Kim shreds his guitar in an awesome opening. It also segues nicely into the slow main riff as Shepherd and Thayil both play a slow heavy riff and Cornell yells the verse and I love it when he yells. Thayil plays some cool distorted guitar in the chorus and Cornell sounds great as usual leading the way. Thayil plays a nice little interlude that brings us back to the main riff as Shephered continues to keep the pace with slow bass riff. Another nice verse and chorus later and it's time for a distorted solo from Thayil. It sounds very interesting and while it's not shredding guitar it still fits the mood very nicely. It flows right back into the main riff and after another verse and chorus Cornell continues to yell out lyrics while Thayil plays a more standsrd-sounding solo, and by standard I of course mean a pretty awesome solo with some sweet shredding bits to it. This solo takes us right to the end of a pretty awesome closer to a pretty awesome album.

That is the end of "Badmotorfinger" and I thought it was a fantastic album all the way through! Not only were there several really awesome songs, but they set a really high bar here with every song being pretty damn good. The addition of Ben Shepherd on bass seems like a great one as he is the backbone of many songs while Kim Thayil is off playing cool guitar. Chris Cornell continues to show why he's such an amazing singer, hitting notes high and low and holding them for great lengths and Matt Cameron had lots of great drum bits as well. This all adds up to what I think is easily their best album yet, leaps and bounds above "Louder Than Love". Soundgarden have successfully made the big time, can they keep it up? I certainly hope so! This also happens to be my last release of the year and so begins the year-end wrap-up! 11 albums this year is a huge jump from just 4 last year and there were so many good ones that some of them don't even make the top 5! It seems 1991 was a solid year, and not just because I was born that year!

Favourite song of the year: There was a lot of good music this year, but I think all of my nominees for song of the year are off this latest album "Badmotorfinger". There are several solid candidates but I think my choice would be "Slaves & Bulldozers", an awesome heavy song.

Top 5 Albums of the Year

1. Badmotorfinger by Soundgarden
2. The Black Album by Metallica
3. Contradictions Collapse by Meshuggah
4. No More Tears by Ozzy Osbourne
5. Nevermind by Nirvana

Soundgarden's latest album is my easy choice for album of the year and even though I think it's their worst album so far, Metallica are still making great metal music. Meshuggah is an intriguing new band and Nirvana has fully broken out so the 90s are shaping up to be a nice decade for music. I can't wait to dive into '92, see you next year!