It’s been a long road to the upcoming final Soundgarden studio album to feature their late vocalist/guitarist Chris Cornell. Not only did this planned record have to endure the tragic loss of Cornell in 2017, further plans to finish it posthumously with contributions left behind by Cornell became mired in legalities between Cornell‘s estate and the band’s camp. Those issues have since been resolved. With those hurdles cleared, last September, guitarist Kim Thayil revealed that he and his bandmates in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame-inducted grunge legends were over halfway done tracking the outing.
In a new interview with LifeMinute‘s Joann Butler, Thayil gave an update on where the band are at now with this highly anticipated outing. He went on to say:
“This material has been in existence for over 10 years in some cases, 14, 15 years. It was in various stages of writing, sharing, learning, recording. So what we need to do is finish that process, and most of the process, most of the writing had been complete. So it’s mostly about recording. There were things that had been demoed by me, by Matt, by Chris, by Ben. But, again, demo. They’re very rough. They’re sketches. You start with a little pencil sketch, and you fill it in with whatever, chalks or oils or pastels.
And that’s what we have to do, is finish the sketches. And we’re in that process. It is atypical in the way we approach it. There isn’t a record label budgeting time and money, with a particular schedule. With everybody else’s obligations, professionally or with family or whatever, we have to find the time and coordinate amongst ourselves to address the work. And it’s being addressed.”
He went on to say, “It’s very, very important to all of us. It’s important for the legacy of Soundgarden. It’s important for the legacy of Chris Cornell. It is doing right by our collective work. It is doing right by our partner and friend.”
The legal proceedings that preceded getting this album into shape for release revealed the existence of seven songs featuring writing contributions and recordings from Cornell, including:
“Road Less Traveled“
“Orphans“
“At Ophians Door“
“Cancer“
“Ahead Of The Dog“
“Mermas“
“Stone Age Mind“
[via Blabbermouth.net]
