Soundgarden always felt like an unlikely candidate for stardom. The reunited Seattle quartet writes challenging songs in time signatures that make more use of dissonant textures than catchy hooks. Only the Black Sabbath/Led Zeppelin riffs from guitarists Kim Thayil and Chris Cornell and the latter’s rock god looks and voice court wide appeal.
That approach proved more than enough Saturday night at Soundgarden’s sold-out show at the Austin Music Hall. After an ambient introduction, the group’s classic line-up – Cornell, Thayil, Matt Cameron, and Ben Shepherd – took the stage in simple black T-shirts and launched into the slow grind of “Searching With My Good Eye Closed,” an abrasive opening selection nonetheless greeted warmly by the crowd.
With no pause, the band followed with the sledgehammer sensory assault of “Jesus Christ Pose,” surely one of the most brilliantly bizarre choices for a single in a career that’s constantly tweaked the notion of what acceptable radio fodder should be. Cornell sounded hoarse on both tunes, but righted his vocal ship immediately with the roaring riff-metal of “Hands All Over,” a song from 1989’s major label debut Louder Than Love. That alone hinted that the show would be more than just new material mixed amongst hits.
There were plenty of those, of course, from the quirky blast of “Spoonman” (the lyrics may be goofy, but holy god, what a riff) and the brooding dark of “Fell On Black Days” to the dissonant crunge of “Rusty Cage” (the encore closer) and fist-waving rage of “Outshined,” the biggest singalong of the night. “Black Hole Sun” was, surprisingly, a no-show.
King Animal, last November’s solid comeback, came represented by the classically grungy “A Thousand Days Before,” unsettling “Worse Dreams,” and starkly beautiful “Taree.” The group also revisited some of its fan favorite deep cuts: the acid-tinged “The Day I Tried to Live,” near-soulful “Burden in My Hand,” alienated hard psycher “Blow Up the Outside World,” wah-wah riff-fest “Pretty Noose,” and blazing singalong “My Wave.”
Soundgarden overturned more rocks in its yard to reveal other unexpected gems throughout the two-hour set. Early on, the band favored slashing rocker “Rhinosaur” from its platinum-selling 1996 album Down On the Upside, and menacing “Mailman,” an unearthed nugget from breakout album Superunknown. The knotty “Never the Machine Forever,” a special Upside request from Matt Cameron’s son Raymond, doubled down on the quartet’s underrated musicianship.
Badmotorfinger, still the band’s strongest LP to these ears, urped up the sneering snarl of “Drawing Flies” and, as an encore opener, the harsh scree of “New Damage.” Cornell and company only stuck their thumbs deeper into the earth, gracing the crowd with the classic rock powerhouse “Flower” and jazzy metal creeper “Incessant Mace,” both from the band’s first full-length, Ultramega OK. The biggest shocker was “Hunted Down,” a metallic prowler from the Fopp EP, dragged into the present all the way from 1988.
A film screen provided psychedelic imagery as a backdrop to several songs, but tended to get overshadowed by the band itself. That proved appropriate: Soundgarden always ebbed and flowed on the strength of its music, not its image or stage techniques. This performance proved that music remains powerful indeed.
This article appears in May 24 • 2013.
