SKA
Soundgarden, King Animal – I wanted to think that Soundgarden was back in force when this album came out, and I was happy to see this special edition come out with bonus tracks (demos). Sadly, it’s hard at first to find any standout tracks right, so what we’re left with is a lot of punchy guitar-ness, scratchy vocals (without any of the impressive, soaring screams of Louder Than Love – although this does come out on one of the better songs, “By Crooked Steps”, which has a bit of a trance feel to it), and the odd pop-ish number that attempts to re-create the best tracks on Superunknown. “A Thousand Days Before” is a nice, groovy little ditty that has a good chorus, and some very very nice riffs. “Bones Of Birds” is also a pretty good song, with some nice verses, a good bridge, and a groovy, heavy chorus; yes, a wonderful Soundgarden ballad. “Attrition” is a punky punker with interesting guitar sounds that sort of gloms on nicely. Actually, the album really grows warmly on repeated listens, and soon you hear a method behind the madness, and some very cool, sophisticated music. This is not “Full On Kevin’s Mom”, this is something different – and better. It’s also not the pop-influenced Superunknown… not is it “Jesus Christ Pose.” Well – it’s Soundgarden in this space and time.
Still, the album occasionally has a pretty good lyric, like “no one knows what intelligent life is.” And it’s interesting to have the demos at the end, even if they don’t sound all that different from the final versions (minus the flourishes). Oh well!