Badmotorfinger

Soundgarden's magnum opus "Badmotorfinger" has been with us for 30 years now and in that time it has remained pretty much uncelebrated and remembered only as the precursor to the phenomenal (but not flawless) "Superunkown". It is easy to forget that this record was around at the same time as the seminal albums of Nirvana and Pearl Jam and that Soundgarden perhaps laid down the aesthetics for "grunge" that later bands and the media later capitalized and expounded upon. The album sounds very broad and eclectic and the tasty moments it is entirely riddled with have done a lot to ensure it doesn't quite age. Soundgarden, while never being genre-specific in sound, were an all round heavy rock band at this point. "Badmotorfinger" saw them push the sonic boundaries they'd refined and while they would polish their quirks (while still keeping them) on the album that followed, here the essence of all that they were is raw and skillfully communicated all the way through.

The music mostly hangs out at the border of metal and punk. Riffs are prominent but not the standard tropes of the hard rock gods, there's a dirty undercurrent here that is like the primordial traces of sludge. The alternative rock/metal of "Superunkown" is whittled down to mere snatches in tracks like "Searching With My Good Eye Closed" while the rest trots on in frenetic punky abandon or mellow psychedelic situations. Still, you have the very memorable and radio-ready songs like "Outshined" whose riff power is undersold by a brazen chorus and stable structure. Soundgarden at this point were very effectual with employing the unconventional (odd signatures and even odder tunings) to make pretty catchy tunes. Each of the twelve songs here is worthwhile and offers varying shades of interest.

The late Chris Cornell is at the helm together with the underrated Kim Thayil. Their guitar playing is always ebullient and Kim's riffs in particular make this one of the greatest metal albums you will never worship. Cornell's vocals are a thing of absolute wonder. He has a stunning range that he dashes through with what sounds like ease and discomfort crossed together frantically. He gets in a classic rock tonality even, on tracks like the upbeat "Somewhere" or the complexly despondent "Mind Riot" and then departs to a vault of punk-isms in "Drawing Flies". The lumbering doom of "Room A Thousand Years Wide" and the eternal classic "Slaves & Bulldozers" is where he shines the most with his screeches and shrieks hitting something primal within and his conversational tone taking on profound stances.

"Jesus Christ Pose" shuffles its grunge through a more artistic sieve and continues to stand out to this day for the way its dense and blurry haze is developed into a song. The process is very involved and sounds like it is unfolding before your very ears. Matt Cameron's busy drumming locks into a groove with Ben Shepherd's bass and then all manner of guitar theatrics break loose with definitive lyrics addressing our irritation with symbolic indulgence squealing through. "Searching With My Good Eye Closed" offers more cutting but contemplative lines such as "It's been my death since I was born/I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost/But I'm on my way". It seems to have informed Alice In Chains' "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here" title track. In spirit, anyway. These more quirky and artsy musical detours are what make these songs thoroughly engaging. Especially with how the band maintains a live sensibility when delivering them.

Terry Date whose producer credits include Pantera's most lauded albums, Dream Theater's debut, Slayer's last and Metal Church's "Blessing In Disguise" had his hands on this as well and it is one of his more memorable jobs. The guitar is somehow the most upfront instrument here whilst still holding down the background fort to give an airy presence whose heaviness is not sacrificed. The riffs are sharp even at their swampiest. Thayil's nifty effects and phrasing sculpt the potentially muddy moments into smoldering greatness - like just listen to "Rusty Cage" over and over and weep at the impact. The Black Sabbath-ness of it all transfers so well and peeps out again on "Holy Water" and magnetic closer "New Damage".

This is a classic album and my personal favorite out of the Soundgarden cannon. It is the Seattle sound and style at its most kinetic, its most dangerous. Together with "Louder Than Love", "Badmotorfinger" took the abrasive worlds of metal and punk and infused them with a dark soulfulness that was absolutely show-stopping because of how serenely primal it was. It was the right music at the right time (the '90's were abysmal for most creatives in the heavy fields) and the experimental flair at play made the more accessible bits credible. Kudos to the guys and rest in power Chris Cornell.