Chris Cornell pegs October release for new Soundgarden album

Soundgarden will “Rise” again with their new studio album this October.

“It’s done,” frontman Chris Cornell told Rolling Stone magazine in an interview published today. “It’ll be out in probably October…I would say September but I’m just guessing October.”

While the new LP, the band’s first since 1996’s platinum-selling “Down on the Upside,” will not include “Live to Rise” – the tune they contributed to this weekend’s record-setting “The Avengers” – Cornell went on to say that, while it’s not totally indicative of the sound on the new album, the tune would nevertheless “work just fine on it.”

While on the subject of the band’s “Avengers” contribution, Cornell also spoke a little about conceiving and recording the song, which came about only after Cornell nixed the idea of using a tune from the band’s earlier recording sessions for the new album.

“That thought lasted about three minutes,” he told the magazine. “I didn’t believe that we had anything that was gonna really work. But it did seem like it would be a cool challenge to try and write [a new song].”

Based on his description of the process, “challenge” would certainly seem to be an accurate description.

“I went through a lot of different ideas that I scrapped – probably more than usual,” said Cornell. “Soundgarden does a lot of time signature changes and shifts and things like that. It felt like this should be a little more straightforward ’cause it’s for a broad audience. The idea of having it be intelligent lyrically and melodic and all these things – it’s a task to do all that stuff. Once I got started I wanted it to be right. But maybe that’s more of a ‘Chris being OCD’ thing.”

In any case, Cornell is glad to have done it, not only because he and his bandmates actually like the film but because it serves as an excellent marketing tool for their new material.

“For a band like Soundgarden, being associated with [The Avengers] – for what it’s about and what they accomplish in it – it’s a pretty good way to have a partner in the entertainment business to get your songs out in front of people,” he said. “The record companies don’t have that any more. They don’t have the money. They don’t have the resources. They can’t do it. They won’t do it. Not gonna happen.”

Any Soundgarden fans out there excited for the new album? What did you think of “Live to Rise”? Sound off in the comments!

“Live to Rise” music video:

×