Soundgarden-Live From the Artists Den

Soundgarden-Live From the Artists Den

SEALED. SUPER DELUXE EDITION. 4 LP / 2
CD / BLU-RAY. EXPLICIT LYRICS. No. 1122

Soundgarden’s episode of Live From the Artists Den arrived just as the group was bringing the supporting tour for King Animal, their first album in sixteen years, to a close. They were roughly three years into their reunion, trading on ’90s nostalgia with an eye toward a sustainable future.

That future never materialized. Chris Cornell took his own life after a gig in Detroit in 2017, writing a sad final chapter to the band he fronted for more than three decades. Live From the Artists Den is the first posthumous Soundgarden release, a multimedia affair available as CD, LP, and BluRay, each presenting the entirety of the February 17, 2013 concert filmed at Los Angeles’ Wiltern Theater. The show was meant to celebrate the end of the King Animal tour, but six years later, its accompanying album serves as an accidental epitaph—a career retrospective given right when the group seemed resurgent.

Part of the reason Soundgarden’s comeback seemed secure is that they wore middle age handsomely. Their reunion seemed neither crass nor nostalgic, but a resuscitation of a connection they lost somewhere after Superunknown turned supernova in 1994. King Animal felt assured and confident, with Soundgarden navigating new material with grace, slowing down the tempos slightly while weaving in Cornell’s dextrous rhythm guitar.
(Taken from pitchfork.com)