The Albums that let these ears see; Chp 5

Superunknown – Soundgarden

When darkness is an only friend, but still a lonely friend, you can choose to walk alone or embrace the shadow of your soul.

This album broods; it oozes, sinks, sinks in deep and leaves a stench. It’s dark, lost and heavy. There’s a thunderous collective sound that rises above the morose. It rhythmically drives the movement along, pushing faster and further. Cavernous layers of sound envelope the light and eclipse the soul from salvation. Then there’s Cornell’s voice. The more it hurts to sing, the more sincere he makes it sound. There’s a haunting beauty to his screams, uplifting in their desperation.

Misery lusts a companion. Grab a seat, pour yourself a glass and hear my story.

Soundgarden is the rain that blankets Seattle in a dark, damp grey. The sound evokes flannel, long hair, coffee shops, broken spine used novels and the frustration of a generation tagged without a cause, an answer or a set future. In an odd twist, this album is as much a part of me as any other work of art. It speaks to me. We all have an inner voice, a driving yet questioning voice that is our every waking guidance. I’ve questioned myself much over the years. I question myself in ways still. Part of my being wants separation, a freedom from what I’ve become as a necessary means to reinvent to rise again. It’s tough to find the traction to pull yourself ahead of this, and often I fell myself slipping more than rising. The void that exists where you are unyielding to the hope and unrelenting to the apathy is an uneasy place. It’s a place of the unknown. An ally in this unknown has been this album, the testament of the Superunknown.

There is a power to this album. A true message of hope that comes just as it takes you down. I know I am headed for the bottom, but I’m riding you all the way.

Among the finest albums from start to finish I have ever allowed in my life. This album is whatever you need it to be. A thrashing uplift to journey on, a place of reflection or a comfort in needing neither; it’s all within.