Soundgarden “Over Halfway Done” with Final Album Featuring Chris Cornell

Ever since the untimely passing of Chris Cornell, there’s been talk about what will happen to the unfinished music that Soundgarden was working on when one of the most talented voices in a generation took his own life in May 2017. In the years since, there’s been talk of an album potentially seeing the light of day, but thanks to a recent interview with drummer Matt Cameron, it sounds like that may be an actual thing in the future.

While speaking with Billboard, Cameron provided a pretty promising update as to how far along they are with that release.

“There’s not a set release date or anything as of yet. There were a couple schools of thought, like, ‘Hey, let’s put out a single.’ I think eventually we decided we want to make sure the whole thing is completed before we start releasing singles. I’m excited for people to hear it.”

Describing the album as “over halfway done,” Cameron said guitarist Kim Thayil is hard at work on his contributions to the record. According to Cameron, things have been pretty emotional as work continues on the album, since they’re listening to the voice of their long-time friend and collaborator even though he’s no longer with us.

“Emotionally it’s been extreme highs and extreme lows. Hearing [Chris’s] voice on these powerful hard rock songs is the most empowering thing in the world for me.

“Then I listen to his voice soloed up when I’m working on stuff, or if Kim or Ben [Shepherd] is working on something, and it all comes back to the fact that he’s not with us and he left us in a way that has so many questions. It’s been gut-wrenching but at the same time very empowering.”

All of this was eventually made possible when a legal battle between the gand and Cornell’s widow Vicky Cornell came to an end back in April 2023. Both parties agreed to a settlement that allowed for the band to use and release Cornell’s final vocal recordings.

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m interested in hearing what Cornell was working on up until the day he died. His voice was too powerful to keep locked away in a vault somewhere, anyways.