Soundgarden - Superunknown

Let Me Drown - 4
My Wave - 4
Fell On Black Days - 3
Mailman - 3
Superunknown - 3
Head Down - 3
Black Hole Sun - 4
Spoonman - 4
Limo Wreck - 4
The Day I Tried To Live - 4
Kickstand - 3
Fresh Tendrils - 3
4th Of July - 4
Half - 4
Like Suicide - 3
Total - 53 stars / 15 tracks = 3.53 stars, normalized to 3.9 stars

Before listening to this album, I was aware of Soundgarden as those guys who sang that song I liked singing on Rock Band. I wasn't even sure that "Black Hole Sun" was on the album, which it is, although it's by no means the best song here, but when an album gets recommended to me, I make an effort to listen to it. And, disappointed I wasn't, as a fair majority of the time, I was hearing music by a band who, more than anything, knows how to time escalation.

That may sound like an odd statement, but on track after track, the band times the best time to expand to a harder, screaming sound. Vocalist Chris Cornell is the driving force behind these mini-to-huge climaxes, and he suits them perfectly.

Then again, there are other songs, like "Mailman," which sound too much like Creed to be considered great music. I know, it's easy to dig on Creed, but when you make a song that wouldn't sound out of place on My Own Prison, I would be an awful critic not to issue the warning.

All Creed-bashing aside, this really is a great album that lives up to its recommendation. I'm sure you'll agree.