IN REVIEW: Chris Cornell - "Higher Truth"

His stature as a vocalist is undisputed; Chris Cornell, for anyone who's paid even a passing glance to rock music over the last quarter century, is one of the genre's defining singers, just like other distinctive voices like Eddie Vedder and Maynard James Keenan. Whether belting out rage hymns with Soundgarden, digging for radio gold with Audioslave or presenting one of his intimate solo acoustic performances, you never confuse Cornell with someone else.

For whatever reason, Cornell's solo records have had to endure harsher criticisms than those of his bands over the years. The first, Euphoria Mourning (I altered the spelling on it because he's done so himself on the newly reissued version of the album), dropped in 1998 (after the original split of Soundgarden) to initial excitement but eventually lived on only in the memories of card carrying fans. This was followed post-Audioslave with Carry On in 2007, which received mixed results. By far his most scrutinized solo record, though, has to be Scream; released in 2009, drew confusion and ire in equal parts for its pop-leaning tendencies and production by Timbaland.

Time has healed most of those wounds (and Soundgarden's return certainly didn't hurt), so Higher Truth more or less gets a clean slate from me, especially given how great lead single Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart was. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of songs on the record that come close to it in terms of sound and quality (Worried Moon hits a folky sweet spot, while Murderer of Blue Skies gains momentum on its way to becoming a formidable rock song). The lion's share of songs are well sung, well performed tunes that mine the same subdued acoustic veins; most of them won't leave much impact unless you're focused in on them.

That said, if you're a fan of Cornell's Songbook shows, you'll get a fair amount of enjoyment out of Higher Truth. If you prefer his voice accompanying music with a little more bite, you can always give Superunknown another spin. I place it at or above par with Eddie Vedder's ukulele records, in that it serves as a way to experience one of the greatest voices of our generation and chill out a bit at the same time. That said, it's a record that requires a certain headspace to achieve its fullest effect, so it's not a record that screams (no pun intended) for many return visits even though it has a few fantastic numbers on it.

September 18, 2015 • Universal

Highlights Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart • Worried Moon • Murderer of Blue Skies