Soundgarden Say Finishing Chris Cornell’s Final Album Is “Very Important”

Soundgarden are still actively working on the band’s long awaited final album featuring unreleased recordings from late frontman Chris Cornell, with guitarist Kim Thayil confirming the project remains deeply personal for everyone involved. Speaking in a new interview, Thayil revealed the surviving members of Soundgarden, himself, drummer Matt Cameron and bassist Ben Shepherd, are continuing work on material originally written and demoed with Cornell before his passing in 2017. “This material has been in existence for over 10 years in some cases,” Thayil explained. “So what we need to do is finish that process.” According to Thayil, much of the songwriting had already been completed years ago, with the current focus centred on fleshing out demos and finalising recordings alongside longtime producer Terry Date. “It’s very, very important to all of us,” he said. The legacy of Chris Cornell “It’s important for the legacy of Soundgarden. It’s important for the legacy of Chris Cornell. It is doing right by our collective work. It is doing right by our partner and friend.” The upcoming release has become one of the most emotionally loaded projects in modern rock history, especially following years of legal disputes between the surviving members and Cornell’s widow, Vicky Cornell, over ownership and release rights connected to the unfinished recordings. Those disputes were eventually resolved in 2023, allowing work on the album to move forward, Matt Cameron has previously described revisiting Cornell’s isolated vocal recordings as “a massive emotional roller coaster,” while also teasing that some of the unreleased songs hint at a completely new creative direction for the band. “There’s very familiar elements in some of this new music, but... it could have been a new chapter,” Cameron said. The band have also hinted that some of the material stretches beyond Soundgarden’s classic grunge identity, incorporating blues, psychedelia and more experimental songwriting textures. While no official release date has been confirmed, the surviving members continue to frame the album as both a tribute to Cornell and the final creative chapter of Soundgarden itself.