Soundgarden to Release "King Animal" on November 13

When Soundgarden released Superunknown back in 1994, “Spoonman” and “Black Hole Sun” created instant fans of the group as well as the unique vocals of frontman, Chris Cornell.  The album moved 3.8 million units, making it their first big commercial success despite having released Ultramega OK in 1988, Louder Than Love in 1989 and Badmotorfinger in 1991.  The album produced five hit singles and earned them two Grammy Awards - "Black Hole Sun" won for Best Hard Rock Performance and "Spoonman" won for Best Metal Performance. "Black Hole Sun" was also nominated for Best Rock Song and the album was nominated for Best Rock Album.  Clearly, they were well-respected by fans and the industry.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as well as planned for the band after that moment.  In 1996, they accepted a spot with Metallica on the Lollapalooza tour and Cornell admitted that the group enjoyed touring to a point because, after that, things got repetitious and tedious.  This frustration reached a boiling point on February 9, 1997 when bassist, Ben Shepherd, after suffering equipment failure, tossed his bass in the air and stormed off stage.  Just a few short months later, Soundgarden broke up.

In 2010, the band decided to regroup and, since then, have enjoyed success with their album Telephantasm and Live on I-5 as well as with the single “Live to Rise” which was from The Avengers soundtrack, which reached the #4 spot on the Rock Songs chart.

Back in March, Cornell gave some insight as to what should be expected from this upcoming album: "I don't really know how to describe it musically because typically with Soundgarden... every time we write a song we always take it for what it is and try to make it the most it can be. It's very diverse, I can tell you that."

The album preview sounds pretty cool and the album art is definitely intriguing.  Here’s a tracklisting for King Animal:

Been Away Too Long

Non-State Actor

By Crooked Steps

A Thousand Days Before

Blood On The Valley Floor

Bones of Birds

Taree

Attrition

Black Saturday

Halfway There

Worse Dreams

Eyelid's Mouth

Rowing

Check out the video preview of the album: