Chris Cornell - Carry On
That voice has always sounded best next to an ugly riff.
Having taken a break from his solo career for almost a decade, Chris Cornell at last gets this sequel to his outstanding 1999 debut out of his system. Using No Such Thing to initially kick the door down, it first appears as though the king of caterwaul might be serving up a sludge rock banquet. But, said feast quickly shrinks to a snack and gets shunted out the door in a doggy bag when Jeff Buckley co-conspirator Gary Lucas amps up with a bevy of slide guitar for nigh on Carry On's remainder. Herein, Cornell's penchant for McCartney-styled melody pervades with varying effect until a nicely executed, bluesy cover of Billie Jean cuts it in half. Lyrically, Cornell largely bypasses the paranoid surrealism of Soundgarden and the ambiguous pyromania of Audioslave to engage a little more directly. Just a shame that the same can't be said for a great deal of the music on show here; that voice has always sounded best next to an ugly riff. [Johnny Langlands]
Release Date: Out now.
Chris Cornell plays Carling Academy, Glasgow on 27 June.