King Animal
| Soundgarden
King Animal
King Animal is the sixth and final studio album by American rock band Soundgarden. It was released on November 13, 2012, by Seven Four Entertainment and Republic Records in the United States, and by Vertigo Records in the rest of the world. Produced by both the band and Adam Kasper, the album is the band's first in sixteen years, and the first not to be released on A&M Records since 1988's Ultramega OK. However, Republic, Vertigo and A&M are all owned by Universal Music Group. It is also Soundgarden's final studio album to be released before the death of frontman Chris Cornell in 2017 and the subsequent dissolution of the band in 2019. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
King Animal makes for a respectable display of Soundgarden's proficiency, but lacks their once-imposing majesty. Listening to the record, it's easy to forget what a disorienting, brutalizing effect songs like "Rusty Cage" and "Jesus Christ Pose" had on the early-90s rock landscape, even after Nirvana had nudged post-hardcore-schooled noise to the right of the dial.
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Sputnik Music
'King Animal' sounds like what Soundgarden should sound like. It's a modern take on vintage rock, resurrecting the likes of Zeppelin, Sabbath and The Doors. More importantly, the solid musicianship, the creativity and the energy of their youth is still there.
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COS
Much of King Animal will satiate even the most skeptical listeners, but the record also slumbers through several cuts that neglect the fact that Soundgarden, even all these years later, is still an animal best kept in a rusty cage.
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The Guardian
Grunge-era nostalgia mixes with classic rock and, on the eerie Rowing, experimental mantras.
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The Metal Archives
King Animal kicks off with a driving riff that perfectly embodies not only the spirit of King Animal, but everything that made Soundgarden such a great band. Been Away Too Long is a treat to listen to, and the title is perfect for Soundgarden's first studio album in 16 years.
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Slant
The album is less a triumphant return than an example of what happens to most middle-aged rock bands: They’ve returned as a slightly more conservative version of what made them famous in the first place.
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My Global Mind
If you weren’t around for the first time, this album is as good a time as any to jump aboard and start supporting one of the best bands that made it big in the nineties. SOUNDGARDEN are back baby…yeah!
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The Washington Post
It’s the best and rarest kind of reunion disc, one in which members of a band’s classic lineup make an album that sounds like a reasonable version of the albums they made before, without wallowing in nostalgia or bringing in contemporizing touches like electro beats or duets with Ne-Yo.
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Kill Your Stereo
Like the relics of the past that adorn the album artwork, it’s as though Soundgarden have emerged from some snowy cave after years in hibernation, reinvigorated and ready to rock again. King Animal may not reach the same peaks as previous albums, but it’s a solid start to a new chapter in Soundgarden’s career.
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Rock Sins
Most importantly though, all the things that you love about Soundgarden are present and correct on this album. It should be judged as a success, and you imagine it will. You also imagine the songs will fit in nicely as the soundtrack to a Hollywood blockbuster, or be enough to earn the band Gold records and Grammy nominations.
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Music OMH
King Animal would have been better had it foregone the regal pretensions and just stuck to being a feral beast. There was clearly the makings of a decent album here, but somewhere along the line it’s all gone wrong.
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Daily News
By the same token, "King Animal" isn't nudging the band onto any fresh turf. Luckily, it doesn't need to. The exhilarating disc has less to do with expanding horizons than with reclaiming a groove owned by this band alone.
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Media Mikes
The final release from Soundgarden after the group’s reformation in 2010 “King Animal” picks up roughly where its predecessor “Down On The Upside” leaves off. Not it in theme but in stylistic approach as the album features a wide range of textures and sounds giving listeners a smorgasbord of musical ear candy to digest.
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Alternative Addiction
King Animal's musicianship is of course going to be amazing but the songs here are what will win over old Soundgarden fans. This album sounds how you'd want it to; it’s a mixture of Soundgarden with some Cornell solo work here and there.
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The Quietus
An enveloping, heavyweight and dynamic record that will delight the diehards, and no doubt continue to reveal myriad rhythmical intricacies in the months ahead. King Animal, indeed...
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Drowned in Sound
This album deserves to be more than just a memory aid to another era, an excuse to drag out the long-faded band t-shirts and to leave the hair unwashed awhile. But, sadly - really sadly - that’s probably what it’ll end up being.
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Rolling Stone
Now, there isn’t much of a rock mainstream left to dominate; big, heavy, high-protein bands like Soundgarden are all but extinct. Which is exactly why King Animal is a weirdly cool beast to encounter in 2012 – like running into a mastodon in a Melvins T-shirt.
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Unsung Melody
King Animal carries on their signature sound as if it never stopped, or ever will. It echoes where they have been, and surveys the landscape of where they might be going.
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Undiscover Music
Whether you dub it a creative rebirth or a fantastic swansong depends on your standpoint; either way, King Animal is a terrific record on its own terms, enhancing Soundgarden’s already formidable reputation.
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Bearded Gentlemen Music
To sum up the cohesiveness of King Animal in Cornell’s own words from “By Crooked Steps,” “I’m addicted to feeling.” And I’m addicted to listening.
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Guerrilla Candy
King Animal doesn’t sound like a band trying to recapture old glory, rather it’s a collection of songs made by a band that’s taking stock of where it’s at now and is moving forward, which is one of the many things that makes it such a great record.
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Paste Music
On the group’s sixth studio album, King Animal, Soundgarden surprisingly and successfully resurrects the sounds of its inception.
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34th Street
Listening to the album, it’s pretty hard to believe that the grunge gods are in their forties. The riffs are still heavy, and Cornell’s vocals still capture the angst so crucial to grunge.
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Las Vegas Weekly
Plenty of reunited bands lose their fire after a long hiatus, but King Animal proves that Soundgarden is as strong a hard rock force as it’s always been.
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Loud Wire
‘King Animal’ displays the familiar sounds of Soundgarden without getting too caught up in nostalgia, something that can often handcuff bands trying to rise up from the ashes of their past.
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Rock Sound
While the band hinted at a heavier sound before its release, ‘King Animal’ doesn’t hit as hard as their really early material, but it’s well-paced, so slower songs like ‘Blood On The Valley’ and acoustic-led tracks like ‘Halfway There’ don’t drag.
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The Skinny
Still, there's a recurring sense that King Animal was about getting the old Mustang back out of the garage; if this is how Soundgarden kick the tires, just wait till they get that engine roaring.
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The Upcoming
All in all, the project has been worth waiting for, and the assurance that the guys will now be touring for the album is a comforting feeling. After nearly twenty years away, it is most definitely refreshing to know that grunge is still alive and well.
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Vancouver Sun
Ultimately, King Animal lacks a couple real killer singles, but it’s a solid rock record inside and out.
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Tiny Mixtapes
If this is all that the reconstituted Soundgarden is capable of offering to the band’s legacy, then I say the best thing to do is to crush this zombie’s skull and lay those bones to rest.
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Time
Still, there’s more than enough merit found in King Animal to ensure that any future tweets by Chris Cornell about new Soundgarden music will confidently be filed under #reallygoodnews.
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Genre is Dead
But this album lets us celebrate the prolific career of both Soundgarden and Cornell. He may no longer be with us, but at least we’ll always have the wonderful talent he shared with the world.
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Music Connection
A dose of urban angst mixed with a touch of lyrical genius, King Animal proves that grungy rock isn’t just a ‘90s phenomenon.
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Metal Injection
There are several moments that make King Animal a rather anti-climactic experience, moments where that classic Soundgarden fire begins to burn just beneath the surface, before it's subdued beneath the album’s shiny production. Though this did make King Animal a disappointment at times, in another way, it makes me want to hear more and I remain hopeful for the next record.
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Paranoid Hitsophrenic
the album largely met my somewhat low expectations but it rocks just a bit more than I was expecting in places and I'm happy about that. Not everybody is going to dig every moment on this album, but there are plenty of memorable moments here, particularly some hooks that will get caught in your head such as in "Eyelids Mouth" and "Rowing".
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