There are bands who make music.
And then there’s Soundgarden — a group of musicians who excavate something far deeper. Something primal. Something buried in the sediment of existence itself.
Now, as the surviving members of the Seattle titans take their rightful place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, a lingering question refuses to die quietly: What about the final album?
It’s not just an album. Not really. It’s a sacred text — unfinished, suspended in legal purgatory, and stitched together with the last vocals Chris Cornell would ever record with the band that helped define him.
For years, the record has existed only in whispers. It became the tragic B-side to a mess of lawsuits between Soundgarden and Cornell’s widow, Vicky. Accusations flew. Allegiances fractured. The band accused Vicky of misappropriating tribute concert funds. She claimed the band withheld royalties. And stuck in the middle? Art. Unfinished, unheard, aching to be completed.
That impasse seemed to ease in 2023, when a settlement was reached. But not resolved.
Still, hope flickers. And Kim Thayil is keeping the flame alive.
“Our objective and goal was always to complete that [album],” Thayil told Rolling Stone. “I probably have OCD enough to not want to leave something unfinished or incomplete like that… I think everyone in the band feels that way.”
This isn’t just professional diligence. This is devotion — to the work, to the man, and to the mythology they built together.
“It doesn’t exist in the vacuum,” Thayil continued. “It exists as a collaboration with Matt [Cameron] and Ben [Shepherd] and Chris… it takes on an entirely different weight when you think about what it is you're honoring… one of the most intimate components of what Soundgarden has been since 1984.”
Thayil calls it a gift. To the fans. And, hauntingly, to Chris.
“I do think about this, and I don’t know how strange this sounds, but I feel like it’s a gift to Chris too.”
That’s the power of legacy. Not chart positions. Not awards. But finishing the damn song, because it matters.
Because he mattered.
And when that record finally drops — if it drops — don’t expect closure. Expect to feel everything all over again.
