liveon15Anyone who tells me that Soundgarden is not metal is crazy. Out of all the big Seattle bands they were, without a doubt,  definitely the heaviest. Sure, there was Alice in Chains but they were more angst ridden hard rock if anything. Soundgarden were and always will be a behemoth. Listen to “4th of July” on Superunknown. “Jesus Christ Pose“, “Rusty Cage“, or countless others from Badmotorfinger. “Birth Ritual” from the Singles soundtrack or “Heretic” from Pump up the Volume. Then there’s the recently unearthed monster “Black Rain”….does that prove my point?

But I digress, what brings up Soundgarden again, you ask?

Well, not only do the band have their first ever live release (Live on I-5) ready to go for release in March, but after last year’s surprising reunion and handful of dates, it looks like we might actually get some new music finally.

We’ll get back to that. First ever live album you say?

Live on I-5 features 17 tracks recorded throughout the band’s west coast leg of their last tour in 1996. Even if this was a band on the verge of breaking up, you couldn’t tell by the way they were playing on stage. There’s some great stuff here like the trippy “Head Down” from Superunknown, a cover of “Helter Skelter” and “Search and Destroy”, and some great live gems from their last studio album Down on the Upside (“Dusty”, “Ty Cobb”).

Last year’s Telephantasm was the ultimate proof that this band needs to record again and Live on I-5 justifies why they should be doing more than a smattering of dates here and there.

If I was Matt Cameron, I would tell Pearl Jam to eff off and devote all my time to Soundgarden but that’s just me. Anyone wanna start a petition?

Pre-order Live on I-5 here and get an exclusive 5-track soundcheck bonus CD featuring some DOTU greats like “No Attention”, “Never The Machine Forever”, and others.