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Friday, July 4, 2025

Chris Cornell releases fourth solo project, “Higher Truth”

Higher Truth

Grunge was integral part of the 90s music scene. Ripped jeans and beaten-up Chuck Taylors were sprouting up left and right thanks to bands like “Pearl Jam,” “Stone Temple Pilots,” “Alice in Chains” and of course, “Nirvana.” But one of the top grunge bands of the 90s was “Soundgarden,” fronted by one of rock’s greatest voices, Chris Cornell, also from the band “Temple of the Dog.”

After “Soundgarden” began to fade in the late 90s, Cornell started working with the Zach de la Rocha-less “Rage Against the Machine” members to form “Audioslave” in the early 2000s, pumping out rock hits such as “Like a Stone,” “I Am the Highway” and “Be Yourself.” In 2007, “Audioslave” disbanded, allowing Cornell to focus mostly on his solo work, releasing four albums since the breakup, including “Songbook,” Cornell’s acoustic live album.

On Friday, Cornell released his first solo studio album since 2009s “Scream” entitled, “Higher Truth.” The mostly acoustic record is a far cry from Cornell’s poppy 2009 effort and takes a page out of Eddie Vedder’s book. Vedder is the frontman of “Pearl Jam” and one Cornell’s former bandmates from “Temple of the Dog,” who also released a similar album to “Higher Truth” in 2011 called, “Ukulele Songs.” This is not a grungy record by any account, but Cornell’s easily recognizable voice dominates the album from start to finish and delivers a pretty, laid-back performance on “Higher Truth.”

The album’s lead track is the gorgeously energetic “Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart.” As the acoustic guitar seesaws back and forth, Cornell intensely belts, “From the memory of how we broke apart, here we go round again.” Following the opener is the stunningly beautiful “Dead Wishes;” a gracefully constructed tune accompanied by a layer of piano and even some falsetto action from Cornell.

“Only These Words,” the album’s tenth track, is very similar to Eddie Vedder’s “Can’t Keep.” Cornell does not rock the ukulele in “Only These Words,” but based off of its structure, it might as well be the half-cousin to Vedder’s song. But nevertheless, the song is a fireside anthem with a catchy guitar-led hook.

While all of these tracks are nice, mellow tunes as Cornell softly lulls his voice over a quiet acoustic guitar, the album gets very repetitive very quickly. It’s a good thing to have continuity in your music, but after listening to the album several times, the songs still all seemed to blend together. Overall, “Higher Truth” is a decent album with a couple of really good songs, but that’s pretty much its pinnacle. Not a bad effort from Chris Cornell, but I have heard better.

Grade: C+

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