SOUNDGARDEN — Louder Than Love (review)

SOUNDGARDEN — Louder Than Love album cover Album · 1989 · Heavy Alternative Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"Louder than Love" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US hard/heavy rock act Soundgarden. The album was released through A&M Records in September 1989. "Louder than Love" was the band´s first release on a major label, as "Ultramega OK (1988)" had earned them enough attention to be signed. Soundgarden worked with producer Terry Date on the album, but the writing and recording sessions for the album didn´t go smoothly because of issues with bassist Hiro Yamamoto, who had different ideas to the musical direction of the band. As a consequence Yamamoto would leave Soundgarden shortly after the recording sessions were done.

Stylistically the material on "Louder than Love" are heavier and harder edged than the material on "Ultramega OK (1988)", even touching metal territory now and again. When it comes down to it though, this is just nicely aggressive heavy rock delivered with an attitude (I hear references to artists like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Melvins just to name a few influences). While there are clear vers/chorus structures on all tracks, Soundgarden push the boundaries of the regular vers/chorus format and thereby ensure that the tracks stay intriguing while playing and interesting in the long run too. The occasional use of unconventional time signatures is also a spice to the already creative songwriting, and "Louder than Love" is ultimately a pretty adventurous and original sounding release.

There is a strong rhythmic foundation on the album, and the guitars often deliver some unconventional riffs and leads. However the icing on the cake are the vocals by Chris Cornell. He screams his lungs out on this album. Almost constantly on the verge of blowing his vocal chords (which he eventually did), but still with a great sensitivity for melodic hooks and dynamics.

The material on the 12 track, 53:15 minutes long album are consistent in quality and style. So mentioning tracks like "Hands All Over", "Full on Kevin´s Mom", and "Big Dumb Sex" as highlights, doesn´t make much sense as all tracks on the album are almost equally strong and all are worth a mention. Overall it´s also a fairly varied album, and add to that a powerful, raw, and organic sounding production and we have a high quality release on our hands. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.
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