Soundgarden's final Cornell album halfway done, Hall of Fame looming

Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron says the long-awaited final album featuring the late Chris Cornell is more than halfway finished but is unlikely to be released before the band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on November 8 in Los Angeles. Cameron, speaking in recent interviews, said the surviving members are completing recordings built around demo vocal tracks Cornell recorded before his death in May 2017 and that they have no set release date yet.

Cameron told Billboard the band began writing and demoing the material in 2015 and 2016 and returned to those recordings after settling a legal dispute with Cornell's widow in 2023. Guitarist Kim Thayil is currently refining his parts, Cameron said, and the trio of Cameron, Thayil and bassist Ben Shepherd have been assembling full arrangements around Cornell's vocal takes. Cameron described the process as emotionally intense, saying it has produced "extreme highs and extreme lows" and calling the experience of hearing Cornell's voice on the tracks "the most empowering thing in the world for me."

Accounts differ on the precise length of the project. Cameron and several outlets described a collection of eight songs,...