Soundgarden - Superunknown

Soundgarden's finest hour, Superunknown is a sprawling, 70-minute magnum opus that pushes beyond any previous boundaries. Their earlier punk influences are rarely detectable, replaced by surprisingly effective appropriations of pop and psychedelia. This 1994 album features the singles "Black Hole Sun", "Spoonman", "My Wave", "Fell on Black Days" and "The Day I Tried to Live".

Badmotorfinger boasted more than its fair share of indelible riffs, but here the main hooks reside mostly in Chris Cornell's vocals; accordingly, he's mixed right up front, floating over the band instead of cutting through it. The rest of the production is just as crisp, with the band achieving a huge, robust sound that makes even the heaviest songs sound deceptively bright. 

25th Anniversary Edition double vinyl produced by A&M Records in 2019. Gatefold sleeve.