Soundgarden
Badmotorfinger

THE REVIEW

If we were to depict the grunge phenomenon as a prism, several faces of different structure and derivation would surely emerge. The face most anchored to the old hard rock masters of our geometric figure is represented by these four youngsters who shook the music scene of the early nineties.
“Led Sabbath” was one of the nicknames attributed to the band in those years, and certainly not by chance. Indeed, the Soundgarden did not invent much, but they forged a creative sound, based on the stereotypes of an old and “worn” genre like hard rock.

The pinnacle reached by this style, “the SG style,” is undoubtedly “Bad motor finger,” an album of pure energy and great depth, which serves as a springboard for Cornell and co. towards the rock ‘n roll firmament. The record uniquely reflects what Soundgarden meant for Seattle, that is, in a sense, the “purists” of grunge, able to break away from the clichés that were taking shape in the genre. And that's no small feat.

In fact, they had the merit of restoring importance and value to a sound that had become poor in ideas, creating something different and difficult to categorize, thanks especially to the qualities of the band members. Above all, that majestic tenor named Cris, who directs like a true captain the continuous course of the ship between heaviness and melody, without looking too much towards new horizons, but rather thinking to give a precise shape to the intuitions of the past.
“Bad motor finger” is a true concept album, which harvests the fruits of previous works and stabilizes the group's form of expression. The use of the voice, which ranges from one octave to another, the more refined sound, the compositional style, the harmonic interweaving: all elements that reach the perfect balance between (...nourishment and taste..."Kinder Bueno. Light-hearted goodness"...sorry, but those were the five seconds of advertising. =) perfection and originality.

The adrenaline that this record releases is terrifying! The greatness of Soundgarden lies in their ability to create twelve hard, but not tiring tracks, creating an explosive mixture of dark and powerful guitar fits, unusual bass chords, and time changes from the drums and the guitar itself. Then the charisma of one of the greatest frontmen in the world gives an even greater emotional impact, managing to enchant even more after fully memorizing the lesson of the 70's ancestors.

The intertwining of hard rock (or if we prefer “heavy metal”) in the Black Sabbath – Led Zeppelin model, acid punk surges, hints of psychedelia, and experimentation, like the open tuning of the guitars, serves as the main component of a fantastic album, which includes fundamental passages of Soundgarden's discography. “Outshined,” “Rusty cage,” “Jesus Christ Posse,” “Face pollution”: just to name a few tracks.

Probably “Bad Motor finger” in 1991 (release date) was somewhat overshadowed by the success of “Nevermind,” but it cannot be absolutely not catalogued among the best albums of the nineties, conceived and generated by the great and now lamented Soundgarden.