Today Matt Cameron, the drummer for Soundgarden/Pearl Jam, has teased a short video for his new up coming solo album entitled ‘Cavedweller’. It’s no secret that Soundgarden has had a rough year, losing their front man Chris Cornell in the spring. So this kind of comes as a surprise. What’s even more surprising is how good the music in the teaser video is. The album cover is pretty cool too. But the music is even cooler. Matt Cameron seems to be a pretty damn good songwriter. Of course, that’s already known as he’s been a contributing writer on many Soundgarden songs. I’m not sure about his writing contributions to Pearl Jam however. And the teaser carries a lot of similarities to a Soundgarden song.
It’s not quite as heavy. The guitar tone follows more of a heavy 70’s classic rock band than a grunge/prog metal band. There are times of Soundgarden like heaviness however and the drum beat and bpm of the song is classic Soundgarden. As well as the classic Matt Cameron time changes. But as the song progresses it takes a very interesting turn into Rush territory. I think it’s safe to say that Cameron is a Rush fan. Having drummed on Geddy Lee’s 2000 solo album. And it works really well too. It’s a seamless combination of different rock sounds happening. It’s grunge, but it’s not grunge. It’s alternative but it’s also prog and not so alternative. And by the way, Cameron’s voice isn’t bad at all. It’s a classic late 90’s alternative voice. Not a yarl by any means, far from it. But there’s a youthful pop punk energy to it. Although it’s not a pop punk voice. There’s too much timelessness in it. And it certainly isn’t whiny. It’s just a good rock voice. I’m sure there’s going to be many rumors that Soundgarden are going to continue as a trio with Cameron on vocals as well as drumming. Which would actually be kind of cool if they could pull it off.
All in all it’s a good teaser. Very intriguing and a nice surprise. It’s also been reported that the record is only 29 minutes long. That is a very short listen. But the guy’s busy. Until April this year he was doing double duty drumming for two of the biggest rock bands in the world. Looking forward to the new solo material.
Album cover art.
#MattCameron pic.twitter.com/5farQs308k
— Soundgarden (@soundgarden) September 5, 2017
