Soundgarden‘s final album, built around unreleased recordings the band made with late frontman Chris Cornell, has reached its last major hurdle. Drummer Matt Cameron says the eight-song record is now being mixed, which puts a finished album within sight for the first time.
Cameron gave the update on Dean Delray‘s “Let There Be Talk” podcast, discussing the project he has been assembling with guitarist Kim Thayil and bassist Ben Shepherd. The three are working with producer Terry Date, who steered the band’s Louder Than Love (1989) and Badmotorfinger (1991), while the mixing is being handled by Joe Barresi, whose credits include Avenged Sevenfold, Volbeat, Slipknot, Monster Magnet and Bad Religion.
Asked whether the material predated Soundgarden‘s final tour, Cameron explained that it grew out of years of long-distance songwriting with Cornell:
“Yeah. We’d been sending demos back and forth since, like, 2013, ’14, something like that. I would send Chris some stuff. He would rearrange it, make a song out of it… I sent him three tracks, and then he would sing on top of the instrumentals that I’d written and rearrange them and everything. And then we started getting together in, like, 2015, ’16 at a couple of different studios, so we were preparing to make another album before that last tour in 2017. We recorded all the rehearsals and everything. And we did start writing a bunch of stuff together. But the stuff we’re working on now was from when… We are using some of the live rehearsal stuff, like some of the guitar stuff that Chris played guitar on, and then we’re using the vocals from these demos that he put together, with the music that we had written together. And, yeah, just kind of building on top of that.”
Cameron confirmed the album’s size, and hinted at leftover material the band might yet develop:
“Eight songs. I think that that’s pretty much all there is with vocals. We had some instrumentals left over that Kim wants work on. So maybe we’ll do some new stuff together, which would be fine by me.”
As for when the record will actually arrive, he was cautious about committing:
“Well, we don’t really have a [release] date yet. We’re just gonna try to get this thing mixed, get it over the finish line, and then hopefully we’ll have a better idea what’s gonna come next. We’re just taking it one step at a time ’cause it’s been kind of a long process just to get to here.”
While Cameron stopped short of a firm date, bandmate Thayil told Ultimate Guitar earlier this month that the album is being targeted for a 2027 release — the first concrete window the band has offered.
Cameron was open about the emotional dimension of completing songs with his late friend’s voice at their center, and about bracing for how fans will take it:
“Well, I’d been listening to those demos since we recorded them together. And I always thought there’s three or four really, really strong songs. So, I’m really looking forward to getting it done and putting it out there. And I’m hoping the reaction won’t be too intense for people, but I know that it will be because it has been for us. But I think at this stage of the game, we’ve been listening to it so much that I think we’ve built a little bit of a callus up to the emotional side of it, and we’re just trying to get all the tracks. And it sounds like Soundgarden. It’s just like we’re working on a Soundgarden album. We are.”
Cornell is credited as a writer on all eight songs, with sole credit on two, “Cancer” and “Stone Age Mind“. He co-wrote “Road Less Traveled“, “Orphans” and “At Ophians Door” with Cameron, “Ahead Of The Dog” with Thayil, and “Merrmas” with Shepherd.
That the album is only now being mixed — with vocals Cornell laid down by 2017 — comes down partly to a legal knot. For years the project was held up by a dispute between the surviving members and Vicky Cornell, the singer’s widow and the representative of his estate, over the rights to the unreleased recordings. That dispute was reportedly settled around 2023, which finally cleared the way for work to resume.
The album will be Soundgarden‘s first since 2012’s King Animal and their last with Cornell, who died in 2017. Its progress is also part of why Cameron stepped away from Pearl Jam in July 2025, after nearly three decades with that band, to concentrate on Soundgarden and other work.
Matt explained: “Oh, no. I pretty much quit. There was no animosity at all. We’re all on good terms, for sure. But I wanted to finish up this Soundgarden project and kind of just put all my attention into that with no sort of tour commitments and things like that. So, that was the initial push, for sure. And I just wanted to do some other things and kind of pursue more creative pursuits at this stage of the game, while I still can. I’m kind of in chapter three right now. And I’m trying to just pick and choose the things that are more creatively satisfying right now for me. And so that’s kind of what I’m doing.”
The band has had reason to gather in the meantime. In November 2025, Soundgarden were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as part of the class of 2025 in the Performer category, after first being nominated in 2020 and appearing on the ballot again in 2023.
The induction honored Thayil, Cameron, Shepherd and Cornell, along with original bassist Hiro Yamamoto, who was with the band from 1984 to 1989. The three surviving members performed at the ceremony, with Taylor Momsen and Brandi Carlile sharing vocal duties in Cornell‘s place, and guest appearances from Pearl Jam‘s Mike McCready and Alice In Chains‘ Jerry Cantrell.
