Last month, Soundgarden was finally named as a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee after getting nods in 2020 and 2023. But there's another piece of unfinished business for the band: releasing the album they were working on when Chris Cornell died in 2017.

Things got tricky when the band's surviving members and Cornell's estate got into a years-long legal battle about unreleased music. It appeared that they had settled out of court in 2023; however, later that year drummer Matt Cameron admitted that they were "still in the middle of a dispute with the estate" and things remained "on hold."

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Kim Thayil revealed if Soundgarden still planned to release the album.

"Our objective and goal was always to complete that [album],” the guitarist declared. "I probably have OCD enough to not want to leave something unfinished or incomplete like that, so I think the more we can attend to our body of work and our catalog… I think everyone in the band feels that way. I don't just to attend to my work, but the collective work, and in this case specifically, the work of Chris."

"I have pride for what I did and I want to see that come out,” Thayil continued. “It doesn't exist in the vacuum. It exists as a collaboration with Matt and Ben [Shepherd] and Chris, but it takes on an entirely different weight when you think about what it is you're honoring, and the work that you're paying tribute to. It is us collectively. We want to do it proud. And that part of us is certainly one of the most intimate components of what Soundgarden has been since 1984."

"It would be a great gift to the fans,” Thayil noted. “And I do think about this, and I don't know how strange this sounds, but I feel like it's a gift to Chris too."

Soundgarden's most recent album is 2012's King Animal. The band joins The White Stripes, OutKast, Cyndi Lauper, Joe Cocker, Bad Company, and Chubby Checker in the Rock Hall Class of 2025. The induction ceremony is set to take place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on November 8 and will stream live on Disney+.

Steve Burrell

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