Chris Cornell: Ranking Every Album From Worst To Best

It's no coincidence that Soundgarden's most popular songs featured Cornell's intense howl front-and-center. It's more than a signature sound, it's a delivery system for the powerful, heavy metal ambitions of a band that occasionally let their melodies sink deep into the sludge. Cornell's caterwauling cut through any muck.

So...what happens when the sludge clears away and the melodies soften their edges? 

Well, if Carry On is any indication, it leaves Cornell straining to elevate the lackluster instrumentation he's decided to surround himself with. There's nothing on here that carries the weight or oomph of a Kim Thayil riff, and Matt Cameron's strategic thumping was greatly missed on the limp and shuffling "Killing Birds."

There aren't any particularly horrible tracks on this album, it's just that the singer so thoroughly outshines the stuffy production at every turn with his dramatic pipes that it starts to sound like he's been asked to add a whole lot of spice to an incredibly overcooked steak just to make it edible.