VIDEO: Soundgarden unveil first new song in 15 years

Soundgarden give a superhero flick an action-packed song
Soundgarden give a superhero flick an action-packed song

Soundgarden have premiered the music video for Live To Rise. It's the iconic grunge band's first new song in 15 years, and it just so happens to be featured in a film that might have a chance at finding an audience: Joss Whedon's The Avengers, which opens tomorrow (4 May).

Song-wise, Live To Rise is classic Soundgarden - a snarling, gargantuan guitar riff; walloping drums; fuzzed-out, driving bass; and, of course, Chris Cornell's chest-beating, soaring voice.

"This song came arduously," Cornell told the Hollywood Reporter. "Writing a song for The Avengers film, it has to be lyrically not specific to the movie or the story, but it has to work with it. It wasn't so easy. But it turned out absolutely a Soundgarden song."

Joe Bosso

Joe is a freelance journalist who has, over the past few decades, interviewed hundreds of guitarists for Guitar WorldGuitar PlayerMusicRadar and Classic Rock. He is also a former editor of Guitar World, contributing writer for Guitar Aficionado and VP of A&R for Island Records. He’s an enthusiastic guitarist, but he’s nowhere near the likes of the people he interviews. Surprisingly, his skills are more suited to the drums. If you need a drummer for your Beatles tribute band, look him up.