''Higher Truth'' is the fourth studio album by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

musician

Chris Cornell Christopher John Cornell ( Boyle; July 20, 1964 – May 18, 2017) was an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and the primary lyricist for the rock music, rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave. He also had a ...

, and the final album to be released during his lifetime and his final album of original material. It was released on September 18, 2015.

Recording

Cornell chose producer Brendan O'Brien as a collaborator to create a more intimate sound for the record. On recording drums for the album, Cornell has stated that "most of the songs with drums are either loops that I made electronically or that Brendan basically recorded just playing a little drum kit he had," Cornell says. "We just made loops, layered things and played some percussion stuff."

Critical reception

Upon its release, ''Higher Truth'' received generally favorable reviews from

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...

s. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a

normalized Normalization or normalisation refers to a process that makes something more normal or regular. Science * Normalization process theory, a sociological theory of the implementation of new technologies or innovations * Normalization model, used in ...

rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 68 based on 11 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

said, "While ''Higher Truth'' never seems as self-consciously confessional as ''Euphoria Mourning'', this mellow simplicity is an attribute: a relaxed Cornell creates a comforting mood piece that's enveloping in its warmth." Collin Brennan of ''

Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. History ''Consequence of Sound'' was founded in Septem ...

'' stated, "''Higher Truth'' ironically doesn't strive for anything higher. It stakes its claim in the rich soils of the middle ground, a place that values intimacy above innovation, quiet truths above the ones that scream. And it's all the better for it."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from

. Musicians *

– vocals, guitar, bass, mandolin, percussion, programming * Brendan O'Brien – guitar, bass, keyboards,

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-turned crank, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin (or nyckelharpa) bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar ...

, drums, percussion, production, mixing *

Patrick Warren Patrick Warren (born March 26, 1957) is an American musician, composer, and record producer. He is known for his work on the films ''Magnolia'', ''Fifty Shades of Grey'', ''Boogie Nights'' and ''Red State'', as well as the television series '' ...

– piano *

Matt Chamberlain Matthew Chamberlain (born April 17, 1967) is an American session drummer, record producer and songwriter. He has played with various artists, including Pearl Jam, Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, David Bowie, Tori Amos, Morrissey, The Wallflow ...

– drums * Anne Marie Simpson – strings Production * Billy Joe Bowers – engineering, mastering * Kyle Stevens – engineering * Tom Syrowski – engineering Additional personnel * Monique McGuffin – production management * Jeff Fura – A&R * Josh Graham – art direction * Suspended in Light – art direction * Liuba Shapiro – product management * Jeff Lipsky – photography

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2015 albums Chris Cornell albums Albums produced by Brendan O'Brien (record producer)