Soundgarden at The Palladium, May 15, 2013

Soundgarden still riding the wave

Soundgarden did not play "Black Hole Sun" during its concert at The Palladium in Worcester on May 15.

Cool. Bypassing its biggest hit was just one sign that Soundgarden is all the more confident in its attack since releasing "King Animal" late last year and touring like crazy ever since. Even though the band has been technically reformed since 2010, it has really taken until now for it to hit its stride and simply go off with abandon into the metally, trippy directions that distinguished Soundgarden within the lump-sum grunge package sold in the early '90s.

Like its show in Boston earlier this year, Soundgarden drew about half of its concert repertoire from "King Animal" and 1994's "Superunknown," still its masterpiece. The difference between the earlier show and now is that the band did not buffer the top half of the concert with better-known songs.

The  popular "Spoonman" came second, but was sandwiched between the far more rangy "Searching with My Good Eye Closed" opener and tumultuous "Room a Thousand Years Wide" that followed.         

Singer Chris Cornell seemed to get better as the two-hour show moved along, but even when he sounded buried in the mix or stymied finding the groove in "The Day I Tried to Live," it really didn't bring down the show as the rest of Soundgarden is in peak form. Guitarist Kim Thayil manages to sound like multiple players, switching between hooky riffs and nuanced leads. Drummer Matt Cameron and bassist Ben Shepherd simply stormed through the playbook, providing a heavy swing even when the tunes tipped toward an airier psychedelic tone.  You caught that contrast best on "Superunknown" and the lava-like flow from "Blow Up the Outside World" into "Fell on Black Days."

The band's punk facet flashed on both old_ "Hunted Down"_ and new_ "Attrition"_ songs. Same with the bloozier jams, as the band peeled "Blood on the Valley Floor" from "King Animal" and plucked "Burden in My Hand" from "Down on the Upside." The overall song selection hammered home how Soundgarden never really backed itself into any particular corners and continues to explore all of the different tones it finds interesting.

For oddball choices, the band tossed out "Big Dumb Sex," its retort from back in the day to hair metal. And among the encores, the band offered "Flower," the psych-metal kick off to its debut full-length put out by SST (Cornell said being on a label that released records by Bad Brains, Sonic Youth, and Black Flag was a bigger deal to him than any of the major-label successes that followed).

Soundgarden is sounding like a real working band, as interested in pushing itself as in reconnecting  with an audience. The best thing that could happen next is another new album and no "20th Anniversary of 'Superunknown' Tour" that forces the band back into the black hole of nostalgia.