Soundgarden releases their first new song in 15 years

The Soundgarden comeback is officially underway as they have posted a clip of ‘Live to Rise’ — their first completely new song to be heard in nearly 16 years — which is taken from the soundtrack for the upcoming blockbuster ‘The Avengers.’

Soundgarden’s new album is one of the most anticipated releases set for 2012. The band went on hiatus — then billed as a break up — at the peak of their popularity in 1997, not even a year after the release of ‘Down on the Upside.’ Despite several Chris Cornell-led projects following their split, fans have always remained hungry for his return to the grunge heavyweights. Today, those fans get their first taste of new Soundgarden.

Soundgarden has posted a clip of the song ‘Live to Rise’ from the ‘Avengers Assemble’ soundtrack, which will be released just three days before the film on May 1. While the 22-second snippet doesn’t feature vocals, it does spotlight the track’s the lumbering riff.

‘Live to Rise’ will be the band’s third unheard studio recording to be released since their return — the first two being ‘Black Rain’ and ‘The Telephantasm’ — both previously unreleased tracks the band finished and included on their 2010 retrospective, ‘Telephantasm.’

Soundgarden are set to release a new album at some point this year — recent reports indicate that the planned spring release may have been pushed to fall 2012. They will also embark on a brief tour in 2012, beginning with their May 25 appearance at the Sonisphere Festival in Madrid, Spain.