A raft of talented musicians come together to form the new King Ultramega supergroup and pay tribute to late Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell in the process.

The nascent group made their debut on Friday (July 18), sharing a rendition of Soundgarden’s “Rusty Cage” – the opening track to 1991’s Grammy-nominated Badmotorfinger.

Leading the charge in King Ultramega is vocalist William DuVall of Alice in Chains, who is joined by Mastodon‘s Bill Kelliher on guitars, Anthrax and Pantera‘s Charlie Benante on drums, while Metal Allegiance’s Mark Menghi serves as bassist and mastermind for the project.

“I just leaned into my love for the song and my immense respect for Chris,” DuVall of the cover. “Since the instrumental track Bill, Charlie, and Mark sent hewed so closely to the original, I thought it best for me to stay in that ballpark as well.”

According to Menghi, the project started back during the COVID-19 pandemic when he recorded a rendition of the track with friends. After being initially apprehensive of the project given the lofty standards set by Cornell, Menghi’s position changed once Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil became involved and re-recorded one of his own tracks for the project. 

“There is not a singular moment in time that led to this project,” explained Menghi. “It was a trail of events that led to the formation of King Ultramega and the evolving creation to pay tribute to the voice of a generation.”

Future releases in the series will feature songs from across Cornell’s career, with selections taken from his work with Soundgarden, Audioslave, and his own solo career. Each track will also be raising funds and awareness for MusiCares, with the likes of Joe Satriani, Alissa White-Gluz and Kenny Aronoff all set to appear in the future.

“My reason for participating was simply taking on an interesting challenge when so much of the world was shut down,” added DuVall. “I had no thoughts or ambitions for this beyond our posting it on social media five years ago. But if this release can help further the good work done by MusiCares, then I’m all for it.”

“I’m super honored to record alongside all the amazing musicians appearing on the King Ultramega project,” Thayil added in a statement. “I’m equally proud that it celebrates Soundgarden in this tribute to the songwriting of Chris. Ultra-admirably, everyone’s participation is supporting the work of the MusiCares Foundation.”

Soundgarden officially disbanded in 2017 following Cornell’s passing at the age of 52. In recent years, a handful of reunion performances have taken place, including a December benefit gig under the moniker Nudedragons with vocalist Shaina Shepherd in December.

Members of Soundgarden had also previously been announced as performers for the recent Back To The Beginning farewell concert for Ozzy Osbourne at Villa Park in Birmingham, England on July 5, though ultimately did not attend.

“We are very grateful to Tony, Ozzy, Geezer and Bill, as well as Sharon Osbourne and music director, Tom Morello for the honor and invitation to Soundgarden to perform at the Back to the Beginning festival!” a statement on Soundgarden’s official Instagram account read.

“We are super bummed and regret that we were unable to coordinate the schedules of our individual and collective projects to attend and contribute to the festival.”

Hear King Ultramega’s “Rusty Cage” cover below.