Back when these two EPs were released about 25 years ago, very few could have foreseen that this band’s mixture of punk, metal, and art rock would help provide one of the blueprints for one of the major musical shifts in the mainstream. As it stands, these two EPs seem to combine weird, sludgy hardcore, like the kind Black Flag pioneered, with heavy Sabbath and Zeppelin riffs and some really noisy feedback-laden psychedelic rock.

Soundgarden’s sound must have seemed quite strange at the time, as loud rock was being dominated by either hair metal or thrash metal, with death metal just starting to find its feet. Even indie rock was moving away from more heavy, testosterone-fueled sounds. It’s as if Soundgarden were in their own little pocket — though they wouldn’t be alone for long. We all know that story.

These two EPs, along with a few others released around the same time, help provide the missing link from the underground noise the band was raised on to the heavier, somewhat more commercial breakthroughs that would happen down the road.

Musically, there are a few things you can glean from these early recordings: First, Chris Cornell‘s banshee wail was in full force from day one. He unleashes his vocal power on a variety of tracks over the course of these two recordings. Second, the band were very adept at mixing up speeds and tempos, with a few songs, namely “Entering,” “Tears To Forget,” and “Kingdom Of Come” actually qualifying as uptempo, non-dirge-like rock tracks.

And finally, guitarist Kim Thayil is the band’s not so secret MVP. A lot of people focus on Cornell, and his vocal are definitely a big part of this — but without Thayil’s creative use of riffs and his noisy, feedback laden solos, the band would not be nearly as good. Truly mind-bending stuff that would probably make Seattle boy Jimi Hendrix crack a smile from the rock otherworld.

Screaming Life is the stronger of the two EPs contained on this deluxe reissue, but Fopp offers some strange covers of Mudhoney and Ohio Players songs that still manage to work, and show that the band is willing to make quirky choices as far as covers go. Yes, they would eventually cover Black Sabbath, but they also covered Devo and Cheech & Chong’s “Earache My Eye” too.

Sup Pop recently turned 25, and it’s about time they paid homage to the loud rock that built the label and helped paved the way for modern Sub Pop artists like Pissed Jeans and Metz. Hopefully, all this looking back will make the label open up the vaults and put out more legacy records. Seriously, the Tad album God’s Balls has been out of print for way too long. Hint, hint.

(Sub Pop Records, 2013 Fourth Avenue, Third Floor, Seattle, WA 98121)