Various artists, “Superunkown Redux.”

One of rock’s greatest vocalists (Chris Cornell) and one of the genre’s most impactful bands, Soundgarden, get the tribute treatment in the form of a pair of new covers albums from Magnetic Eye Records, Superunkown Redux and Best of Soundgarden Redux. Magnetic Eye has made a name for itself by curating these editions of classic albums featuring reimagined versions of the songs.

The albums follow in the spirit of Metallica’s Blacklist covers project, though by and large the Soundgarden project stays within the world of hard rock and metal. Some bands stay true to the original arraignments while others take the tracks in a different direction.

Case in point, on Best Of, Freedom Hawk offers up a hard rocking version of “Loud Love” that dials in the grunge sound echoing Chris Cornell’s razor-sharp vocals. On the other hand, Witch Ripper takes “Rusty Cage” and adds a punky start before going full-on doom metal with churning ferocity and guttural, earth-rumbling screams. What adds to the fun of listening to the records is that most of the bands aren’t household names, so there aren’t many preconceptions about what the cover versions could or should sound like. Each one arrives fresh.

On the energetic “Jesus Christ Pose,” Spotlights go industrial with hard-charging percussion with some electronic flourishes. Milana delivers a heavy take on bluesy hard rocker “Outshined” with a version that stays true to the original. Only a select handful of vocalists can verge into Cornell’s range, and the artists on these Redux albums general stay within their own range rather than trying to replicate the Soundgarden frontman. The Best-of set closes out with a punishing metal cover of “Room a Thousand Years Wide” by Restless Spirit.

On Superunkonwn, the variance from the original material seems to be even wider in the takes by other artists. Ufomammut and High Priest offer up heavy, aggressive takes on “Let Me Drown” and “My Wave” while Marissa Nadler takes “Fell on Black Days” to an alt-heavy wall-of-sound rendition. Nadler’s version is interesting, as it flips what was a fairly raw vocal from Cornell to a reverb-heavy harmonized vocal.

Spotlights pull double duty, returning for a cover of “Black Hole Sun,” which bends a number of genres over its nearly seven-minute runtime. From a melodic rock sound, the song continues to build on the punishing metal crescendo. Horseburner brings a dual guitar attack to the solos on “Spoonman” while Bestwars opt for more of a dramatic industrial take on “The Day I Tried to Live.”

The album closes with a particularly effective take on “Like Suicide” by Darkher that fuses dramatic atmospherics with an acoustic rawness that delivers.

The Redux albums offer up a fun way for longtime Soundgarden fans to dig into something new. These versions aren’t going to surpass the originals, but that’s not the point. The project is about trying something new and reigniting interest for some beloved songs.

Follow writer Mike DeWald at Twitter.com/mike_dewald.