A Light Through The Fog
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Photo credit to Pamela Littky
Album: Rainier Fog
Artist: Alice in Chains
Release Date: August 24, 2018
While it’s easy for most bands to get lost in the fog that is post-2000 rock music, Alice in Chains still manages to break through and rise to the top, even almost 30 years after their inception. As suggested by the title, Rainier Fog — the band’s sixth album overall and third with their current line-up — pays homage to Seattle, the city they helped put on the musical map and the journey they’ve taken since then. Despite being long in the tooth, the band still delivers one of their finest performances.
As is somewhat obligatory when writing an Alice in Chains review, this is not the same band that topped the charts in the early ‘90s. That group went on an extended hiatus in 1996 after the release of their self-titled album while vocalist Layne Staley dealt with his addiction. After Staley’s death in 2002, the band reformed in 2005 for a benefit concert with William DuVall replacing Staley and Mike Inez taking over on bass, before the band began touring once again in 2006. The two versions of the band are worth noting because the “new” Alice in Chains are based as much in metal as they are grunge, which, stylistically, makes the two line-ups almost incomparable.
Rainier Fog wastes no time setting its tone, with the album’s first single The One You Know leading off the album with guitars blaring through the speakers like sirens warning you of the impending storm. The heavy, bass-centric riff carries you through the rest of the track. Jerry Cantrell uses the signature dual-vocal attack he pioneered with Staley, and with the help of DuVall, takes the listener along the eerie song about things not always being as they appear.
The title track takes listeners on a blast from the past, as Cantrell recounts what it was like coming up in the Seattle music scene, all too fitting on an album that is their first recorded in their home city in 22 years. Despite the trials and tribulations that the band has gone through, this still manages to be about as upbeat of a song as you can expect from Alice in Chains.
The album hits a high point with its third track, Red Giant, a political power anthem that, thanks to Cantrell’s deft songwriting, never comes across as such. The song doesn’t shy away from taking shots at the current political climate but set to Rainier Fog’s catchiest groove it never feels like something being forced at you.
In what was a staple of bands and albums from yesteryear, Alice in Chains chose not to overly front-load the album. They first give listeners’ ears a bit of respite from the thudding, heavy distortion with Fly, a mostly acoustic song about the curveballs life throws at you from a band that knows all too well how tumultuous life can be. Following up is Drone, what can be described only as an obscure love song and one long time fans are sure to earmark a favourite, as it sees the revival of what most have — ironically — referred to as drone-rock. The album does hit a bit of a lull in the middle, with Deaf Ears Blind Eyes feeling like a song the band could never figure out how to make more than it is, and Maybe, a reflection on Cantrell’s current life that never loses heart but does get lost amongst the rest of the songs.
The album’s final crescendo starts off with So Far Under, a break-up song with riffs that are as sludgy and mucky as a bad relationship itself, that stands with Red Giant as a high point of the album. Never Fade is a track that is sure to draw some divide from listeners, as it jumps back and forth from the distinctive 90s sound that loyalists are sure to love, to an entirely new sound during the chorus that is sure to drive that same crowd away. It has the cleanest sound of any song on the album and holds its own as a solid, worthwhile listen. The album leaves us with All I Am, a melancholy epic that clocks in at over seven minutes and sees Cantrell return to his vintage vocal stylings.
It is never easy for a band to appease all of their fans—especially a band that took an over decade-long hiatus and now sees itself with two very different fan bases who have come to expect two different sounds. Their 2009 return album Black Gives Way to Blue made an obvious statement about who this new Alice in Chains is. 2013’s The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here saw the band take more of a “return to our roots” stance. Their latest album, which succeeds in combining both those elements, may be the band’s strongest album since their revival. From front to back, the album stays an entertaining listen throughout, with the high points soaring and the few lows there are never actually dropping below “average”.
Rainier Fog is a shining beacon that all music fans should set a course towards.
Alex Lough
Once described as “The perfect amount of straight forward”, Alex is a 2nd-year student in Algonquin College’s Professional Writing program, with hopes of becoming a screenwriter in the future.
