Album Review : Alice in Chains - Rainier Fog (2018)
The process of grief can be a mindfuck. What are you supposed to do after a loved one dies? Find other people like him? Move on and live a different life because the one you had is over? Be loyal until you meet again? American rock legends Alice in Chains went through it all in their post-Layne Staley era. Black Gives Way to Blue was a promising rebirth and the follow-up The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here was a melancholic fiasco with a potent inferiority complex that would’ve killed lesser bands. I was expecting Rainier Fog to be a train wreck, but it’s not.
It’s a pretty solid rock record to rock out to in gloomy November weather.
William DuVall era Alice in Chains do two things very well: write killer guitar riffs and smooth, melodic singalong choruses. That’s basically what they’re focusing their efforts on here. The opener The One You Know starts with stabbing, alarm-like riffs and sweet, silky lyrics about the ephemeral nature of fame. DuVall and Jerry Cantrell could’ve sung about anything and that song would’ve been dope. Lines like Tell me/Does it matter?/If I’m still here or I’m gone? has the weirdly profound ambiguity of great pop song. Anyone can relate and rock out to it while projecting their feelings.
I fucking double dare you not to sing out loud.
Same goes for the title song, which is even better. It’s a throwback to Alice in Chains’ pre-Facelift hair metal/classic rock days both in sound and lyrics. Many fans don’t like this song because it’s not that heavy and pretty straightforward, but the nostalgic lyrics and Duvall/Cantrell performance both carry the song and establishes this new identity the band’s struggled with for a decade. Alice in Chains aren’t trying to be heavy and doomy anymore. I mean, it’s part of their DNA and it’s always going to be there. The difference on Rainier Fog is that they don’t force it.
Never Fade is another highlight of Rainier Fog, once again a pretty straightforward song about about triumphing over haters that’s carried by latent heaviness and the charisma of Alice in Chains’ singing duo. So Far Under is also quite good. It’s one of the bulkiest song on the record, but it’s a dense, doomy and in-your-face 4:30 with raw emotional power. It’s a song entirely written by William DuVall, too. I really enjoyed Red Giant and Maybe too, one for its reliability and the other for the shifty weirdness. It stops like two minutes in and starts over.
It’s such an expected I-don’t-give-a-fuck moment that struggled with long, meandering songs on their previous album, it makes me smile every time.
Rainier Fog gets a little soft around the middle part, like a middle-aged man. Songs like Fly and Drone have interesting elements (notably Jerry Cantrell’s signature guitar riffs) but don’t built up to cohesive, intelligible greater statement. The only song I flat out didn’t like on the record was Deaf Ears, Blind Eyes, which wouldn’t been home on The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here. It’s not focused. It goes tentatively in every direction and ends up feeling a lot longer than it actually is. But that’s it. The others songs on Rainier Fog range from listenable to pretty awesome.
Alice in Chains did it. They redefined and cemented their identity after replacing the freakin’ face of their band. They’re not the same anymore and it’s good. They’re a simpler, jammier outfit with standout songwriting skills and an unmistakable song. Everything else has been cut back on. The doomy intensity of Dirt and tripod belongs to another era. Let’s appreciate and celebrate the fuck-you-were-not-dad-rock-but-we’ll-make-you-sing-anyway Alice in Chains that finally found its grownup audience. Not all bands get old with this much gusto.
7.2/10
