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Jerry Cantrell: Degradation trip
18/08/08 || The Duff
You should all know Jerry Cantrell as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist to Seattle’s finest grunge band Alice in Chains. It would seem that in dealing with Layne Staley’s ever-worsening drug abuse, leading to regular interruptions to his full-time band’s progress, Jerry decided to pursue his musical outlets elsewhere. “Boggy Depot” was the man’s first solo outing, and preceded Layne’s death by about four years (and three years on from the last AIC full-length), evidenced by the lighter attitude mixed in with the musician’s usual hard rock mentality and dark, personal lyrics.
A couple of months after Layne’s death the follow-up to “Boggy Depot”, “Degradation Trip”, is released, and it is obvious that the legendary frontman’s long path towards demise has taken its toll on the by this point well established guitarist; this double-album comprises some of the darkest music I’ve heard, with lyrical content of a morose nature, at times superseding that written by Layne during his most dismal moments – whereas with the late vocalist there would always be some sense of hope to his dire outpourings, on “Degradation Trip” you feel as though Jerry considers himself as wretched as those he condemns (most of the songs deal with his own demons, anyways), yet through his writing manages to deliver himself of his trouble-laden mind.
Not being the best of labels as we all know Road Runner decided to cut the original project down by eleven tracks, much to the detriment of Jerry’s final vision – of course, as per shitty record label tradition, come six months on from the original release and this superb double-album hits the shelves, a vastly superior, far more complete record than its miniature, limbless twin. The eleven tracks that failed to make the original cut go beyond fleshing out the album, as many of them are even better than those found on the original disc, most also harkening to Alice in Chains’ classic, most somber period (figuring you’d all agree it being the self-titled album), combining sludgy, simple and distorted riffs with soul-searching acoustics and morbid, droning vocals (some of which aren’t far off from the great Layne Staley).
So the music itself isn’t too complex – Jerry mixes sludge, grunge, country and metal very effectively, but doesn’t feel the need to prove himself quite so much as with his former band. Even his very tasteful, impressively executed and at times flashy lead work is kept to a drastic minimum, focus spent on exceptionally catchy vocals and a heavy rhythm section courtesy of Ozzy Osbourne’s Robert Trujillo and Mike Bordin, covering bass and drums respectively. Lyrically, even the most obvious stuff seems to have a morbid, far less revealing undertone, and tackles most topics including drug/alcohol addiction, Layne’s passing (inspiring both spite-filled and compassionate/regretful contributions to this masterpiece), parental abuse, the toils of being famous and under the thumb of a record label, and lost loves – life in a box, basically.
I’m not sure of this album’s availability, but as much as the original is a good effort, you are doing yourself a great disservice not treating yourself to the full work. Tracks like “Owned”, “Pig Charmer”, “31/32”, “Dying Inside” and “Thanks Anyway” are just some of the tracks that didn’t make the cut yet are what you’d have wanted Alice to go on to write after hearing the promise in new tracks “Get Born Again” and “Died” – overall, although there are some tracks I don’t care much for, this album is perfection.
Rumor has it that five more tracks were cut from even this release, but fuck it, Road Runner are dicks – buy this and enjoy what Alice in Chains could have become.
10 dedications to a legendary man out of 10.
- Information
- Released: 2002
- Label: Roadrunner Records
- Website: www.jerrycantrell.com
- Band
- Jerry Cantrell: guitars, vocals
- Mike Bordin: drums
- Robert Trujillo: bass
- Tracklist
- Volume 1
- 01. Psychotic Break
- 02. Bargain Basement Howard Hughes
- 03. Owned
- 04. Angel Eyes
- 05. Solitude
- 06. Mother’s Spinning in her Grave
- 07. Hellbound
- 08. Spiderbite
- 09. Pro False Idol
- 10. Feel the Void
- 11. Locked On
- 12. Gone
- Volume 2
- 01. Castaway
- 02. Chemical Tribe
- 03. What It Takes
- 04. Dying Inside
- 05. Siddhartha
- 06. Hurts Don’t It?
- 07. She Was My Girl
- 08. Pig Charmer
- 09. Anger Rising
- 10. S.O.S.
- 11. Give It a Name
- 12. Thanks Anyway
- 13. 31/32
