Heavy Metal Textbooks

ALICE IN CHAINS: Ranier Fog

A Work Of Art From One Of The Great Bands Of Our Time

When I first saw the video for "Man In The Box" on MTV back in 1990, I became a fan of Alice In Chains.  I loved the entire Facelift album, and when Dirt came out I think I played it as much as any album I have ever owned.  Bought everything produced in the Layne Staley era, and mourned when he passed, expecting that I would never hear another Alice In Chains album.  Seven years after Layne's death and more than a decade since the last album, "Black Gives Way To Blue" came out of nowhere, with William DuVall filling in on vocals and rhythm guitar.  I was impressed at how well the band had preserved its original sound, and enjoyed the album but still didn't feel the band was quite as great as they once had been.  Then came 2013's "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here".  I liked it right away, and the more I played it the more it burrowed into my brain and made its home.  It became my favorite Alice In Chains album, and to this day not more than a couple of months go by without me revisiting it.  I consider it one of the most perfect albums I own.  While it was nominated for a Grammy award, I still find lots of people who have never even heard of it.  

August 24, 2018:  "Ranier Fog" is released and brings more rock genius.  I don't know how old these guys are, but they have definitely not lost their edge.  They have kept their unique sound and signature style of vocal harmonization, while keeping the songwriting sincere and fresh.  It's too early for me to tell whether I like it better than "Dinosaurs" but I can tell you that every tune is great, and the guitar work is particularly impressive.

  Going to post track 3 first, entitled "Red Giant".

Now here is track 5, "Drone":

I am amazed at how good Alice In Chains still sounds, 28 years after their debut album.  If you hadn't yet familiarized yourself with the DuVall era Alice In Chains, see if you agree with me that there has been absolutely no drop-off in quality.

Alice In Chains is:

Jerry Cantrell  (guitar & vocals)
William DuVall  (guitar & vocals)
Mike Inez  (bass)
Sean Kinney  (drums)

I know Alice In Chains is not generally thought of as a stoner rock band, but to me that's just because of how famous they are.  If these guys were relatively unknown, they'd be way at the top of most stoner rock fans' list of favorites since they check all the boxes for the genre:  influenced by classic rock, 1970's hard rock heavy metal, with a sound that's different from the mainstream.

That's all for now.  New post next weekend at the latest.

-ULTRA