IN REVIEW: Alice in Chains - "Rainier Fog"

With the release of their sixth album, Alice in Chains now officially have as many albums with William Duvall as their lead singer as they did with Layne Staley during the band's rise as part of the Seattle scene in the early '90s. This means that we now have the option to assess the two halves of Alice in Chains' career on more or less equal footing.

If we choose to separate these two phases of the band, it's a little easier to make more rational judgments; after all, we can't honestly compare Layne and William in any way other than their vocal similarities; Duvall isn't burdened by a crippling addiction, and Staley sadly didn't live long enough to enjoy the clarity and reflection that is often afforded my middle age. So, then, why hold an album like Rainier Fog up beside an established classic like Dirt and expect to draw true parallels?

That said, of the three albums released in this current incarnation, Rainier Fog offers the most variety and highest quality tunes. It doesn't suffer from the same mid-tempo grind that was 2013's The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here and, even though there are certainly moments of dark reflection (as is par for the course with Alice in Chains), they've done a much better job of adding flourishes of colour to their predominantly grey palette.

Rainier Fog plays like a very pensive, reflective record, perhaps partially due to it being the first Alice in Chains record actually recorded in Seattle; this gives the album an air of authenticity that hasn't necessarily been missing from previous albums, but seems pushed more to the forefront here.

Musically, one pretty much knows what to expect from Alice in Chains, and Rainier Fog is home to some of the strongest songs in the band's latter career. Also worth noting is the way this album ends; whereas past albums have proven to be somewhat difficult to sit through, with Rainier Fog Alice in Chains seems to have saved its strongest material for the home stretch. While the A-side is home to some standard AIC fare and doesn't necessarily stand out, the album's last four songs offer the level of melody and crunch that have endeared fans to the band all along. Loading the closing moments with some of the album's best material feels both like a beautiful reward and a sly trick played on those who would give up halfway through.

Rainier Fog likely won't win over bitter listeners who can't accept someone other than Layne Staley as the band's main voice and weren't swayed in the slightest with the previous two; however, Alice in Chains have come through with their best album of the Duvall era, one that not only isn't a slog to sit through but in fact offers plenty of reason to come back again and again.

August 24, 2018 • BMG
Highlights So Far Under • Never Fade • All I Am