Rainier Fog

Though The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here wasn't as successful as Black Gives Way to Blue, not producing a hit single like "Check My Brain," new and old fans of the band were still eager to see the band perform live, and their touring following the album's release was quite extensive, going all the way through 2016 before the band made the decision to return to the studio. Their third album since reforming, and following up an album that most felt was not among the band's best work and left something to be desired, there's wasn't as much anticipation with this one, the general opinion being that the band was more or less washed up in regards to new material and should stick to touring the hits. While I didn't delve into the band's newer material until 2022, I'm sure my opinion wouldn't have been far off - certainly I'll always take new material from Cantrell, and there was definitely some worthwhile material on The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here, but it stands as the band's weakest album to date. Even so, Rainier Fog came out in August 2018, and it seems the general consensus was that it was...OK, I guess? Many people had stopped taking notice at this point, and based on a glance at the average here on MA, not many people have taken an interest in it, and it seems to be considered more or less on par with The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here. So do I agree with this, or is there something more to this album?

Well, I definitely understand the general sentiment - coming a full five years after the last album, which was nothing special by the band's standards, and certainly not doing anything particularly new or exciting for the band, Rainier Fog is an incredibly easy album to pass off as more of the same; an older band releasing material that's passable enough but isn't ever really preferable to replaying the classics. However, I think that perspective really overlooks some of the things that Rainier Fog knocks out of the park. As I said in my review for The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here, the band has, thankfully, avoided any major tragedies in their modern area, and at least partially as a result of this they seem interested in more upbeat, anthemic music than in the morbid, angsty darkness of their earlier days. Rainier Fog is no exception to this, but in my opinion the band does a better job with the style here, choosing to (almost) fully embrace this more positive, energetic and reflective style. When they do add in a touch of darkness, I feel it's reconciled in a way that feels much more natural than the jarring back-and-forth of The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here.

Again, nothing is particularly new - the production is similar to the last two albums (definitely a plus as it's a great sound with no real problems), there have been no personnel changes over the course of the last decade, and the album structure follows the tried-and-true AiC formula. That is, it starts with a gritty, aggressive, somewhat dissonant number, ends with a longer, more reflective piece, and has a slow Arabesque somewhere in the middle - though in this case it's actually not the title track, which is an interesting change of pace, at least. There's definitely a better rhythm here than there was on the last album, and at 10 tracks it's actually a little bit shorter than what we're used to, which I think works well for the tighter, punchier groove the band gets into in a lot of the tracks. Opener "The One You Know" is really the only track here that pays homage to the band's heavier, more dissonant roots, and fittingly it seems to be about Layne Staley, with (relatively) new vocalist William Duvall musing on the difficulty of being compared to such an iconic frontman, even after more than a decade of having to prove himself. The chorus in particularly is pretty difficult to interpret otherwise, with the lines 'Tell me does it matter / If I'm still here or I'm gone? Shifting to the after / An impostor, I'm not the one you know' clearly referencing Duvall's continued struggle in proving to longtime fans that he has his own merits as a frontman and is worthy of carrying the band forward. It stands as a testament to Staley's iconic, unforgettable presence in the band that this remains an issue in 2018, but I feel fans really should have moved on by this point; either ignore the band if you don't like them sans Staley, or just enjoy the music. Still, it's understandable for this to be on the band's mind, and it's quite a strong song musically, returning to the band's 90s style for perhaps one of the final times in a new track.

After this, we're given the titular "Rainier Fog" which is infectiously catchy in a punky, early 80s sort of way, driving things forward with a pleasantly energetic pace and some great melodic vocal lines from Cantrell and Duvall. Even the bridge is fantastic, building up from a pounding bass line to gradually add in more elements to explode back into the chorus for one more trip through these top-notch hard rock performances. It's interesting to see Alice in Chains' take on a more commercial style without referencing the glam sensibilities of their early days, rather going for a sound more akin to a marriage to commerical hard rock like Kiss or Thin Lizzy with some of the heavier punk-influenced acts of the early metal era like Motorhead or Iron Maiden, perhaps even early Overkill. While this does sound a bit strange, the band really knocks it out of the park, filling up the song's five-minute runtime with hooks and driving riffs galore, ensuring the whole thing feels fresh and headbangable throughout. This really sounds like something a younger band could have produced in terms of the enthusiasm and charisma here, yet a subtler look reveals the maturity of a band capable of experimenting with new sounds and putting together something cohesive and deceptively sophisticated. This is really one of the best tracks here and one of the band's more interesting pieces from their career.

"Red Giant" does have some darker touches, especially in the verses, and I do feel like it falls into some of the traps that much of The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here did, but it has a great chorus and retains some of that early 80s style present in the title track that still makes it quite a fun romp at times, and it has a killer solo that brings the band's "darker" and "lighter" elements together with dual guitar melodies in a way that's really inventive and shows a marriage of these ideals in a way that I personally would never have come up with but works beautifully. "Fly" is the album's ballad, and I'd say not a particularly good one, feeling like a rehashing of the band's bluesier ideas from the early days that doesn't really bring much new to the table. However, as with the last album, the second half - or really, in this case, the last two thirds - are pretty much banger after banger, and this kicks off with "Drone," which along with the title track is probably my favorite song here. Possessive of an arrogant swagger that flirts with a groovy sort of darkness much like what we heard from early Alice in Chains on songs like "Mother" and "Rooster," this track has so much class and charm it could ride on that for the full six and-a-half minutes and I'd still love it. It doesn't, though - breaking into a progressive, semi-acoustic second half that manages to feel like a whole different song and a natural extension of the ideas in the first half at the same time. It's incredible how well the band works everything together here, and it's a great example of how much Cantrell and co. improved on reconciling some of their most disparate elements here.

"Deaf Ears Blind Eyes" gives us the obligatory Arabesque tune, but I feel like it's definitely a step above "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here," packing a bit more pep as well as substance into the experience than that track did, while also being one of the tracks shorter tracks so that it never feels like it's dragging on. There's even some tasteful use of keyboard to build atmosphere in the second half in a way that feels organic enough to feel like it's a natural stylistic inclusion and not just the band trying to punch up the cinematics. "Maybe" is an interesting shift, starting with an a capella vocal harmony that almost sounds like something that could come from The Eagles, which isn't bad but does feel a bit gimmicky. Then we get the chorus, though, which showcases the absolute best that "anthemic AiC" has to offer, rivalling the likes of "Choke" from the last album with its soaring melodic ambiance. "So Far Under" shifts things again, to a more dissonant, Tripod-esque piece, replete with repetitive riffing, vocal effects, and that claustrophobic, mechanical atmosphere. This is another unique experience within the band's newer catalogue in that they went for an earlier style and actually succeeded, choosing not to include any of their more melodic, ambient stylisms and merely go for a throwback. Rather than feel jarring, though, i think it provides a nice change of pace for the album, making it so that it doesn't just feel like long, sprawling epic after long, sprawling epic. It's certainly not as good as the best example of the Staley era which it's emulating, but it can still stand on its own.

"Never Fade" gives us another 80s hard rock style main riff, but combines this with the band's newer melodic style in an enjoyable and organic way, giving us another great reflective chorus that juxtaposes nicely against a bit of AC/DC and some 90s AiC ideas in the verses. Finally, "All I Am" is a great closer, not quite living up to a "Choke" or "Black Gives Way to Blue" but still damn good, going all-out progressive epic a la Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd. It provides a deeply introspective, mysterious intro that provides a great backdrop as the band gradually builds up ideas throughout, providing a nice band showcase, particularly in the vocals as it features solo lines from both Cantrell and Duvall as well as frequent harmonies, and intertwines acoustic and electric guitar as well as some interesting bass work. It is a bit slow and perhaps takes a bit longer to fully pay off than some might prefer, but it has a killer chorus and some absolutely god-tier guitar interplay at the end, so that it feels like a great way to wrap up an album - and, possibly, a three-decade career? It's been 6 years since this record came out as I'm writing this, and I can't help feeling that this was, perhaps, intended to be the band's swan song - or, at least, the possibility was considered. The band's touring has been sparse over the last year and a half or so, and while Jerry did put out a solo album in 2021, no news has emerged from the band concerning any new material.

Rainier Fog certainly isn't for everyone, as it's more of a rock record than a metal one, explores several different directions while at the same time feeling a bit safe compared to something like the self-titled album or Black Gives Way to Blue, and doesn't have the highs of most of the band's other albums - that track that really makes you remember that this is a band that dominates their field in terms of songwriting as well as performance, though tracks like "Rainier Fog" and "Drone" are still 10/10 for sure. Still, this has more of a steady rhythm and songwriting consistency than The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here, and feels like a band more comfortable with themselves and more willing to explore new directions, rather than feeling they have to play X amount of darker material just to please the diehard fans. I feel this record hasn't quite gotten its due within the context of the band's discography, and to those who have written it off or were turned off enough by Dinosaurs to avoid this record, I encourage you to give it a proper chance. It's a unique gem among the band's records, and is still worthy of the Alice in Chains moniker. I hope that one day we get a follow-up, but if not - for a band 30 years into their career who have experienced the setbacks and struggle that these guys have, or even just as an enjoyable throwback to 80s rock with just enough introspection and melancholy thrown in - this is more than adequate and absolutely worthy of regular rotation in the Alice in Chains library.