1141. Jerry Cantrell / Brighten. 2021. 4/5

Jerry Cantrell had already dipped his toe into the solo recording business long before this album ever saw the light of day. In essence his first album, Boggy Depot, came out of the staleness that followed Alice in Chains instability, or perhaps more accurately singer Layne Staley’s drug dependency. With little writing or touring, Cantrell instead put his energy into that album and touring supporting Metallica and Van Halen throughout 1998. That success eventually led to a second album, Degradation Trip, written in 1999 but not realised until 2002, and released under the despondent time of what he called the ‘death of Alice in Chains’ and the cloud of Layne’s eventual drug overdose and death.After a number of years of inactivity, it was Alice in Chains that came to revival with William DuVall coming in, and three further albums in Black Gives Way to Blue, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here and Rainier Fog. Thus, with his main band and focus now once again firmly established in the public’s eye and ears, Jerry once again turned his attention to a solo album. Like almost every album in the past 18 months it was bogged down in the onset of the pandemic, which led to it being delayed by a year from being released, despite having been written and started to being recorded as far back as January in 2020. Was there a reason why he felt that now was the time to do another solo album? Was he comfortable enough that his main band was now stable enough for him to come out and perhaps do material that he felt wasn’t quite right for the band? Though I don’t have an answer for that, this seems the most likely scenario.

The opening songs were the first singles released from the album, “Atone” and “Brighten”. Both set up the album nicely, providing a mix of Jerry’s workmanlike solo vocal as well as his harmony within the songs, and his acoustic guitar mixed with his terrific lead guitar that complements both of those things. You can almost hear Layne singing along in harmony on the chorus of “Brighten”. These are followed by “Prism of Doubt” Unlike most of the fans by the sounds of it, I am not as taken by “Siren Song” which was the third single released from the album. It’s far too mellow and quiet for my own personal taste but it has certainly struck a chord with the music community out there. I must insist though that that doesn’t mean I don’t like the song, I just think there are better ones here. “Black Hearts and Evil Done” which is very acoustically based throughout I enjoy more despite it being in a similar category to “Siren Song”. For me the vocals carry it and make it a more accessible song, given the same acoustic guitar strum that lies underneath for the entirety of the song. Jerry’s vocals give it the oomph it needs when it comes.
“Had to Know” is the most electrified track here, and it is great to hear Jerry giving a little bit more on that instrument here. Still, why does it sound to me that is has more in sync with REM than Alice in Chains? For most of the song I just feel as though if you substituted in Michael Stipe instead of Jerry it could pass as an REM song! “Nobody Breaks You” returns to the acoustic guitar base of the song, but it is the lead solo break in the back third of the song that is the winner here. I must admit that I would loved to have heard more of that in the songs here than the acoustic medleys, but you can’t have everything can you? “Dismembered” is probably the hardest rocking song on this collection (but don’t read much into that, there isn’t a plethora of it in any case). And the album finishes off with the Elton John cover “Goodbye”, a song that Jerry played to Elton to get his approval before he would put it on the album.
While there are several guest stars who come on and play on this album, for the most part Jerry does it almost all himself. Guitar, bass, keyboards and of course all of the vocals, as well as writing all of the songs himself. It is a real tour de force where we get Jerry’s heart and soul almost unfettered by other influences around him.

It is important not to come into this album and expect it to be Alice in Chains. There is a different mood and tempo to the songs that that band produces even in the modern day, and certainly not like the fire and brimstone and anger and angst that came from their first two albums. Indeed, if trying to compare this to anything, it is much closer to the songs produced on the Sap and Jar of Flies EPs than anything else. This of course sounds phonically like Alice in Chains. Jerry’s vocals are the most giveaway, and you aren’t going to be able to change those just because this is a solo project. And his own melody lines throughout are a triumph. And, even though I have said this about his other two solo albums, I’m going to say it again. Imagine if Layne was duetting here on these songs, just imagine how much better they would sound. That is a very unfair thing to say, but for me and I guess many other fans, Jerry and Layne together is a monster, either on their own isn’t quite the same. There, I’ve said it. Now I’m just going to move on.
This has been a really nice surprise leading into the end of 2021, I must say. Yes it’s familiar which is always a positive, but it still has to have the right stuff to make that happen, and “Brighten” certainly has that. Even though it has that easy listening feel to it, there are still some terrific guitar riffs and solos that bring this to the next level without turning off those that aren’t into that kind of thing. And again, without trying to compare green apples and red apples, if you enjoy Alice in Chains, then you will certainly get something out of this album – sort of like an Alice in Chains Lite.

221. Jerry Cantrell / Degradation Trip. 2002. 3/5.

This is Jerry's second solo album, released following the tragic death of Layne Staley effectively halted any plans for further Alice In Chains releases.

Jerry follows up his first release, Boggy Depot, with an album that is filled with songs with a bit more edge to them. One difference I noticed immediately with this was that Jerry doubles up on the vocals in most songs – to compensate for Layne's absence? I know that on Boggy Depot, this was what I missed most. Here, Jerry does a good job of utilising the harmony vocals that he and Layne shared so successfully by double-tracking them on himself.

OK, it doesn't grab me like the first two Alice In Chains albums did. That was a different era, and I guess I have moved on from that as well. But it is a good album, and Jerry is a great songwriter.

Favourites for me include Psychotic Break, Anger Rising, Angel Eyes and Hellbound.

Rating : Another solid release from Jerry. But has the Seattle sound finally left the building? 3/5.

145. Jerry Cantrell / Boggy Depot. 1998. 3.5/5.

In 1996, the band Alice in Chains appeared to be on top of the world. They had come off the opening tour slot for the Kiss reunion tour, they had two number one albums in their back pocket, and they had the support and love of some of the biggest bands in the world. One couldn’t imagine that they didn’t have the world at their feet, and that they would not go on to complete world domination with their brilliant alternative metal style of music. And then the world stopped.
Layne Staley had always had drug problems, but following the overdoes of his then-fiancé, he became a recluse, unable to leave home. He also had trouble reconciling the fact that while his lyrics had preached the dangers of drug use and that he did not want to be the poster boy to the world’s youth who were taking drugs, it is pretty much what he became. All of this meant that any forward progress that the band Alice in Chains wanted to pursue was now impossible.
In this downtime when Layne Staley was 'not in the right frame of mind' to perform his duties for Alice in Chains, Jerry Cantrell instead went forward and began to write for a proposed solo album. He had some songs that had been written and pushed aside for the previous self-titled Alice in Chains album, and he also went forward and wrote more on his own. There were two points of view put forward when it came to the origin of this album. Some places reported that Jerry had been wanting to branch out and put together his own solo album for some time, in order to explore places that he felt didn’t quite fit in the Alice in Chains world. But in later interviews when the album was released, Jerry confirmed that this only came about because of the inactivity of the band, and Layne in particular. He was quoted as saying that he was happy just being the guitarist and singer in that band and could happily have stayed in that position, but the lack of any ability to continue forward with Layne in his condition meant that he had to branch out on his own.
Many people still saw this as an Alice in Chains album despite this. Jerry wrote all the songs, performed all the lyrics and all the guitars. Alice in Chains drummer Sean Kinney performed the same role for Jerry on this album, while Alice in Chains bass guitarist Mike Inez also appeared on several songs. And when you are the main songwriter for your main band, then surely your solo album isn’t going to sound much different. Is it?

So the biggest question anyone would ask is the first one to answer. And that answer is... yes, of course it sounds like Alice in Chains. Because that’s what Jerry writes. But there are songs that differ from that template, and that you would unlikely hear on an album if the others in the band had been involved in the writing process. Most of that for me comes at the end of the album, where “Hurt a Long Time” is in such a slow soft tempo that it would bely his main band’s sound, and “Between” which has an almost Nashville feel about the vocals and guitar. Then the closing track “Cold Piece” blends organ and piano into the mix, and frankly feels as though it extends beyond its eight and a half minute run time. And his vocals through this song certainly don’t match what he is usually renown for. So it is songs like these three that show the uniqueness that Jerry has brought to this project, which allows it to stand apart from the music everyone knows him so well for.
In the top half of the album though, Jerry delivers the kind of songs that most fans would have been looking for, the ones who were hoping for an extension from his number one priority. “Dickeye” is a great opening track to the album, and followed by another single release in “Cut You In”, both of which showcase the best of Jerry’s writing and performance. The input of piano through songs like “Settling Down” and the organ and cello in “Breaks My Back” bring about a more contemporary feel to those tracks, substituting out the hard core guitars that have been such a showpiece of his earlier music, and allowing him to bring in another side to his music. And it is these differences in particular that made this album difficult to access for the straight line fans, who pretty much wanted a straight copy of Jerry’s other band rather than hear him stretching his talents to other qualities. The middle of the album represents some excellent tracks such as “Jesus Hands”, “Devil by His Side” and “Keep the Light On”.
There’s no doubt that the tempo of this album is much slower and less intense than those great Alice in Chains albums from earlier in the decade. But in the long run, this is what Cantrell was looking for, an outlet for his frustrations of what was happening on that front, and a chance to bring about other styles and songs that differed from what fans knew him for. It was the time and age for that kind of refocusing, and many of the band that were associating themselves with him and his work at the time were going through the same sort of adjustment. Metallica’s “Reload” anyone?!

I really don't remember what the publicity for this album was at the time of its release. As it turns out, I only found it as I was digging away through every CD rack at the Marrickville Metro Sanity store one Saturday morning, and found it sitting there waiting for me to come across it. And, I would have to say, that after I bought it that day, I didn’t see it in any other record store for years afterwards.
I can happily admit that it took some time for me to come around to this album. I mean, the sound of the album – the guitars and vocals especially – was like Alice in Chains songs (to no one's surprise...), but it took me some time to get past not having Layne's vocals on them, and also that definite change in tempo and energy for the most part. Once I had listened to it a number of times through, had gotten over those facts, and accepted the album for what it was – Jerry's album – I found it more to my liking. And my appreciation and enjoyment of it came flowing along with that realisation.
So yes, the songs are very much in the same vein as the Alice in Chains songs that Jerry wrote, and for the most part they work well. A few do tend to get bogged down (no pun intended...) through the middle of the album, but overall if you like Alice in Chains, you will enjoy this album as well.
I have had it turning around my CD player at home and my music playlist at work for the past couple of weeks, and it is still just as enjoyable as it was once I got to know it 25 years ago. On a couple of songs, I still wait for Layne’s melody to come over the top of Jerry’s vocals, and for the guitar to riff hard into that gutteral sound we all know so well. But that is not to be, and it would have changed everything about this album if it did. Which, would then make this not what it is – the first steps of Jerry Cantrell stepping into the second half of his career as a musician.