20/05/02

JERRY CANTRELL / DEGREDATION TRIP

Since the sad demise of Layne Stayley early last month it now falls on Jerry's shoulders to keep the Alice In Chains fans happy and to the most part that just what he does.

This is as they say in Football circles, " a game of two half's", the lions share is similar to Alice (circa Tripod) and the rest is more acoustically driven (in the Jar Of Flies / Sap vein) which should keep everybody happy. This is an improvement on his first solo effort and tracks like "Anger Rising" and "She Was My Girl" are a joy to hear, he has surrounded himself with some very good musicians and although most of the subject matter as the title suggests, deals with very negative emotions the overall effect is one of listening pleasure.

The best of the heavier tracks are "Psychotic Break", "Hellbound", "Bargain Basement Howard Hughs" and "Locked On", all of these possess a haunting bluesy quality that is very endearing and the lighter tracks light "Angel" and "Give It A Name" would not have sounded out of place of Jar Of Flies. This is a real improvement on Boggy Depot and that wasn’t a b\ad album either, well done Jerry.

DOWNLOAD : "Anger Rising" from the above site

TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 72 mins + 14 TRACKS