Likes: Happy to hear the positive reviews. They're doing the thing still, well, after making a rather surprising comeback, imo.
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Happy to hear the positive reviews. They're doing the thing still, well, after making a rather surprising comeback, imo.
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Not really into the newer stuff. I'll check it out. Reviews seem pretty positive.
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Allmusic review, 4/5
https://www.allmusic.com/album/rainier-fog-mw0003186798
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oh for fuck sakes.
So AiC was uploading their songs onto youtube......
and good old WMG comes to the rescue and fucking blocks them
FUCK OFF WMG JESUS FUCK
Stubby Member
The new album is really good
Maybe, fly, deaf ears blind eyes are Amazing
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Glad to hear that this is pretty good, I'll check it out.
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I'm probably in the minority. Only one listen. Pretty average. I just can't get into much of the 2.0 stuff.
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can we seriously stop with the ultra derivative illuminati visuals?
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I guess if i had one thing i kinda wish it had was more...i dunno, variety? At least with the last album, it had some weird ass trippy psychedelic songs and feel like Lab Monkey and it's title track. I think it's a good album...but it feels...i dunno..empty, a little more hollow (no pun intended) then it needs to be. There is so much room for more, and i keep expecting there to be more...but it never happens.
So i do think this is a good album...But it could of been a whole lot better
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2.5/5 from Rolling Stone
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/m...er-fog-714885/
Kind of a crappy, whiney review.
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Gave the new disc a few spins today. Overall, I'm really happy with it. I think it flows better than TDPDH and is even somewhat upbeat (at least by AIC standards). Rainier Fog won't set the world on fire and probably won't win over any new converts, but it's a very good album. If you like AIC, especially the DuVall-era, you will dig this too. I do think "Never Fade" is already a top 10 or at least top 15 all-time best AIC song, imho.
Unintelligible Whispering
Trolling Stone can fuck right off TBH.
The album's not perfect - I do think it falters a bit at the midway point - but overall it flows very well and has a strong start and exceptionally strong finish. Totally agree with @RhettButler that Never Fade is amazing. It sounds like vintage AIC to me.
At this point if the last 3 albums haven't spoken to you I think it's safe to say Phase 2 AIC may just not be for you, which is fine. Personally I think they've got the best ongoing track record of any active 90's staple rock band. Picked up the LP right away.
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Man, be sure to catch them live, if you can.Originally Posted by Shadaloo
Unintelligible Whispering
Oh, I have. Caught 'em on the BGWTB and Dinosaurs tours (posted about the latter way earlier in this thread). They don't seem to be coming to Montreal this time around and I'm crossing my fingers they will soon.
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Some random thoughts and questions about the new album:
1. Anyone else hear an Eagles influence in "Maybe," particularly with the vocal harmonizing?
2. Of the three DuVall-era albums, this is the best sounding, imho. It just sounds really, really good. It's loud, but not brickwall loud.
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God it hurts saying this
im really fucking disappointed after i gave this a few more spins
God and this album started out so good, the first 3 songs are fucking on point and i was hoping it would stay like that
God...at least with The Devil Put Dinosaurs here, while some songs went on longer then it needed to, at least it had some variety...I just feel really let down...It doesn't have that huge ass dispair feeling that A Looking in View, Acid Bubble and Hollow had, It doesn't really have that "experimenting" feeling it had with Pretty Done, TDPDH or Lab Monkey did and i didnt get emotionally attached to a song like Black Gives Way To Blue.
And it pisses me off cuz this album SHOULD have been so much better, it could have been so much better if they just added a little more to it, it feels just so....hollow...im expecting so much more...and there isnt
god i feel horrible for saying this, but i'd only give this a 6/10
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For me, something's missing besides the obvious Layne absence. I feel like the drive is gone. The 90s material made a point. They wanted you to take them seriously, and we did. These three albums, while they have their moments, are just songs with no weight.
Did Layne have much input on the direction or did the drive go along with him?
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Jerry is the main songwriter and makes the bulk of every song they have made. There are a few that was just Layne, Angry Chair and Hate to Feel being an example of where he was the sole maker.
But I think I know what it is for you. They aren't talking about drugs anymore. The point Layne wanted to make with an album like Dirt was to warn people about how dangerous his drug addiction was, he was even worried that people might mistake the album's lyrics as a prodrug thing. And the bulk of Jerry's songs was about what he went through, ex-lovers, stuff he saw, ect, whereas Layne wrote about himself...which was mostly about drugs and the hell he was going (at least post SAP, since he wasn't on Heroin on Facelift, but he did smoke a lot of weed).
The fact is that they've moved on from that. They are happy, they aren't writing about all the horrible things they had to go through and i think that's the problem you have with new AiC...you're waiting for a song that is never gonna happen. I;ll never deny that Layne's era was by far the superior.
The last songs Layne did with the band was Get Born Again and Died (yeah eerie i know) and it had that DARK DOOMY SLOW SLUDGY feel that a song like A Looking in View, Acid Bubble, Hollow and The Devil Put Dinosaurs here did. The sound never went away, it just picked up where it left off.
You just have to let go of the past, Sean himself said they are doing this because they want to. They want to have fun, they aren't replacing him, they are respecting him by having a singer that doesn't sound like him because that's the point.
Banned
That band died when Layne died.....Havent listened to any of their albums post Layne....I would have more respect for Jerry if he became lead singer and didnt bring anybody new into the band. Getting another singer and still calling it Alice In Chains is a joke
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Jerry is the lead singer imo. My main issue about these songs is that I don't find them interesting at all. They don't hold my attention. First listen of the new album, I spaced out halfway.
Not into Duvall much either. Props to him for sticking it out though. Can't be easy.
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I don't think.its about holding onto the past. I know Jerry wrote a lot of stuff back in the day. The lyrics can be am afterthought if I felt they were making good music. This stuff sounds way too commercial and safe. Just another radio band now and extension of solo Jerry (his solo stuff wipes the floor with this stuff imo).
I heard the last STP and thought it was decent, even without Scott. Nothing to do with holding onto the past there either.
Good music is good music. This stuff is just boring with hardly any urgency.
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You really expect Jerry to hit all those high notes? Jerry is a great singer...but that might be a little too much for him. Plus it wouldn't sound much the same live without all the harmonies.
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You could have a live back up singer. Jerry's range hasn't really changed too much anyway, I think.. He's always sang the same lower key while Layne and William hit the higher parts.
Banned
Jerry is the lead singer now. William just harmonizes on the songs and gets one lead spot per album (Last of My Kind, Phantom Limb, Never Fade). And I'll vouch for him; I've seen AIC 2.0 about four times now and William does a fantastic justice to the old stuff, as well as the new. Plus, he's incredibly humble and honoring of both Layne and the legacy of the band before him. To say it's not the same band isn't necessarily fair; they still sound like the 90s AIC and Jerry wrote about 80% of the band's stuff even before Layne died.
I agree though, there is indeed the feeling of the band coasting with this new album. I've listened to it about a dozen times through now and at least half of it just doesn't resonate much. I was a huge fan of TDPDH and hold that album in the same esteem as Dirt and S/T. BGWTB isn't far behind, either. Both of those albums had some gargantuan riffs, a fair amount of experimentation (by AIC standards) and had songs like Your Decision, Voices, Hollow, Stone, Private Hell and numerous others that were as good as anything the 90s albums put up.
Rainier Fog isn't bad, but it definitely gives the impression that the band is spinning their wheels here. Especially after a five-year layoff in between records. I've heard people say TDPDH sounded like AIC just making an album for the sake of it, which I don't agree with at all; that album gives up a TON if you spend the necessary time with it.
That being said, this album still has its share of gems. Maybe, Fly, Deaf Ears Blind Eyes and the title track are all keepers..
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I can't wait for the next album to come out and read posts here about how much it sucks and how awesome Rainer Fog is and why can't they make another album like that?
Anyway, I've been enjoying the new disc.
Active Member
Hey, I was a defender of Devil when it first came out, and i stand by it.
Throbbing Member
Who mixed/mastered this? And someone please tell me why this master has been approved.
Other than that I love the new album. It's AIC 2.0 and I expect nothing more.
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Apparently Amazon was selling signed copies of the album on CD for $15.99 and I didn't know until today. Of course they're all gone. Fuck.
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Its actually better then the last two...but not by much
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