COURTESY OF ROAD RUNNER Jerry Cantrell is flanked by supporting band members Mike Bordin, left, and Robert Trujillo.

Out of the hole

Jerry Cantrell moves on
with his mostly moody
'Degradation Trip'

---

By Nadine Kam
nkam@starbulletin.com

The brooding-singer death watch was a spectator sport among grunge fans in the early '90s. After Kurt Cobain's suicide in 1994, the watch focused on rehab regulars Layne Staley of Alice in Chains and Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots, though fans had to rely on news reports for updates because tours were out of the question.

"Degradation Trip" Jerry Cantrell (Roadrunner)

Alice in Chains resurfaced in 1996 for a performance on MTV's "Unplugged," and confirmed suspicions about Staley. Drug abuse and failing health left him unable to deliver the powerful vocals that had pushed Alice into the mainstream. It was another revelation to hear lead guitarist and backup vocalist Jerry Cantrell compensating for the ailing singer. Cantrell's voice is thinner but, on casual listen and with layering, sounds close enough to Staley's that the band's music didn't seem to suffer.

So close, but not equal, and the difference is what separates the urgency of an Alice in Chains disc from a decent, if easy to overlook, Jerry Cantrell one.

Cantrell must know that, otherwise he might not have wasted time and energy waiting for Staley. Together, their voices created a somber bittersweet harmony that was one of Alice's signatures, and as recently as March, Cantrell was talking about a reunion.

So it's understandable that frustration and anger pour out of Cantrell's latest effort, "Degradation Trip," out today. In light of Staley's death late April, the disc plays like a requiem, opening with the ominous, dirgey bass lines of the funereal "Psychotic Break."

The disc's none-too-subtle, parent-friendly message is that no good can come from powder, pill or needle. In one of the disc's catchier songs, "Angel Eyes," he sings, "Bow down, piper leading, you were one / Hungry, took the prize, then you got dumb / Don't live out your life like a sad song."

Cantrell's ably assisted by bassist Robert Trujillo of Suicidal Tendencies and drummer Mike Bordin of Faith No More in resurrecting a sound that's been dormant eight years. Only "She Was My Girl" veers from that path, with an insistent fuzzy guitar lead more common to post-grunge outfits like Local H. Queensryche guitarist Chris DeGarmo joins the trio on "Anger Rising," the first song to get radio airplay.

One man's catharsis doesn't necessarily make good listening (exhibit A: Dave Navarro's "Trust No One"), and two-thirds of the way through this 14-song disc, I was wailing, "When does this thing end?"

Yet, I'm happy for Cantrell, who seems to find closure by disc's end in the upbeat "Gone," in which he sings, "So they say with time, we slowly heal / I caught a flash of your smile, through the fog of a dream / I'll see you when I sleep / Now you're gone ... gone away."

Maybe now Cantrell can move forward. This disc isn't likely to find new grunge converts, but it should be a comfort for old fans to know half of Alice lives on.

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