- Jerry's always been an essential writer AND singer in AiC
5
By ug sadness
I won't repeat what others have already said about how this is an amazing album. What I will add is that many people don't seem to realize how important Jerry Cantrell's vocals always have been to AiC. That classic line "Can you sew them shut?" in "Man in the Box"? Guess what, that's Jerry's Voice. Or take a listen to the epic AiC song "Over Now." It's almost entirely Jerry singing.
- One of my favorites still
5
By southpaw-dd
I'm a huge AIC fan and have had the Jerry Cantrell solo albums for many years. This is one of my favorite cover-to-cover listens and has absolutely stood the test of time for me. Highly recommend if you like some "out there" guitar sounds that still have great melody and harmonic quality.
- American gothic masterpiece
5
By martin doudoroff
Looking back at the 2000s, I have to place this overlooked set pretty much at the top of the list for rock music. There's a lot of material here, and it’s unified, dense, brutal, deeply personal (though not necessarily autobiographical or confessional), and very well executed. This well is deep, but it demands and rewards repeat visits. I’ve been going back for years.
- Incredible
5
By geoff7877
Jerry Cantrell is simply amazing. He is the master of dark and heavy music and this is by far my favorite Cantrell music since Dirt. The really heavy songs are the best songs on here in my opinion. Put them together and it could be that more grown up deep dark follow up to Dirt. I've been waiting for this album for years and never knew that it was right under my nose. Alice In Chains fans will LOVE this.
On top of all that, Mike Bordin and Robert Trujillo are the rest of the band! How did I JUST find this album 6 days ago?!?!
- Great Effort!
5
By hybrid47
Someone said that Cantrell was the brains behind AIC and while I largely agree, it's really hard to say that Staley's writing and vocal stylings weren't genius. Here Cantrell gives a monumental double album that is dreary, driven and just short of being an AICs album. Really the only thing that feels lacking here is Staley. This is not to say that Cantrell is a week vocalist, in fact he is quite good and always sounded excellent harmonizing with Staley and occasionally singing great leads on their S/T, but next to Staley who was one of the most powerful and original vocalists in rock history he kind of pales.
- missin something
4
By kev93@i tunes
Wish they would put the song "leave me alone" on itunes has a great riff
- Now I'm ready
5
By ernie_t
I was a big fan of Boggy Depot when this album came out. I got it right away but I wasn’t ready for this... it sounded droning, muddied, and a bit uninteresting. I recently gave it another chance and wow... I was blown away. Tastes change, and maybe more importantly, moods change, and right now this is sounding amazing. I suppose 140 minutes of slow and heavy music could be a bit exhausting, but if a few songs sound like they are up your alley, then you’re probably going to like the whole album. It’s just packed with quality material from start to finish.
- Buy it for sure!
5
By Belmonte19
This album takes a good hard listen to get used to, but you'll start to enjoy some of the songs right away and others you'll like even more as you go along. I thought Mellon Collie from SP was the best double cd ever made. I may have been mistaken there. I'm glad I got over the Whole Staley thing because this album is probably one of the most complete works from Cantrell, and I wish I would have bought it when it was released. It shows how much Cantrell had to do with the success of AIC. It's better than the new AIC, which is saying a lot! The stigma of Staley's death had something to do with the lack of popularity of Cantrell's solo work. There are a lot of haters out there including myself formerly. I just bought this along with Boggy Depot and I don't know what to do with all these good tunes. I find myself skipping good songs just so I can hear the next song sooner. Nobody mixes acoustic with electric like Cantrell can. This album has a much darker feel to it than Boggy Depot or Black Gives way to Blue. Buy it!
- Worth your time and money
5
By mostwanted37
Jerry Cantrell was/is the brains behind Alice in Chains, and without iconic and recently deceased Layne Staley (as of the album's release) he delivers thundering metal, soaring choruses, and guitar acrobatics, much like his career with AIC, yet the spotlight is on him this time, and he doesn't disappoint. Certainly affected by his friend's death, there is little light to be found on this album. "Anger Rising" is the most accessible track, and probably the most enjoyable. Though it's damn long and a difficult listen at times, it rates up there with AIC's self-titled album, and if you're a fan of Jerry's main act, you will like this effort.
- Amazing Album
5
By Floydbert
To an extent, I like some of these track better than AIC stuff, and I'm a big AIC fan. All of these songs are great, I think any guitar player would love these (acoustic and electric). Lyrics are kinda depressing, but if you like Alice in Chains then you probably don't care anyway. This two disc set is probably one the best cds i've bought in a long time. Def. worth the money.
