Jerry Cantrell – I Want Blood Review

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So, what do I have in store for you today? Let’s find out!

Jerry Cantrell – I Want Blood
Release Date: October 18, 2024
Genre: Grunge/Alt Rock
Band Lineup:
Jerry Cantrell – Vocals and all instruments
Track Listing:
1. “Vilified” (4:34)
2. “Off The Rails” (5:26)
3. “Afterglow” (4:38)
4. “I Want Blood” (4:22)
5. “Echoes of Laughter” (5:11)
6. “Throw Me a Line” (5:01)
7. “Let It Lie” (5:44)
8. “Hold Your Tongue” (4:42)
9. “It Comes” (6:13)

By this point in time, I don’t think anyone needs an introduction into who Jerry Cantrell is, but in case you do, his career has spanned 35 years in the music industry, and he has become a standout solo star. Sure, he was an integral part of Alice in Chains (and still is to this day), but the band has not been his entire life. Hence, Cantrell has released three solo albums, first in 1998 with Boggy Depot, in 2002 with Degradation Trip, and then in 2021 with Brighten. I Want Blood, his fourth solo album, has continued his trip into solo stardom, especially given the uncertainty surrounding the future of Alice in Chains.

If you are looking for an album with a lot of variety in musical styles and diverse sounds, you won’t find it here. Truth be told, if you heard Jerry’s stuff before (or if you heard AIC before), then the sound that you can expect is going to be the same as to what came before it. That’s not to say that there isn’t some attempt at making sounds that don’t emulate one in the same. For instance, “Echoes of Laughter” and “It Comes” stand in stark contrast to the other tracks due to the use of acoustic guitars and more a more somber and mellow sound palette. Caught somewhere in the middle is “Afterglow,” which attempts to be a typical AIC run of the mill song, but somehow manages to do it at half speed and sound slow and plodding throughout.

However, where Brighten stood to be a more laid back and tempered album (due to the COVID situation, or something in Jerry’s life that led to such a musical direction), this album will bring a wall of sound and more energy than anything since Rainier Fog, the last AIC album released in 2018. The opening duo of “Vilified and “Off The Rails set a pattern for what the album will bring, and while it doesn’t find Jerry straying too far from the sound he knows, it still is a powerful and dynamic sound. The title track is another example of getting this formula down to a science, and it also manages to incorporate the tastiest riffs and a few more standout solos.

As one would suspect, Cantrell has built a long and distinguished rolodex of friends within the music business, and this album manages to feature a who’s who list of collaborations. What’s most fascinating to me is how he manages to intertwine a litany of musical genres, starting with Drummer Gil Sharone, and fellow Seattle area born guitarist Duff McKeegan. There are also collaborations with Faith No More drummer Mike Bordin, Metallica bass player Robert Trujillo, and Greg Puciato, formerly of The Dillinger Escape Plan and currently of the band Better Lovers, alongside his own solo work.

Lyrically, there is nothing here that strays from the path that Cantrell and his AIC have written about before. In fact, if you have heard the recent AIC work, then it makes sense that nothing on this album will surprise you at all. Again, there is nothing wrong with that if you like it, but people expecting variety from Cantrell because this is his fourth solo album (and 13th album overall, if you include all the releases with AIC) should temper their expectations.

I don’t know what the future holds for Jerry’s career, or for the band that he has been most popularly involved in for all these years. Cantrell did a recent interview with Guitar Player where he joked (Maybe) that he would tour in support of this album and then burn his guitars next year. I hope this is tongue-in-cheek and if he is in fact done with his career, I Want Blood is a fantastic send off for him and all the music he has given us for the past four decades.

Recommended Tracks: “Vilified,” “Off The Rails,” “I Want Blood,” and “Hold Your Tongue”

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

Jerry Cantrell is a long-established name within the grunge scene with his band Alice in Chains, but also has staked out into his own solo work as the years went on and AIC went on their first hiatus. While he doesn't necessarily bring anything to the table that is a radical departure from said band in question, this is still a fun album that strikes a stark contrast from the more mellow sounds of his 2021 release, Brighten, and I Want Blood sounds more vicious and energetic as a result.