Rainier Fog is the sixth studio album by American rock band Alice in Chains, released on August 24, 2018, through BMG, the band's first release on the label. The title was inspired by Mount Rainier, a volcano that overlooks the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area, and the title track is a tribute to the Seattle music scene. This is the band's third album with William DuVall sharing lead vocals with Jerry Cantrell, and the first Alice in Chains album in 22 years to be recorded in their hometown of Seattle. The album was partially recorded at Seattle's Studio X, the same studio where the band recorded their 1995 self-titled album. Rainier Fog is also Alice in Chains' third collaboration with producer Nick Raskulinecz, marking their first time recording three full-length albums with the same producer.
The tracks "The One You Know", "So Far Under", "Never Fade" and "Rainier Fog" were released as singles to promote the album. A 10-part sci-fi web series titled Black Antenna was released in 2019 as a companion piece to the album. A full-length feature film with the same title was also announced, but as of 2020 no release date has been set.
Rainier Fog debuted at No. 12 on the Billboard 200 chart. It also debuted at No. 1 on Billboards Top Rock Albums, Alternative Albums and Hard Rock Albums charts. The album became Alice in Chains' first top 10 in the UK, peaking at No. 9. Rainier Fog was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album in 2019. It won a 2018 Metal Storm Award for Best Alternative Metal Album.
Background and recording In August 2015, bassist Mike Inez said in an interview that Alice in Chains had been "throwing around riffs for a new record" and "taking it nice and slow." Asked if the band had been recording any new material during an interview with Detroit radio station WRIF in June 2016, vocalist William DuVall stated that was still early and the band would probably talk about that over the next few months, after they finished touring with Guns N' Roses. DuVall also talked about Alice in Chains' songwriting process and how it has evolved over the years: "We make a habit of kind of starting pretty much with a clean slate every time we've gone in. And that challenges you, so we'll have to see how it manifests this time. But we're not there yet."
In January 2017, Mike Inez stated in an interview that the band had begun work on a new album. Speaking with Good Celebrity on May 1, 2017, guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell revealed that Alice in Chains would return to Studio X in Seattle to record a new album in the following month. Studio X was the studio where Alice in Chains recorded their 1995 self-titled album, their last record with original lead vocalist Layne Staley.
In June 2017, Mike Inez revealed that the band was not signed to a label, having completed its previous two-record contract with the Universal Music Group. Inez recalled that the band financed their 2009 album Black Gives Way to Blue, so they were not too worried about not having a label yet. Inez also said that Alice in Chains is a global band, so it had to be a significant label that has the infrastructure to get the album in stores in places like Singapore or South America.
William DuVall revealed on his Instagram account that the band started recording the album on June 12, 2017. The sessions were helmed by Nick Raskulinecz, who produced the band's two previous albums, Black Gives Way to Blue (2009) and The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here (2013).
During an interview with Eddie Trunk on his radio show Trunk Nation on August 21, 2017, Jerry Cantrell said about the new album; "We're in the process of cobbling together some tunes, and hopefully in the very near future we'll have something out for you guys." When asked about a release date, he replied; "I don't know. We'll see. When we're ready we'll let you know – but we are in the process of working on stuff." During an appearance on the TV show Fantasy Live on September 19, 2017, Cantrell said that the band had been working all summer on writing some music and hopefully something would come out "next year".
In December 2017, the album was ranked by Ultimate Guitar as the No. 2 out of the "Top 25 Most Anticipated Albums of 2018".
On January 11, 2018, producer Nick Raskulinecz announced via Instagram that the album was nearly finished and that there was only one more day left of recording.
During an interview with Guitar World published on April 11, 2018, Jerry Cantrell said that the album was recorded at four studios. After recording at Studio X in Seattle, the band went to Nashville to record vocals and lead guitars at Nick Raskulinecz's home studio. But Cantrell had to take an unexpected break from work after getting sick on a trip to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico to celebrate Sammy Hagar's birthday. Cantrell ate something bad, then was prescribed antibiotics that his body rejected, sidelining him for six weeks to recover back in Los Angeles. Cantrell had Alice in Chains' engineer, Paul Figueroa, come in to his house and record a lot of his vocals and solos there. The band finished recording the album at the Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles. Cantrell also said he expected the album to be released "probably sometime this summer". The album was mixed at JHOC Studio, Joe Barresi's studio in Pasadena.
Gear-wise, Cantrell reported that he used "a lot of the old standard stuff", his G&L and Les Pauls guitars, and his signature Dave Friedman ‘Double J’ amp. Cleaner amps like AC30s and Fenders were also used. A cigar box amp that Nick Raskulinecz bought at the Pike Place Market in Seattle was used on three or four songs with a baritone guitar.
When the band was recording the album in Seattle, one of Chris Cornell's sisters brought one of his acoustic guitars to Studio X and presented it to DuVall and Cantrell, and both played it on the album. "That was another religious moment. It's there in the mix, every time we listen to this record, we know where it is", DuVall said.
At the press room of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on April 14, 2018, Cantrell revealed that Alice in Chains had just signed with BMG, and that they had finished mixing their new album.
Music and lyrics Speaking of the first single, "The One You Know", Jerry Cantrell said that he was inspired by David Bowie's 1975 hit "Fame". Cantrell said in an interview with Rolling Stone that he wrote the song around the time that Bowie died, and he must have been in his head a little bit.
The title track, "Rainier Fog", is a tribute to the Seattle music scene that launched bands such as Alice in Chains themselves, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Mother Love Bone, Mudhoney, Screaming Trees and Nirvana. The original demo for the title track was recorded at Cantrell's house in Los Angeles, with the help of Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan, who also came from Seattle. McKagan played bass on the demo and said to Cantrell that it was his first single, although Cantrell did not have lyrics for the song yet. Cantrell told Classic Rock magazine that the lyrics "Left me here so all alone, only for me to find / Hear your voice on waves we rode, echoes inside my mind / Disembodied just a trace of what it was like then / With you here we shared a space that's always half-empty" are about Layne Staley and Mike Starr.
The track "Fly" was described as "country-inflected" by Kory Grow of Rolling Stone. Discussing the song, Guitar World noted a "Southern, classic rock" quality to Jerry Cantrell's guitar solo, similar to Lynyrd Skynyrd, with which Cantrell concurred, saying "that ending riff [...] that's totally Skynyrd".
"Maybe" begins with vocal harmonies and has been described as a "psychedelic swirl" by Guitar World. Spencer Kaufman of Consequence of Sound noted that the song "sprinkles in a bit of Beatles charm with a little Guns N' Roses balladry".
"So Far Under" was written by William DuVall, who also sang lead vocals and played the guitar solo on the track. DuVall explained the song saying; "It's about feeling completely up against it – outnumbered, surrounded, facing seemingly unbeatable odds and being really pissed off about it. It was inspired by personal circumstances, as well as events in the wider world."
Cantrell wrote the music and the chorus to "Never Fade", but he did not have a good verse and was intending to write it throughout the recording process. However, DuVall stayed at the Studio X in Seattle alone until 3 am and wrote the lyrics. "Never Fade" is DuVall's major composition in Rainier Fog. He wrote the lyrics inspired by the deaths of his grandmother and of Soundgarden lead vocalist Chris Cornell, among others. DuVall sings the verses and the pre-chorus of the song, while Cantrell sings the chorus. DuVall later told Kerrang! magazine that he was also thinking about Layne Staley while writing the lyrics.
While the band was recording at Studio X in the summer of 2017, former Queensrÿche guitarist Chris DeGarmo played acoustic guitar on the track "Drone", which Cantrell was struggling to get right in the studio. DeGarmo had previously collaborated with Cantrell as a touring guitarist on the tour for Cantrell's debut solo album, Boggy Depot, in 1998, and made a guest appearance on his 2002 solo album Degradation Trip. DeGarmo also worked with Mike Inez and Sean Kinney on the short-lived project Spys4Darwin.
The album closes with the seven-minute track "All I Am", described by Rolling Stone as "a swirling hard-rock tune that takes a long look backward, with sweeping guitar and echoes of Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin."
Release During Alice in Chains' concert at the House of Blues in Boston on April 28, 2018, Jerry Cantrell announced that a new song would be released the following week, and the new album would be released in August.
The album's first single, "The One You Know", was released via Spotify, Amazon and iTunes on May 3, 2018. It features Cantrell on lead vocals. A music video directed by Adam Mason was released on YouTube on the same day.
During an interview with Eddie Trunk on Trunk Nation on May 7, 2018, Jerry Cantrell stated that the new album would be released at the end of August 2018, and that a new single would be released in 8 weeks.
On June 27, 2018, the album's second single, "So Far Under" with DuVall on lead vocals, was released via YouTube, streaming and digital download. The band also announced that the new album will be titled Rainier Fog and that it would be released on August 24, 2018. The album's cover art and the track listing were also revealed on the same day, and the album was also made available for pre-order.
The album was released digitally, as well as on CD and limited-edition double 180-gram clear LP with white and black splatter available only from Alice in Chains' online store.
The third single, "Never Fade", was released on August 10, 2018, via YouTube, streaming and digital download. DuVall and Cantrell share lead vocals in the song.
One day ahead of the official release, the full album was played by Seattle radio station KISW along with an interview with the band.
The song "Red Giant" was released on Alice in Chains' official YouTube channel on August 23, 2018.
On February 5, 2019, Jerry Cantrell told The Seattle Times that he was editing the song "Rainier Fog" for radio play. The lyric video for "Rainier Fog" was released on Alice In Chains' official YouTube channel on February 26, 2019. The version featured in the lyric video is lower and slower than the album version, clocking it at 5:14 minutes. On March 22, 2019, a new lyric video featuring the album version of the song was published on YouTube, and the slower version was deleted from the band's channel.
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