Joeboo
Molten Core Raider
- 8,157
- 140
I'm as big of an AIC fan as anyone(saw them twice with Layne back in the day, and now 3 times with the new lineup) and while the new music is good, every song just feels like it's missing something, and that something being Layne. No matter how good the new songs are, they always just feel slightly lacking.
Jerry Cantrell can still write solid songs just like he always did, but his vocals + Williams all just feel like they should just be the backing vocals. It's like I always keep waiting for Laynes high-pitched scream to come in over the top and it never does. Every song that sounds good just can't quite reach that level of excellence like you heard in Man in the Box for instance. All the harmonies and backgrounds are there, but it still feels like the band is missing a lead singer.
The weirdest part of it is that William *can* hit those notes,he does in live concerts singing the old Layne material, but I don't think he's probably as involved in the songwriting so Jerry maybe doesn't write those parts for him like he did for Layne. The band is now focused on Jerrys muddy, grungy guitar riffs and decent harmonies and melodies, rather than having an equally strong, identifiable lead vocal sound.
It's like if "Would" was written today for this version of the band, all the vocals would just sound like Jerrys lower toned pieces of the song. Listen to the drastic contrast between the two and tell me that's not missing from the new stuff:
Jerry Cantrell can still write solid songs just like he always did, but his vocals + Williams all just feel like they should just be the backing vocals. It's like I always keep waiting for Laynes high-pitched scream to come in over the top and it never does. Every song that sounds good just can't quite reach that level of excellence like you heard in Man in the Box for instance. All the harmonies and backgrounds are there, but it still feels like the band is missing a lead singer.
The weirdest part of it is that William *can* hit those notes,he does in live concerts singing the old Layne material, but I don't think he's probably as involved in the songwriting so Jerry maybe doesn't write those parts for him like he did for Layne. The band is now focused on Jerrys muddy, grungy guitar riffs and decent harmonies and melodies, rather than having an equally strong, identifiable lead vocal sound.
It's like if "Would" was written today for this version of the band, all the vocals would just sound like Jerrys lower toned pieces of the song. Listen to the drastic contrast between the two and tell me that's not missing from the new stuff: