THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “He’s a modern troubadour with an Old West gunslinger’s swagger and the knowing grin of a recovering antihero.
Jerry Cantrell makes music as diverse as the multigenerational hellraisers who love it. Equal parts trailblazer and traditional old-school rocker, Cantrell creates compositions that deeply connect with outsiders and outlaws, whether in the throes of sorrow or the triumph of victory. His vocals, melodies, and riffs are as instantly recognizable as they are powerful, nuanced, and eclectic. Both a disciple of the hard rock tradition and a massive influence on generations of artists, Cantrell straddles the line between earnest salt-of-the-earth songwriter and beloved living legend.
I Want Blood arrives with all the aggression and heavy, inexhaustible stomp its title suggests. The followup to the best-reviewed solo album of Cantrell’s career (2021’s Brighten) further expands his musical palette without sacrificing any of his inescapably infectious melodic hooks. “This record is a serious piece of work. It’s a motherfucker,” he says. “It’s hard, no doubt, and completely unlike the last one. And that’s what you want, to end up in a different place. It’s a fresh piece of turf.”
The album is intense from the get-go, crackling to life with the barn-burning first single Vilified, which opens the album. It’s an anthem, a mission statement, kicking off I Want Blood with attitude. “It travels a lot of places in just four and a half minutes,” Jerry says. “It’s got a ferocity and really aggressive vibe to it.”
Cantrell’s fourth LP is a wild ride with delicious twists and turns. I Want Blood boasts the powerful Off the Rails, the atmospheric Afterglow, the gorgeous Echoes Of Laughter, the hypnotic Throw Me A Line, the doomy Let It Lie, thes lithering Held Your Tongue, the eerie It Comes, and groovy title cut Cantrell’s trademark honesty, vulnerability, and confrontation persist throughout, looking both outward and inward. “There’s a confidence to this album,” he explains. “I think it’s some of my best writing and playing and certainly some of my best singing. There are large chunks of this record where I felt like my face was pressed to the ceiling of my abilities, operating at the top of my capacity.”
Cantrell’s mountain of work as a solo artist and chief songwriter, guitarist, and co-vocalist in Alice In Chains stands tall in influence and respect. He has collaborated with Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Danzig and Deftones (among others). He’s contributed to music heard in films by Oscar-winner Cameron Crowe and Judd Apatow and entries in the John Wick and Spider-Man franchises. “I don’t really know where I’m going or where it’s going to end up,” Jerry says of the process that’s resulted in so much killer music. “I just have the intention to take the trip, hacking through the brambles, cutting a new path that I haven’t been down, to be surprised where I arrive ultimately.”
His debut solo effort, 1998’s Boggy Depot, featured the Billboard Award-nominated Cut You In. He composed most of the followup, 2002’s Degradation Trip Volumes 1 & 2, isolated in the Cascade Mountains with a four-track recorder, and recruited Ozzy’s then-rhythm section of bassist Robert Trujillo (now in Metallica) and drummer Mike Bordin (Faith No More) in the studio. 2021’s Brighten featured coproducer Tyler Bates (an acclaimed composer in his own right), mixer Joe Barresi (Tool, Melvins, Kyuss), bassist Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver), drummer Gil Sharone (Marilyn Manson), background vocalists Lola Colette and Greg Puciato (Dillinger Escape Plan), and Emmy-nominated piano/keyboard/strings player Vincent Jones (Dave Gahan, Morrissey).
“My good friend Tyler Bates was my partner on Brighten, but he wasn’t as involved in I Want Blood as he’s busy with TV, movie, and musical projects all the time,” Cantrell explains. “He still helped me wrangle a bunch of stuff on this record. We did a co-write on Echoes Of Laughter, which is a beautiful song.” Even so, I Want Blood reunites Cantrell with many of his favorite players: Sharone, McKagan, Jones, Puciato, Colette, Trujillo, and Bordin. Barresi came on board as coproducer, creative partner, and mixer. “Joe mixed Brighten as well as (Alice in Chains’) Rainier Fog, but we’d never done a record soup-to-nuts from the beginning,” notes Jerry. “It was great working with him on a full project.”
Maxwell Urasky, who provides backing vocals and sound FX, joined the demo process at Bates’ recommendation. “He’s a talented guy, and he sat there with me for hours and hours. Max rode the hard miles with me. And Joe and Tyler were instrumental in helping me sculpt the record.” The trip from the proverbial marble slab to the finished sculpture is perhaps his favorite part. “There are times of self-doubt, but that’s part of the creative process. I push through it and come out with something I’m proud of. It’s about the desire to do it and the belief that you can.”
Some 30 million+ albums sold and 11 Grammy nominations later, Cantrell remains careful to ensure the music he creates would make his younger self proud. He’s never forgotten the teenager enthralled by his heroes in Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and AC/DC. “You start out emulating music that excites you. I still hear tons of elements of all those people I’ve been inspired by coming out of my music. Like every record I make, this record is full of them. It might not be readily apparent to everyone. I’ve always approached music as if I was still that kid who loved music enough to want to make it. ‘Would this have been one of my favorite records?’”
Does I Want Blood pass that test? “The answer is yes,” Jerry says. “And I don’t say this to be morbid, but the other criteria, on the other end of the spectrum of life, is this: ‘If this is my last record, is this a good one to go out on?’ And the answer to that is also an emphatic, absolute, yes.”
