Track Listing

1. Psychotic Break
2. Bargain Basement Howard Hughes
3. Anger Rising
4. Angel Eyes
5. Solitude
6. Mother Spinning In Her Grave
7. Hellbound
8. Give It A Name
9. Castaway
10. She Was My Girl
11. Chemical Tribe
12. Spiderbite
13. Locked On
14. Gone

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6105 in Music
• Released on: 2002-06-17
• Number of discs: 1

CD Description
'Degradation Trip' is the second solo album from Jerry Cantrell, the former lead guitarist with Alice In Chains. Feaures guest musicians Mike Bordin (Faith No More), and Robert Trujillo (Suicidal Tendancies/Ozzy Osbourne). A mixture of blues, and melodic heavy rock. Includes 'She Was My Girl', which is also featured on the Spiderman soundtrack.

Customer Reviews

Heavy, heavy, heavy...
This is an awesome heavy rock album. The guitarist and musical mastermind behind Alice In Chains handles all songwriting, guitar and vocal duties and hired one helluva rhythm section to back him up. Mike Bordin (Faith No More, Ozzy) on drums and Rob Trujillo (Suicidal Tendancies, Ozzy, Metallica) on bass.

This album was voted THE best heavy rock/metal album of 2002 by www.amazon.com and it's not hard to see why. It's a fantastic, at times brutal, but ultimately fulfilling trip. Heavy riffs, harmonized vocals and just great songs. The difference between this and Boggy Depot (first solo album) is huge. As great as that record was, it still felt as something was missing but right from the first riff of Psychotic Break it is obvious that this record is on a whole new level. In effect this is the Alice In Chains record that never was. Remarkably, given the lyrical content of this album, it was actually recorded before the tragic death of Layne Staley (who he? Do your heavy rock homework buddy!) Death, drugs, lost love and wasted lives make up the bulk of the lyrics but to focus so much on lyrical content would be to the detriment of the songs as a whole.

Anger Rising is one the greatest songs of Jerry Cantrell's career and stands up to and above many of the AIC classics. Spiderbite is possibly the heaviest song of his career but Psychotic Break, BBHH and Hellbound are not far behind. Gone and Solitude are acoustic tracks that never border on the sappy. In fact the only song that could be considered weak is She Was My Girl (also on the Spiderman soundtrack) but this still manages to kick you in the teeth!

This is a record for anyone who likes AIC, for anyone who moans at the state of music today, for anyone who wants to discover something new and for anyone who just wants to bang their head every now and again. Is that you? Buy now.

It's more AIC than Boggy Depot.
I didn't give this album 5/5 for two reasons. The first being the obvious: it isn't 100% perfect. The second is because I don't want to come across as a blinded fan who would give Jerry Cantrell 5/5 if he did an album of bathroom noises.
But 4/5 is more than enough to say what a brilliant album this is.
I bought his first one, Boggy Depot, soon after release and found that it was a tad quiet and self-retrospective (if that is a word!). Fine for Bob Dylan or Neil Young, but this was the brains behind one of the most rockin' grunge-metal outfits of the early to mid-nineties! We needed some kick-ass tunes!
And along came Degradation Trip. From the first track it is obvious that Jerry has made one scorcher of an album. Reminisent of Alice in Chains, this album rocks harder, heavier and louder than Boggy Depot. But for some reason, the vocals sound very familiar to the dual vocals of Jerry and Layne Staley in previous AIC projects. Wierd, as he is now resting in peace. Indeed, this album is rightly tributed to Layne, and it is just a shame that he wasn't involved.
The music is fantastic. Made better by the inclusion of ex-Faith No More drummer Mike Bordin and Ozzy Osbourne's bassist Trujillo. Jerry carries some monster riffing which chug-chug-chugs like something you would not stand in the way of.
The only poor aspect of the album is the lyrics. While some are inspired and dark, other parts fail to impress. What made Dirt one of the greatest albums of all time were Layne Staley's lyrics. If the man was still alive and writing lyrics to Jerry's songs, then this would have made this album worthy of standing shoulder to shoulder with the mighty Dirt.
I would highly recommend this album to anyone missing Alice in Chains but were disappointed with Boggy Depot. It will make your spine shiver with distant memories.

Riffs Riffs Riffs
Wow, this came as a bit of a surprise when I played it for the first time having bought (and enjoyed) Jerry's first solo effort "Boggy Depot". This time he's definitely got his AIC hat on and the songs are fantastic. A lot heavier and to be honest, at times you'd be hard pushed to tell the difference between this and an AIC album, even the vocals are reminiscent of the late, great Layne Staley.

It isnt all retro Alice-like though, Jerry has managed to expand on that style and added even tighter and twisting tunes. I would think this is what AIC probably would have sounded like if they had continued together. Drummer Mike "Puffy" Borodin and bassist Trujillo also demonstrate their excellent musicianship skills, helping to drive the songs along be they fast or slow. Former Queensryche guitarist Chris De Garmo also puts in a guest appearance on the excellent "Angel Eyes".

Buy it, you won't be disappointed.