JERRY CANTRELL

When a new album features guest performances from members of GUNS N' ROSES and METALLICA, it's safe to say that it's going to pack a punch. Add to that the fact it's the new album from ALICE IN CHAINS' Jerry Cantrell, and you have an album set up with high expectations. The record in discussion, "I Want Blood", is No. 4 in Cantrell's growing collection of solo recordings. Both with ALICE IN CHAINS and outside of the band, Cantrell is known for his creative songwriting and powerful delivery as a frontman, and "I Want Blood" is a shining example of what Cantrell can deliver when he experiments and gets inventive.

On "I Want Blood", the listener finds a mix of plugged-in, hard rock numbers with meaty guitar solos and sludgy riffing. It's a full-band album, albeit entirely Cantrell's vision. "Vilified" kicks the album off with Cantrell's thin, edgy vocals and a heavy, hard rock assault. The song recalls, of course, ALICE IN CHAINS, but also more straight-ahead rockers such as GODSMACK and even a bit of traditional heavy metal. For those who love ALICE IN CHAINS and the band's trademark dissonant harmonies, "Off The Rails" instantly delivers. It almost sounds like something that would come out of the early-1990s Layne Staley-era of the band.

While most of the album's nine tracks are mid-tempo hard rockers, "Afterglow", "Echoes of Laughter" and "Throw Me a Line" have a slower-paced delivery, with a slow burn. "Throw Me A Line" has a bit of a Southern twang in the guitar, to boot.

One album highlight is another slow, murky, doomy track in "Let It Lie", which sees Cantrell begging the listener to "let it lie" and declaring that everyone is under a spell of sorts. Another high point is the album's final track, "It Comes", which has atmospheric passages and distant instrumentals that give it a PINK FLOYD flavor.

As for the guests, Robert Trujillo of METALLICA delivers bass on a handful of tracks, as does Duff McKagan of GUNS N' ROSES. The album features other guests, too, but even without these big names, "I Want Blood" stands on its own.

Really, it's wrong to say there's any album "highlight" here, because all of the tracks are strong enough to be singles, and they all show off the best of what Cantrell delivers. "I Want Blood" fits the ALICE IN CHAINS brand in the best way, but it also shows that when Cantrell focuses on delivering something special, he does.