As a longtime ALICE IN CHAINS fan, I don’t really need extra motivation to listen to their catalog, but incidentally being in an AiC tribute band now has me listening even more intently than I normally do (and I’m quite the intentional and nerdy listener). Today I specifically listened to the band’s latter three albums for potential songs to cover and I have to admit that I’ve been giving The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here (2013), their fifth LP of six, a bit of a bad rap for a few years now. Mainly because I think its immediate predecessor Black Gives Way to Blue (2009) was better overall. And then its successor, Rainier Fog (2018) arrived and was also a superior album and it definitely had me taking the piss on Dinosaurs in comparison to the two that it is sandwiched between. And that’s just it, today I realized that is really its only crime. Dinosaurs is actually a pretty darn good album judged on its own with a few standout tracks like “Hollow”, “Pretty Done”, “Stone” and “Phantom Limb.” I’d say now that my only real criticism of it is that the songs aren’t as revelatory and intense (as they are on Blue) or as fresh and fun (as they are on Fog). A misdemeanor, to be sure, but not a felony, all things considered.
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