Fourteen years is a long time to wait for an Alice in Chains album. Then again, I suspect most people never expected to hear from the band under that moniker after Layne Staley died in April 2002.
It’s hard to review this album because I’m such a fan. Alice in Chains were the understated grunge band of the 1990s. They also provided the soundtrack to my high school years.
The new album “Black Gives Way to Blue” is due out on the 29th. It’s been streaming online for some time now. It’s also leaked, so if you are predisposed to downloading from torrents, you’ll find quality versions of it at the usual locations.
But I highly suggest buying this album the minute it’s released. Play the first track, “All Secrets Known,” and tell me AIC isn’t back together, that they haven’t done the impossible by conjuring the spine-tingling, haunted “perfect fourth” harmonies of yesterday.
Skeptics might say it’s basically Jerry Cantrell’s third solo effort, only this time he has his old band behind him. While the songs are Cantrell-heavy in terms of the singing, newcomer William DuVall does a pretty decent job of filling out the harmonies.
He’s no Layne Staley. So if you’re expecting a Layne sound-a-like, you’re barking up the wrong tree. But if you’re looking for a band that hasn’t sold out, changed its sound and tried to be commercially viable by mimicking the latest auto-tuned trend (ahem…AHEM! Chris Cornell) or release the same album they’ve released for the past decade (I’m thinking of a band that starts with “P” and ends with “earl Jam”), then this is worth it.
Grunge never sounded so dangerously relevant 15 years after its day in the sun.
“Last of My Kind” harkens back to the days of “Dirt,” minus the heroin-induced lethargy. But still, you wouldn’t know the difference between the dope days and now. The riffs are heavy, the vocals disturbing, the droning distortion and bass-heavy rhythms never closer to 1994. Yet it doesn’t sound like a recycled outtake. It’s new, it’s reflective of a lost age, and it's just damn great.
“When The Sun Rose Again” sounds like it could be an outtake from SAP. It has that dark, echo-laden acoustic sound that AIC conjured with during their “Unplugged” album.
“Acid Bubble” and "Take Her Out" are everything you’ve always wanted to hear from AIC. "Acid Bubble" has the weight and sludge of a song like “Hate to Feel” and the heaviness of “Them Bones,” yet it keeps a vibrancy in its chorus. "Take Her Out" powers through with morose melody, catchy enough to be buzzing in your head, the guitar intro weaves through it with Cantrell's penchant for solos that sound simple but are expertly executed with an ease that would make most guitarists scratch their heads.
The new AIC album will be out in a matter of days. It’s a perfect example of a band that had realized its voice all along, and has somehow found a way to keep it fresh and relevant for a new generation without losing its momentum or identity.
Buy it.
Have you actually listened to Chris Cornell's album - its sheer weirdness & darkness would turn the brain of an average fan of "the latest auto-tuned trend" right inside out. Maybe that's the reason it hasn't done better - some of those who'd enjoy it are put off by suspicion of dance music and a lot of dance music fans find it incomprehensible???? I'm not gonna diss the AIC album because I've only heard one track so far and I don't like making snap judgements based on prejudice. But that track just sounds like same old same old to me.
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