Alice in Chains: "Black Gives Way to Blue"

I was just as surprised as most of you were when I heard that Alice in Chains was releasing a new album. I was curious, anxious, skeptical, elated, but most importantly glad that one of the last remaining pioneer bands of grunge were still making music. I find it most interesting because earlier in the year I wrote up a retrospective on “Dirt” (link) without knowledge of the impending release. No better time than now to do a quick comparison in the name of fun.

As it has happened in the past, it happens now and will continue to happen in the future: bands will always have new music compared to their previous releases. Does it have the same musicality as this record, is it as well produced as that record, how does this single compare to a classic, etc. Typical of any music fan, I make the same comparisons. How does “Black Gives Way to Blue” measure up: It sounds like this album was released in 1997. It’s perfectly seamless and a natural evolution in terms of the band’s sound. It’s a strange concept, but often times one would ask if a band “sounds like themselves.” In a nutshell, does it sound like an Alice in Chains record? Completely. However one cannot overlook the obvious absence of Layne Staley.

Taking up the mantle as lead vocalist is William DuVall of Comes With the Fall. No stranger to the Alice camp (CWTF was the band handpicked to back up Jerry Cantrell on his solo tour), DuVall seems to fit right in the pocket carved out by Cantrell. As principal songwriter and backup vocalist of Alice in Chains releases, it’s no surprise that Cantrell picks lead vox that blend neatly with his own over the classic thunder he provides with Mike Inez (bass), Sean Kinney (drums), and with DuVall himself (rhythm guitar).

As a purist, I feel betrayed in that the band moved on and found a replacement singer. But there’s a perfect counterpoint to that argument within that statement itself: they’ve moved on. Not to say that Layne was replaced in that classic “you’re fired” sense, but the world lost him tragically, and instead of remaining a trio with guest singers filling in, they carried on when the time was right and started to write new music. A band cannot play their classics and only their classics and expect to stay relevant (unless the band in question happens to be The Cure) in this tumultuous state of the music industry.

Great choice of singles as well. “Check My Brain”, about Cantrell’s adjusting to moving to California, is a great example of the classic Alice in Chains sound. Great video, too. Also “A Looking in View”, intense video for an equally heavy song. Check them out below.



Track Listing:
1. All Secrets Known
2. Check My Brain
3. Last of My Kind
4. Your Decision
5. A Looking in View
6. When the Sun Rose Again
7. Acid Bubble
8. Lesson Learned
9. Take Her Out
10. Private Hell
11. Black Gives Way to Blue
12. Down in a Hole, live – Japanese bonus track
12. Black Gives Way to Blue, piano mix – iTunes bonus track
13. Your Decision, live – iTunes bonus track

Keep up with Alice in Chains at their homepage and MySpace.

Here are their videos from their MySpace videos page.

Check My Brain


Alice in Chains - A Looking In View
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Too Far to Get Home: The “Dirt” on Alice in Chains (Retrospective)

A brief note from Slowdive Music: Bloodybones and I have known each other for over ten years, and I have always been impressed with just how dynamic he is. From stage roadie and tech, to photographer, to film writer and maker, to cook, he is all over the map. When he approached me about the possibility of writing, I was game, because throughout the years we have always had this open dialogue about everything from politics to music. But what I have always enjoyed the most is just how different our tastes are. Even if we like or hate the same thing, it is always for different reasons, but our tastes take us to very different extremes. I think it is in that open dialogue that I have learned a lot not just about music, but life and appreciating the differences in others.

1992: The year John Gotti is sentenced to life in prison, EuroDisney opens in Paris, and Jay Leno succeeds Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. The rock scene was waning away from the flash, the pyro, the spandex, and the hairspray of 80’s glam (say what you will, glam rock is fun) and into the flannel and ripped jeans of the 90’s grunge scene. The most barren and stripped down clubs were the sites of choice for bands of the genre. No fancy light rigs here, just a couple of outlets to plug into.



This year also brought one of grunge’s greatest efforts in the form of the album “Dirt” by Seattle’s Alice in Chains. A sort of concept album, Alice in Chains set out to make the sound of their sophomore follow-up to 1990’s “Facelift” “darker and more brutal.” They did that in spades. Lyrical themes including drug abuse, war, depression, and death: check. Loose riffs and a sound that could cave your head in from its sheer weight: check. So far so good, well on their way to dark and brutal.

The songs “Hate to Feel,” “God Smack,” “Junkhead,” “Sickman,” and “Angry Chair” were penned by front man Layne Staley on his continuing battle with heroin addiction. It’s worth noting that prior to re-joining his band mates in the studio to record their next record, Staley checked himself out of rehab in Portland, OR and returned a faithful devotee to God Smack once again. Not to single out Layne’s addictions, lead guitarist Jerry Cantrell became dependent on Xanax and alcohol to cope with the deaths of his mother and his friend Andrew Wood (about whom the song “Would?” was written). Drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Starr were also struggling with alcohol addiction.

Drama aside, what makes this album so good? What makes this Alice in Chains’ greatest album? Well, you know how they say the greatest blues players have had their hearts broken, that the blues is what the heart feels expressed through music? This is the blues for the junkie. This is pain and suffering through the half-closed, zoned-out eyes of the drug addict. A very telling line from the lyrics of “Junkhead”: “What’s my drug of choice? Well, what have you got?”

Musically, it’s a showcase for Jerry Cantrell. Here he shows the kids how it’s done as he combines his sludgy sound with the howl of his wah pedal in “Rain When I Die,” and also that he can clean up nicely with the simple tones of “Down in a Hole.” Proof that you don’t always need a thick, heavy sound to express feelings like these.



Track Listing:
1. Them Bones
2. Dam That River
3. Rain When I Die
4. Down in a Hole
5. Sickman
6. Rooster
7. Junkhead
8. Dirt
9. God Smack
10. Iron Gland
11. Hate to Feel
12. Angry Chair
13. Would?

Keep up with Alice in Chains on their homepage or MySpace.

Here are some links for their videos from the album from the SongBMG YouTube Channel.

"Them Bones"
"Rooster"
"Angry Chair"
"Down in a Hole" Read more ...