alice-in-chains4lyfe In their 25 year existence, Alice in Chains have undergone quite a musical evolution.

From the dark days of playing mediocre glam metal, the rifftastic hard rock of Facelift, to the legendary Sabbath inspired doom rock of their next two full length albums (shielded behind the silly, imaginary media created grunge label), along with their unexpected two acoustic EPs released on the side, one could never really know what to expect from this group, and the fact that they have overhauled their sound to better fit in with the metal crowd whom they abandoned with the release of their 1992 EP Sap confirms this.

With 2009's comeback album "Black Gives Way to Blue" the evolution continued, instead of turning to the horrid "post-grunge" radio rock manure of bands like Foo Fighters, Nickelback and Creed (which was always a very real fear), Alice instead came back harder & darker then ever, with bone crushingly heavy doom/sludge tracks like "A Looking in View" mixed in with a few Facelift esque hard rock songs (Take Her Out, Check my Brain) and some acoustic alternative rock songs (Your Decision, When the Sun Rose Again). Well this song pretty much picks up right where "A Looking in View" left off.

The first thing you'll notice is this song displays Alice in Chains new found love of over the top heavy, downtuned guitars. The vocals of William DuVall, which many stuck in the past Layne Staley fanboys criticized on the last album, continue to carry the legacy of Layne well. Perhaps they may be a little more radio oriented then Layne's unique voice, but they are by no means bad.

This song reminds me quite a bit of the Tool song "Bottom" (a band people seem to like to compare to AIC a lot) in that both start off with a very heavy riff, slowly descend into a cathartic chorus with some quiet spots, which carries the rest of the song, before ending with another heavy riff.

Also of note is a killer guitar solo by Cantrell at around 3:50.

Overall this is a great doomy song, right up there with the stuff from "Dirt", perhaps even a little better. I wouldn't say it's pure doom metal or sludge metal since it still has some alternative elements from the old days, however it's dam close. One can only hope the new album delivers more songs like this.

Originally written for http://www.metal-archives.com/

alice-in-chains4lyfe By 1989 Alice in Chains had become one of the first of the "Big Four" Seattle grunge groups to get singed to a major label. Before the release of their 1990 debut album Facelift on Columbia Records, Alice in Chains issued this Promotional EP on Vinyl and Cassette. It features two tracks from said album; "We Die Young" and "It Ain't Like That" along with the song "Killing Yourself" which is only available on this EP.

The title track is quite possibly the heaviest song this band has ever recorded, the song is almost thrash/groove metal like, with some awesome riffs from Cantrell and the typical virtuoso-like vocals one would expect from the late great Layne Staley. The song is just an all-round' great heavy metal anthem.

The other tracks on this album unfortunately offer little, even to the hardcore completist fans out there.

"It Ain't Like That" is one of the weakest songs from Facelift. It features forgettable lyrics, boring riffs and is really just one of those dull Album filler type of songs. The same can be said for "Killing Yourself" which sounds like a leftover track from one of Alice N' Chains old glam metal demos. Killing Yourself is only available on this album and a few other demos/bootlegs surfacing out there, however it doesn't matter since it's rubbish.

It's near impossible to find psychical copies of this album (there are some copies floating around on ebay for about 100 dollars), so if you're a hardcore fan who's desperate to own everything then i 'd recommend to just download this EP for free wherever it pops up on the internet. For the casual listener there's really no point owning this album. It pains me to give a great band like Alice in Chains such a low score.

Sinkadotentree I had heard about Alternative Rock back in the day but it wasn't until i saw PEARL JAM on Saturday Night Live that i actually "heard" it for the first time. Man i was impressed with that band. ALICE IN CHAINS was an easy band to like too. That heavy but catchy sound that was so atmospheric. And there was something dark about them. I picked this EP not long after it came out after hearing "I Stay Away" on the radio. I remember taking this down to Florida back then and playing it on the beach alot. Not exactly a good time in my life but that was a positive memory. A lot of ALICE IN CHAINS fans didn't think much about this EP because it suffered a power loss. It wasn't an unplugged EP by any means but the heaviness was all but removed. Some interesting variety on this one too from the almost Folkish/Country styled "Don't Follow" with harmonica to the Jazz flavoured "Swing On This" to the more laid back tunes like "Rotten Apple" and "Nutshell". For me though the best track is "No Excuses" which just moves me for some reason. I've never tired of that one. "I Stay Away" is another killer tune with some orchestration. "Whale & Wasp" is melancholic with strings. Nothing less than 4 stars will do for this interesting and reflective release.

Stooge I was one of the skeptics when I heard that Alice In Chains were regrouping in the years following Layne Staley’s death. I got mixed signals after hearing them do some Layne era songs with William Duvall, but it took their efforts in the studio to win me over.

There aren’t too many surprises if you are familiar with their studio albums of the 90s or with Jerry Cantrell’s solo albums. This album spawned a few singles. “Check My Brain” has a straightforward rock vibe, similar to something that would be on Facelift, but more modernized. I prefer “Lesson Learned” to “Check My Brain”, but both songs were rather fitting as singles since they show two different aspects of the band’s sound.

Two of my favorites off the album are “All Secrets Known” and “Your Decision”, both of which both tread down the familiar, dark-ish path of AIC of old, and they have the uplifting magic that make their work so endearing to me.

Samples of where I see the band taking on a fresh identity with Duvall is with the hard-hitting “Last of My Kind” and “A Looking In View”. While Layne wouldn’t at all sound out of place over top of these tracks, they help to push the new guy to the forefront and show that his voice has its own character and identity. The part mellow, part aggro “Acid Bubble” is also an effective showcase for the Cantrell-Duvall vocal pairing.

Is this the best Alice In Chains has to offer? No. Could it stand proudly next to the bulk of their discography? Definitely! Black Gives Way To Blue is easily a worthwhile pickup for fans of modern hard rock or alternative metal.

UMUR "Black Gives Way to Blue" is the 4th full-length studio album by US hard rock/ metal act Alice in Chains. The album was released in September 2009 by Virgin/ EMI. "Black Gives Way to Blue" is the first studio album since the 1995 self-titled 3rd album. The reason for the long break in recording ( and touring) activity was mainly due to lead vocalist Layne Staley´s serious drug addiction/ problem and later tragic death of a drug overdose in 2002. However the three remaining members of the band met up in 2005 and decided to pick up the pieces and move on. They added new vocalist/ rythm guitarist William DuVall ( Comes with the Fall) to the lineup to replace Layne Staley.

While Layne Staley´s nasal and quite unique vocal delivery was a big part of Alice in Chains sound, the music on "Black Gives Way to Blue" is still unmistakably the sound of Alice in Chains. The memorable and beautiful ( and at times bleak and disturbing) harmony vocal lines, the heavy distorted riffs, the acoustic ditto and the warmth that especially characterized the sound on the last couple of releases by the band in the nineties are are all present and accounted for. The lead vocal duties are shared on the album by Jerry Cantrell and William DuVall. They have very similar voices. Actually to a point where it´s sometimes difficult to hear who is singing when. But that also means that the harmony vocals are spot on and very well executed. The 11 track, 54:10 minute long album contains high quality material with only a couple of tracks that aren´t completely up there with the best. Tracks like "All Secrets Known", "Check My Brain", "Last of My Kind" and "Private Hell" are strong, hook laden and very well written hard rock/ metal tracks and represent the strongest part of the album.

"Black Gives Way to Blue" is produced by Nick Raskulinecz, who is known for his work with artists such as Trivium, Death Angel, Foo Fighters, Marilyn Manson and many more. The album is well produced, with lots of depth and attention to detail. A very succesful production to my ears.

I remember being quite surprised to hear that the remaining members of Alice in Chains had opted to tour and record under the Alice in Chains monicker after Layne Staley´s death, and I guess my conservative nature wished they hadn´t. While Jerry Cantrell was always the main songwriter in Alice in Chains, I really doubted if it would be possible to create that special desperate, bleak and angst filled sound without Layne Staley. As it turns out they can´t. But what they can do is create something different and still wonderful dark and warm hard rock/ metal. The grit and the despair that was always a part of Layne Staley´s vocal delivery can´t be matched, but Jerry Cantrell and William DuVall both have wonderful smooth voices and Alice in Chains signature harmony vocals are delivered with conviction. So "Black Gives Way to Blue" might not possess the same nerve and bleak despair of the predecessors, but it´s a well executed, memorable and ultimately strong hard rock/ metal album that should appeal to a lot of people. A 3.5 - 4 star rating is deserved. I´ll be following the band´s next step with great anticipation.