Alice in Chains: Black Gives Way To Blue
Alice in Chains: Black Gives Way To Blue
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Monday, 05, Oct 2009 04:25
Parlophone, out now.
In a nutshell...
Breathtaking return from grunge heroes.
What's it all about?
Black Gives Way To Blue is perhaps the most anticipated rock album of the year, maybe even of the decade in fact. It sees grunge masters Alice in Chains return with their first studio output since 1995, albeit without fallen vocalist Layne Staley who tragically died in 2002. William DuVall has stepped into Staley's rather sizeable shoes, sharing vocal duties with guitarist Jerry Cantrell.
The result is a magnificent comeback which has already spawned two top 20 singles on the US Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart - Check My Brain and A Looking In View -, marking a stunning return from the abyss for Cantrell and co.
Who's it by?
As one of the bands at the forefront of the Seattle grunge movement, Alice in Chains exploded onto the mainstream thanks to a succession of much-lauded albums in the 90s, going on to sell more than 17 million records in the process. However, the band were plagued by long spells in the shadows as the decade came to a close, with frontman Staley battling drug problems. These issues ultimately, and tragically, cut his life short in 2002, seemingly spelling the end for the band.
However, in 2005 they returned, before handing DuVall the unenviable task of replacing the irreplaceable Staley in 2007. Since then they have earned rave reviews for their live performances and have now delivered their first album since their return to the spotlight.
As an example...
"Emptiness, all tomorrows haunted by your ghost, lay down/Black gives way to blue, lay down, I'll remember you." - Black Gives Way To Blue
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
If this album doesn't clean up the hard rock awards it will be an absolute travesty. It has everything needed to make it a hit with the industry big wigs. It's packed with breathtaking hard rock tunes, comes from a band that have paid their dues many times over and emits a story of triumph despite tragedy. They may as well iron their suits and get working on those acceptance speeches now.
What the others say
"This is classic-era Alice in Chains and then some. The mother of all comebacks." - Rock Sound
"Black Gives Way to Blue is a spine-chilling return." - Kerrang!
So is it any good?
To say that Black Gives Way To Blue is good does Alice in Chains a huge disservice.
The album kicks off with an unsettling riff and gets darker from then on. All Secrets Known emits a distinctly bone-chilling feel, nodding to the likes of Tool through a swirling five or so minutes of melody which is punctuated with Cantrell's trademark bone-crushing guitar sound. For my money it's one of the album's weaker tracks, but it sets what's to follow up just perfectly, drawing listeners in with its haunting qualities, before bludgeoning them into submission with Cantrell's axe.
The bludgeoning starts from the second Check My Brain kicks in. The song has topped the US Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart and it's easy to see why. It combines Alice in Chains' trademark punishing guitar assault and dual vocal delivery with one hell of a hook that will stick in your head for days on end.
Throughout Black Gives Way To Blue, chugging lead riffs work perfectly in tandem with DuVall's hypnotic scream. However, this is possibly none more evident than on Last of My Kind, which combines the considerable charms of the opening two tracks, with its spine-tingling verse snapping into a break-neck chorus. It's about at this time that you realise just how good this album is.
Your Decision brings the pace down a notch while pouring on the emotion by the bucket load, before A Looking In View - a real brute of a track - cranks the volume back up to 11.
Of course the elephant in the room is DuVall and whether he manages to successfully fill the void left by the sublime Staley. On that count he passes with flying colours. At times he sounds eerily reminiscent of Staley, so much so that you could slip a Dirt-era classic onto the album with the joins being barely visible.
The quality shows little sign of letting up as the end comes into sight, as attested by the power emanating from the likes of Acid Bubble and Lesson Learned. The piano-driven title track - which features non other than Elton John tinkling the ivories - signals the end of Black Gives Way To Blue in typically heart-felt fashion and is a song to send a shiver up and down the spine if ever there was one, as the album rather poignantly ends with the line "I'll remember you".
So, to return to the question, is it any good? No, it's not good. It's absolutely stunning.
9/10
Richard Chamberlain