Artist: Alice In Chains
Album: Black Gives Way To Blue
Year: 2009
Grade: 3 pretzels
“A new beginning, time to start living.”
These are the words you first hear on “All Secrets Known”, the opening track to Alice In Chains’ Black Gives Way To Blue. As obvious and cliché as they are, they’re perfectly fitting for the song, which happens to be the first new recorded material since the death AIC’s frontman, Layne Staley, back in 2002. In a move that has divided fans, Alice In Chains have chosen to march on without Staley, replacing him with new singer William DuVall. Some say the new AIC insults Layne’s legacy. Others praise DuVall’s integration into the band. Either way, Alice In Chains have recorded their first studio album in fourteen years.
In marked contrast to the steadiness of Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains were one of the more volatile and disrupted bands in the Seattle grunge scene. Layne Staley’s much-publicized heroin addiction provided the inspiration for most of the band’s greatest material, but it also cursed them with a wildly unreliable singer. Their 1996 MTV Unplugged session is a startling testament to this, with the band playing together for the first time in months and the instrumentalists visibly concerned about Staley’s well-being. Just a few months after that performance, Staley gave his last public appearance with the band, before sinking into mysterious reclusion for the years leading up to his tragic death from a drug overdose. While not as iconic and unexpected as Kurt Cobain’s suicide in 1994, Staley continues to be mourned by those who celebrate the 90s Seattle scene.
We all know that replacing a dead band member is a tough task, and Willam DuVall had the extra challenge of stepping into the shoes of a highly distinctive and unique singer. On this count, Black Gives Way To Blue is a surprising success. DuVall’s voice captures enough of Staley’s soaring, piercing emotion to give old AIC fans a jolt, yet he allows the songs he sings to be his own, without just aping the band’s fallen icon. What’s more, harmonizing with guitarist Jerry Cantrell on the majority of the songs provides even more connection with the AIC sound of old. We’re acutely aware that Layne is not on this album, yet DuVall’s presence doesn’t feel like sacrilege. This stands as a major accomplishment for the band.
Where Black Gives Way To Blue doesn’t live up to the AIC legacy is in the song quality. Staley was never a prolific songwriter, so this is a more unexpected problem. Cantrell has always been the master songsmith in the group and his two solo albums during AIC’s hiatus years proved he still possessed that knack. Unfortunately, the songs on this new album just don’t click. The guitars churn and boil, the rhythms crash and everything feels suitably dark, but there’s nothing on par with the band’s 90s singles. Songs like “A Looking In View” and “Acid Bubble” overstay their welcome with their seven-minute running times. All the surface aesthetics are there, but the depth fans will demand from an Alice In Chains record is oddly absent.
I’m very curious to see how this new-look AIC and their fans will react to this new album. The post-Layne reunion has definitely been a success, but will that carry over now that the band is asking fans to accept new material? Singing songs that the fanbase loves was a safe bet, but will the same fans embrace these new songs with the same open arms? These are hard questions to answer at this time. Many still haven’t gotten over the concept of the band recording anything without Staley at the helm. Alice In Chains may have decided to “start living,” but they’ve got a long, uphill battle ahead of them if they ever want to escape the shadow of their past.
These are the words you first hear on “All Secrets Known”, the opening track to Alice In Chains’ Black Gives Way To Blue. As obvious and cliché as they are, they’re perfectly fitting for the song, which happens to be the first new recorded material since the death AIC’s frontman, Layne Staley, back in 2002. In a move that has divided fans, Alice In Chains have chosen to march on without Staley, replacing him with new singer William DuVall. Some say the new AIC insults Layne’s legacy. Others praise DuVall’s integration into the band. Either way, Alice In Chains have recorded their first studio album in fourteen years.
In marked contrast to the steadiness of Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains were one of the more volatile and disrupted bands in the Seattle grunge scene. Layne Staley’s much-publicized heroin addiction provided the inspiration for most of the band’s greatest material, but it also cursed them with a wildly unreliable singer. Their 1996 MTV Unplugged session is a startling testament to this, with the band playing together for the first time in months and the instrumentalists visibly concerned about Staley’s well-being. Just a few months after that performance, Staley gave his last public appearance with the band, before sinking into mysterious reclusion for the years leading up to his tragic death from a drug overdose. While not as iconic and unexpected as Kurt Cobain’s suicide in 1994, Staley continues to be mourned by those who celebrate the 90s Seattle scene.
We all know that replacing a dead band member is a tough task, and Willam DuVall had the extra challenge of stepping into the shoes of a highly distinctive and unique singer. On this count, Black Gives Way To Blue is a surprising success. DuVall’s voice captures enough of Staley’s soaring, piercing emotion to give old AIC fans a jolt, yet he allows the songs he sings to be his own, without just aping the band’s fallen icon. What’s more, harmonizing with guitarist Jerry Cantrell on the majority of the songs provides even more connection with the AIC sound of old. We’re acutely aware that Layne is not on this album, yet DuVall’s presence doesn’t feel like sacrilege. This stands as a major accomplishment for the band.
Where Black Gives Way To Blue doesn’t live up to the AIC legacy is in the song quality. Staley was never a prolific songwriter, so this is a more unexpected problem. Cantrell has always been the master songsmith in the group and his two solo albums during AIC’s hiatus years proved he still possessed that knack. Unfortunately, the songs on this new album just don’t click. The guitars churn and boil, the rhythms crash and everything feels suitably dark, but there’s nothing on par with the band’s 90s singles. Songs like “A Looking In View” and “Acid Bubble” overstay their welcome with their seven-minute running times. All the surface aesthetics are there, but the depth fans will demand from an Alice In Chains record is oddly absent.
I’m very curious to see how this new-look AIC and their fans will react to this new album. The post-Layne reunion has definitely been a success, but will that carry over now that the band is asking fans to accept new material? Singing songs that the fanbase loves was a safe bet, but will the same fans embrace these new songs with the same open arms? These are hard questions to answer at this time. Many still haven’t gotten over the concept of the band recording anything without Staley at the helm. Alice In Chains may have decided to “start living,” but they’ve got a long, uphill battle ahead of them if they ever want to escape the shadow of their past.
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