Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue - Amazon.com Music

Alice In Chains's Dirt, released in 1992, almost singlehandedly got me interested in heavier music. Since AIC's eponymous last official album in 1995, an unbelievable 14 years ago, my musical tastes have evolved and expanded dramatically into realms well outside of hard rock, but AIC has remained as one of the most hallowed acts in my CD collection ever since that time. When I heard that AIC was reforming with new co-vocalist William Duvall succeeding the inimitable late Layne Staley, I was immediately both intrigued and frightened, lest the legendary track record of AIC be derailed by a sub-par imitation. Those fears were dispelled upon seeing AIC live, on their first tour with Duvall, last year. Duvall's voice, along with the songs I had grown so accustomed to hearing, was absolutely mindblowing.

Then came the announcement by Jerry Cantrell, main AIC songwriter and vocalist, that AIC was going to release their first studio album since Alice in Chains. While I was overly excited at that notion, I couldn't help but be worried that Cantrell had a bigger set of balls than brains. A platter of anything less than AIC legacy-quality new material would undoubtedly destroy a good portion of the AIC fanbase. Upon first listen of new album Black Gives Way to Blue, however, I can tell you that my worries should never have existed; in fact, never again will I doubt the AIC crew.

Put simply, Black Gives Way to Blue is the best material AIC has done in their entire careers since Dirt, and in some parts it even surpasses the 1992 opus. BGWtB encapsulates all the different sounds with which AIC experimented over their previously short lifespan, from Facelift all the way to Alice in Chains. Cantrell's songwriting quality, having decreased somewhat on his solo outings from 1998-2002, is back like it never skipped a beat. BGWtB contains all the elements that made AIC a unique band: dark, gloomy, and mysterious lyrics, dirgy and heavy chords and song structures, tons of sound layering, and most notably, vocal interplay and harmonizing. Some of BGWtB's songs could easily have been located on albums of old: opener "All Secrets Known" sounds like a heavy incarnation of Jar of Flies's "Rotten Apple," the acoustic-based "Your Decision" wouldn't have been out of place on Cantrell's solo Degradation Trip (save the dual vocals), the first single "A Looking in View" crawls at a doomy and heavy pace first shown on Facelift, and "Private Hell" is the modern-day accompaniment to Dirt's "Down in a Hole." That's not to say that AIC's sound doesn't continue to evolve, though. "When the Sun Rose Again" takes the wonderful acoustic notes illustrated on Sap and converts them to a tried-and-true AIC tune. "Acid Bubble" plays off of Alice in Chains's "Again" and flows back-and-forth between slow melody and neck-snapping, chugging heavy riffs. Album closer "Black Gives Way to Blue," featuring piano work by Elton John, is perhaps the first true depressive ballad the band have constructed since Jar of Flies's "Nutshell," consisting solely of dual vocals, emotive piano, and weeping guitar leads.

What's most impressive about BGWtB, though, is how absolutely effortless it all seems to be. The sheer urgency of BGWtB's sound is easily evident, as if AIC somehow never ceased making music, certainly not for 14 years. What I thought would be the toughest part to swallow, the inclusion of William Duvall, is actually the best part of the album. Layne Staley's trademark voice certainly cannot be duplicated, but Duvall is so similar in tone, though slightly more nasal, that during certain points of BGWtB it sounds exactly like Staley never left. Duvall pulls off the co-vocalist job with casual aplomb, sounding like a breath of fresh air when he sings on his own (as in "Last of My Kind" and "Acid Bubble"), and to spine-tingling effect when his voice coalesces with Cantrell's.

With Black Gives Way to Blue, Alice in Chains has constructed a musical work of wonderful, masterful quality. Undoubtedly aware of criticisms that will roll in as a result of Duvall's work (unfair criticisms at that), Alice in Chains has created an album of which the late Layne Staley would be very proud. If the meaning of "Black Gives Way to Blue" is akin to that of a healing bruise, and if this record is simply the "blue" portion of that bruise on its way to disappearance, then I cannot wait until Alice in Chains is in full recovery. Doubts be damned, Alice in Chains is back and better than ever.