Alice in Chains – Black Gives Way to Blue

"No Layne, no Chains" is the cry of the hardliners. I'm not going to argue over the semantics of the band's name, but it has been an interminable 14 years since this particular line up of musicians (minus one) cut a studio album.

AiC's cultish following were left hanging after the 1996 MTV Unplugged concert (the apparent kiss of death to grunge bands), to watch singer Layne Staley withdraw further in drug addiction, from which he died needlessly in 2002. After reforming at a benefit concert for tsunami victims in 2005, the band (with new frontman William DuVall) began touring again, and we’re now presented with Black Gives Way to Blue: a cathartic tribute to Staley and an affirmation that Alice did not die with him.

'All Secrets Known' opens the album on a sincere and optimistic note with a chugging rhythm, before speeding into the catchy and slightly out-of-tune 'Check My Brain'. Fans hungry for Dirt-era grunginess will be sated by ‘Last of My Kind’, ‘A Looking in View’ and ‘Acid Bubble’, while 'Your Decision' and ‘When the Sun Rose Again’ provide interludes of acoustic guitars and vocal harmonies, for those of a more mellow disposition.

‘Lesson Learned’ and ‘Take Her Out’ are both very reminiscent of guitarist Jerry Cantrell’s solo work, boasting impressive riffs and solos. The ‘Down in a Hole’-esque ‘Private Hell’, gives plenty to sway to, with its ethereal harmonies and melancholic tone. It sets the stage perfectly for the title track: an uncomplicated, poignant tribute to Staley.

All in all, it’s an emotionally precipitous listening experience, but I can say with great relish that such is the way with this band. Whether you refer to them as 'Alice in Chains' or 'Jerry and Friends', in an era when the descendents of grunge are apparently Puddle of Mudd and Nickelback, this album comes as one hell of a wake up call to paint-by-numbers rock musicians.

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