Black Gives Way to Blue

A true grunge innovator, Alice In Chains always left a better aftertaste than most of the genre’s imitators. Why guitarist Jerry Cantrell and company would risk sullying that reputation by recruiting a new singer to replace late frontman Layne Staley is anyone’s guess. The crazy thing: That risk has pretty much paid…

Check out our album review of Artist's Black Gives Way To Blue on Rolling Stone.com.

It's hard not to feel for Alice in Chains -- all the guys in the band were lifers, all except lead singer Layne Staley, who never managed to exorcise his demons, succumbing to drug addiction in 2002.

They said a tribute tour would be the extent of their reunion under the Alice in Chains banner, yet these seminal grunge-metallers have found a road back to the studio without the late Layne Staley. Whereas Staley and Jerry Cantrell often dealt in spine-chilling harmonies that placed a candid lens on the brutal truths of a man coming undone, the vocal alliance between Cantrell and the gently-introduced William DuVall is comparably understated.

In all honesty, I was very skeptical about this album even being recorded in the first place. My disappointment in the self-titled release (though I'll admit it grew on me over the years) coupled with the tragic loss of one of rock's best voices in Layne Staley left somewhat of a bitter taste in my...

By Ben Apatoff New PEARL JAM sounding too soft? Still too soon to discuss the latest CHRIS CORNELL debacle? Fear not, grungeheads, because ALICE IN CHAINS are back with a record that's hard and bleak enough to earn the AIC moniker, no matter if only two guys who played on Dirt are showing up. It

Alice in Chains - Black Gives Way to Blue review: Alice in Chains hasn't lost a step