Imserba Webstore - Black Gives Way To Blue

	List Price: $18.98 Our Price: $10.99 Your Save: $ 7.99 ( 42% ) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Manufacturer: Virgin Records
Average Customer Rating:
Binding: Audio CD EAN: 5099996715925 Label: Virgin Records Manufacturer: Virgin Records Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: Virgin Records Release Date: 2009-09-29 Studio: Virgin Records
Related Items The Essential Alice in Chains Facelift Jar of Flies Dirt Alice in Chains
Editorial Reviews: ALICE IN CHAINS Jerry Cantrell - guitars/vocals Sean Kinney - drums Mike Inez - bass William DuVall - guitars/vocals The new Alice In Chains album Black Gives Way To Blue is the sound of a new beginning of a legendary band returning to life. Right from the album's powerful and deeply meaningful opener "All Secrets Known" through its redemptive closing title track, Black Gives Way To Blue-the first new Alice In Chains album in more than 14 years-is not just another rock reunion, but something far more inspiring. Alice In Chains in the present tense. No replacements. No substitutions. It does no disrespect to the enduring memory of Alice In Chains' late, great lead singer Layne Staley, to say that for all that he brought to the group's music in his lifetime, Alice In Chains always was-and always will be-very much a band. So after taking a more than respectful break to mourn the loss of their brother and band mate-to heal and explore music individually-the surviving members of Alice In Chains-Cantrell, drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Inez-gradually began to make music again. The band came together for the first time in 2005 to take part in a benefit for the victims of the tsunami in Indonesia. The following year, Cantrell, Kinney and Inez decided that the time was right for Alice In Chains to reclaim its legacy again on tour. They did so with the help of a new guitarist and vocalist William DuVall, a gifted singer and player in his own right from Atlanta who previously worked with Neon Christ, Comes with the Fall, and as part of Jerry Cantrell's touring band. As live audiences discovered, DuVall brings a sound and stage presence all his own. Yet when DuVall and Cantrell blend their voices-as Cantrell and Staley did so often-there could be little doubt that the spirit of Alice In Chains was once again alive and well. Black Gives Way To Blue is the next step for a group that over the course of their career earned multiple Grammy nominations and sold more than 19 million albums worldwide and achieved 11 Top Ten singles. At the same time, the album offers the full, bracing impact of Alice In Chains-a band that kept heavy rock exciting at the dawn of the Nineties and helped set the stage for an even grungier Seattle sound-still clearly firing on all cylinders. Recording on Black Gives Way To Blue began in October of 2008 at Dave Grohl's Studio 606 in Northridge and finished at Henson Studios in Hollywood. The band produced the album with Nick Raskulinecz, whose past credits include Foo Fighters and Rush. Black Gives Way To Blue combines some classic Alice In Chain textures with a renewed sense of energy and possibility,from the epic and fantastically electric rocker "A Looking In View" to the exquisite and romantic ballad "Your Decision" to the album's stunning first single "Check My Brain," a throbbing rocker in which a band associated with the Pacific Northwest makes a wry and witty observation on working and living in California. Through Black Gives Way To Blue, there is a deep sense of the unique life that this band haslived, of "Lesson Learned," to borrow the title of another standout track. In the end, the album offers a kind of shared group autobiography by a band that has survived so much. Together, they are in a way "Last Of My Kind," to use the title of another album highlight penned by Jerry Cantrell-long a dominant songwriter within Alice In Chains-with lyrics from DuVall. "Imitations are pale," DuVall and Cantrell sing together on "Black Gives Way To Blue," a brand new Alice In Chain classic that really has it all-the brooding hurt, the brute force and the beautiful introspection. Listen closely to Black Gives Way To Blue, and you'll know right away this is Alice In Chains.
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Hallelujah! Comment: Its a miracle! Layne Staley has risen from the dead and Alice in Chains has put out a new album! And its good! Wait, what's that? Oh. Sorry, I guess Layne Staley is still dead. My bad. Customer Rating: Summary: Expected Better Comment: Alice in Chains is capable of putting out better material and more hardcore than this release has to offer. This release is slightly disappointing. Customer Rating: Summary: Chains Broken...In A Good Way Comment: Comebacks are rare, and returns from 15-year hiatuses are even more so. Throw in the death of a lead singer, a new record label and other personnel changes, and it stopped being fair long ago. Guns N' Roses had a hard enough time with only half those problems. Yet guitarist / singer Jerry Cantrell and '90s rock monster Alice in Chains just couldn't be bothered with the mire, doom and gloom unless they were writing about it. Black Gives Way to Blue is more than a reunion with Mike Inez and Sean Kinney to produce a return to form. It's also one of the best rock albums of 2009. To replace a vocalist as tuneful and iconic as Layne Staley has been impossible. Bands influenced by AiC, as diverse as Life of Agony, Staind, Godsmack, Days of the New and a never-ending list have all had competent vocalists that have been jeered at by critics as Staley-derivativea. The only person who could even hope to get away with comparisons was Jerry Cantrell himself, and he sang on half of AiC's original material anyway. Well, his golden touch adds a glow of authenticity to the new record. "Check My Brain" feels like it came right off of Dirt or 1995's self-titled album, and "Your Decision" and "When the Sun Rose Again" recall the band's softer EPs Sap and Jar of Flies. Then you have tunes like the jagged, angularly melodic opener "All Secrets Known," the elephantine, foot-stomping opening grove of "A Looking in View" and the piano-tinged quiet exit of a title track, "Black Gives Way to Blue." The haunting, tortured vocals of William DuVall are a spooky echo of Staley, as if the deceased front-man's spirit is being channeled through the songs themselves, but it could also just be the ghost-like nature of AiC's trademarked minor key voice harmonies. Cantrell and DuVall coexist and bring the tunes to life. Never quite an alternative grunge band like the groups they were lumped in with by radio stations over a decade ago, Alice in Chains spew their triumphant new work from speakers with crunch and doom metal fury. Just listen to the f-bombing tunnel-chewing groove of "Last of My Kind" and step out of the way as this reanimated corpse barrels through. Customer Rating: Summary: Black Gives Way to Blue Comment: This is an absolutely stunning effort on the part of Alice in Chains. William DuVall lends the vocal harmonies that are essential to the Alice sound without trying to be Layne Staley. Last of My Kind is the stand out track on this album for me, it really showcases DuVall's talent as a vocalist. All the tracks on this album are solid, you won't find filler here. And the title track, Black Gives Way to Blue, is a very beautiful tribute to Layne. If you have doubts just go out and buy this album, you won't be disappointed. Customer Rating: Summary: heard the new alice, sounds like the old alice Comment: once again, the grammys snubb alice. this album is front to back great. william does a great job of playing guitar and his vocal range is amazing. jerry and the boys sound like they did in 92...05...they just rock. masterpieces on this include private hell, all secrets known and a looking in view...but its really just another great album by aic. seattle is showing why its coming back.