Alice in Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue Review [2]
Posted by Chris Crowing on 09.30.2009
The grunge godfathers return after fourteen years without a studio release with a new singer stepping into the late Layne Staley's boots. A comeback of awesome proportions or a fatal mistake? Take a look and see what I think...
Alice in Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue Review
by Chris Crowing
Track Listing
1 - All Secrets Known (4.43)
2 - Check My Brain (3.58)
3 - Last of My Kind (5.53)
4 - Your Decision (4.43)
5 - A Looking In View (7.06)
6 - When The Sun Rose Again (4.00)
7 - Acid Bubble (6.56)
8 - Lesson Learned (4.17)
9 - Take Her out (4.00)
10 - Private Hell (5.38)
11 - Black Gives Way To Blue (3.04)
I'll freely admit I was skeptical when it was announced that AiC were making a comeback with a new singer - after all, who could step into Layne's boots?
Following some vitriolic conversations and more importantly seeing and hearing hopeful things of the new lineup's live shows on the wonderful internet, I went from skeptical to hopeful, and since the release of "A Looking In View" and later "Check My Brain" that hope turned to manic expectation - I haven't been this keen to get my grubby little paws on an album since Death Magnetic - which was apparently written in a very Alice in Chains frame of mind. There’s some nice circular karma going on there...
...in any case, I took a stroll to my local independent record store and bought a copy this morning, with a mix of grunge and alt.rock classics from AiC, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots and others buzzing in my iPod - would Black Gives Way To Blue measure up?
Opening track "All Secrets Known" sets the tone with a picked introduction which quickly grows into the familiarly ominous Alice in Chains tone. Lyrically, the song is a statement of intent with the repeated refrain There’s no going back / to the place / we started from but with a general sense of pushing through a hard time and starting again.
DuVall soon shows his quality with the vocals and as it would be shown throughout the album, his interplay with Jerry Cantrell is very nearly as good as Layne's but as you will read a hundred times in reviews of this album, he lacks Layne's sense of self-hatred and danger that has always marked Staley apart from every other alternative vocalist. It's pithy to dwell on that, so I won't...
"Check My Brain" has such a satisfying yet simple riff, and with a chorus will be in your head for weeks it's easy to forget that this is a very polished, mainstream offering from the grunge godfathers - admittedly no more so than "Again" or it's like. Pleasing to the ear with more than enough grunt to satisfy, but definitely lacking in the depth we might have hoped.
"Last of My Kind" definitely has that depth, with a series of riffs that could only have come from the fingertips of Jerry Cantrell. From the stately to the driving the vocals and guitars meld & merge a pleasing pattern, from the almost plaintiff 'I'm the last of my kind, still standing...' to the smoothly growled 'Take what I wanted...'
It's on this song that the added bonus of DuVall as a second guitarist comes in handy as he keeps the juddering Cthuloid riff going while Jerry soars off into an impressive, if brief solo. We may be lacking Layne's passion, but no popular alternative rock band has sounded this weighty in some time...
"Your Decision" - which the nice label attached to my CD informs me is to be a single - is a pleasing ballad, coming off as a mixture between "Rooster" and "No Excuses", downbeat yet jaunty, affecting yet easy of the ear - the line 'No one plans to take the path that brings you lower / and here you stand before us all and say it's over...' sends shivers up my spine.
"A Looking In View" remains the awesomely heavy, affecting, monster of a song it was when it was released as a single. A massive, deceptively simple riff (well quite a few of them actually), effective dual vocals, all paying off with a arena-shaking chorus. It's the single of the year so far for me in any case...
"When The Sun Rose Again" is a driving acoustic based song, looking to the (still) effective dual vocals of Cantrell and DuVall and a steady, seemingly off-tempo verse and then super sweet chorus, giving a tone not unlike songs by the Prize Fighter Inferno or the more sedate moments of Velvet Revolver or Audioslave. A difference in tone, and a welcome one, reminding us that AiC are not a one trick pony...
However, their best trick - meaning the post-Sabbath riffage - returns with gut-worrying effect on the next track "Acid Bubble". While this song is a tab 'bitty' with the various sections not actually linked that smoothly, I feel this is intentional, to give the disjointed feel that the lyrics deserve - it wouldn't be the first time AiC had used such a device in a song. More a tune for the connoisseur to appreciate, than a classic or potential radio single...
"Lesson Learned" doesn't have quite the hooks that previous songs on the record have, sticking true to the tried & tested AiC formula of chunky riff and dual vocals breaking to a more expansive chorus. It's easy to say 'just an album track' but it's head and shoulders above 90% of the singles I've heard this year. What's more, halfway through my fourth listen to the album, the 'Just another lesson learned...' refrain is seriously stuck in my head.
"Take Her Out" is a surprisingly dark, heavy song given it's seemingly formula pop title. Of course, this IS an Alice in Chains album and there needs to be a darker angle.. Again, it doesn't stand out from the earlier part of the album, but there is no shame in that and it's a satisfying grunge song (how rare that sentence has been in recent years) and I'm sure I'll be picking up a humming tune from it before long...
"Private Hell" is another restrained effort, with more than a little "Rooster" or "Down In A Hole" about it, then picking up a bit more pace in the chorus. For some reason this song puts me in mind of James Hetfield - I dunno, it just does... More affecting and perhaps more memorable than the last two songs, I could well see this as the fourth single from the record.
The title track closes the record - complete with an appearance as guest piano player by none other than Sir Elton John - and does so in impressive, if very radio-friendly fashion making it another potential single. However, because of the lyrics I assume this is the on-record laying to rest of Layne's ghost, and as such it has to hit a high standard, and it certainly does.
While it does remind me of every piano-led-rock-ballad-radio-single you've ever heard, it manages to raise itself above that oft-decried status with the simplicity of it's arrangement, the sweet competence of the playing and the honesty in the lyrics, with no indulgent fade out at the end, merely a concise ending with the chorus lines 'Lay down, black gives way to blue / lay down, I'll remember you'.
I doubt Layne could ask for a sweeter epitaph.
A top notch production team of Nick Raskulinecz (producer - Foo Fighters, Coheed & Cambria, Trivium) and Randy Staub (engineer- Metallica, Bryan Adams, Our Lady Peace) brings the current Alice in Chains product to us in shiny yet weighty form, bringing out the growl in the riffs, the sweetness of the acoustics and the sheer quality in the vocals.
All in all this is a fantastic record, and while it's not Dirt it does add to Alice in Chains' legacy, rather than merely passing muster or actually dragging down their reputation.
It also stands tall compared to the titans of modern alt.rock and coming hot on the heels of Pearl Jam's sterling Backspacer could this signify a return to significance for grunge in particular and alternative rock as a whole. I guess we can hope so...
In any case, this is the best (and by best I mean most immediately impressive as well as the one I reckon will spend longest on my playlists) record I've heard from an act old or new since Death Magnetic and IMHO could well signal the real start of a glorious second chapter in Alice in Chains career.
Best Songs: "All Secrets Known", "Last of My Kind", "A Looking In View", "When The Sun Rose Again"
The 411: My album of the year so far. Melding neck damagingly heavy riffs with sweet acoustic tunes and ever-effective dual vocals, this is a glorious comeback for Alice in Chains. An absolute must for any fans of alternative rock, of riffs, soaring vocals and quality songwriting - why are you still reading this? Bookmark 411 now, then go and buy it!
