wishbone

Agree on all points. I will definitely pick this one up.

Mods, can we possibly merge this thread?

Maxflier

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Phodg

Listened to it this morning. It's an excellent album, although it could probably have been another Cantrell solo album.

gerrythedon

Alice In Chains Are Back In 'Black'

n the midst of its first reunion tour in the summer of 2006, veteran hard rock act Alice in Chains played to a crowd of 30,000 at Portugal's Super Bock Super Rock festival. As the band performed a set of its classic cuts, a handful of fans unfurled a 25-foot-long sign that read, "Alice in Chains Get Born Again."

With the Sept. 29 release of "Black Gives Way to Blue," Alice in Chains' first full-length in nearly 14 years, the band's reincarnation reaches its conclusion. The band says "Blue" serves as both a synthesis of past achievements and a tribute to lead singer Layne Staley, who died in 2002 of a drug overdose, and fans are greeting it with open arms. The Elton John-assisted title track and the lead single, "Check My Brain," is No. 1 on Billboard's Rock Songs chart.

"There's a lot of personal stuff here that we're making public," drummer Sean Kinney says. "But I'm proud of everything we've done. We've grown as individuals and as a collective."

Following the chart-topping release of its self-titled third album in 1996, the band stopped touring and went on an indefinite hiatus. The first hint of a reunion came in 2005, when Kinney, guitarist Jerry Cantrell and bassist Mike Inez performed together at a Seattle benefit concert for South Asian tsunami victims. The members started jamming and soon recruited their longtime friend, Comes With the Fall frontman William DuVall, to share vocals with Cantrell.

After the band played European festivals and select U.S. club dates in 2006, it faced a decision the following year: whether to record new material. "There was never an intention to do these shows and then make another record, but they kept feeling stronger about it," manager Susan Silver says. "At the end of 2007, Jerry dug deeper than I've ever seen him dig and wrote many of the songs, and in 2008, they decided it was time to lay them down."

Recorded at the Foo Fighters' Studio 606 in Los Angeles, "Blue" is Alice in Chains' first release on Virgin/EMI, which signed the band this spring.

As the band gears up for a European tour in November and a U.S. trek in early 2010, Kinney has no reservations about making the album and plans to keep recording with the band's current lineup. "It'd be a disservice to Layne's legacy to not keep moving forward with this project," he says. "You hope it strikes a chord, but to me, this record's already a success."


BILLBOARD.com

Throwing Copper

Holy shit!! This thing is good. It sounds like AIC never left. Cantrell is a fucking genius for pulling this off.

The new guy sounds fine and this album is top notch.

edstein

New album is out, Black Gives Way To Blue. I'll be picking this up later today.

Streaming all week. http://music.aol.com/new-releases-full-cds/#/5

cfmoran13

New album is pretty darn good. If you like AIC's previous albums, you're sure to like this. If you didn't like them before, you're not going to like them now. I know that Jerry was always involved in the vocals before. But, he really seems to be taking more of a primary role with them on this new album.

I feel like it's 1992 again! Last week, I bought Pearl Jam's new album. This week, it's Alice In Chains.

bunkaroo

Too bad there's no Soundgarden around the corner.

TAC

I was the biggest layne fan alive and still am! But, this is a bad ass album. New guy sounds good...........took about 2 days and now this is one of the best albums ive heard in a while. Private hell is awesome!

islandclaws

Obtained this last night. Pretty solid release. I need to give it many more spins before it fully sinks in, but so far so good. Made me want to revisit the AIC catalog, of which I realized I only own 2 albums. Gonna have to fix that later.

JZ1276

Take Her out is a pretty good song. Best on the album so far.

Rypro 525

i assume this will prob piss alot of people off (and yes, this band is opening for Megadeth, why, beats me)
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panchor

Wow, that was horrible.

Rival11

Bought this album about a month ago. I was never a big AIC fan...at all but I did have a respect for them.

This album though, is f'n great - shocked the shit out of me as I only bought because I'm literally starving for some good music. It took forever for it to grow on me and I was starting to think during my first couple of listens that I wasn't into it as much as I thought.....but then it just got better and better with each listen.

Tracks that I just can't get into:

Acid Bubble - know a lot of you prob love this tune but for me, it just takes too long to get going and it draaaags on much too long.

Take her out - the song I skip the most, really don't like this one.

Private hell - another dud but I listen to it sometimes.

Other than that I pretty much love every other song with Lesson Learned being my current fav - 8 great songs will last me a while; I have found a way over the years - it's tough but I've found a way.

JZ1276

Take Her Out is my fave song on the album

mndtrp

I really, really like this album. It made me want to shell out the ~$60 for a ticket to see them live, until I noticed they hadn't been playing anything from Jar of Flies.

Kick ass album, though. It's listened to pretty often.

House13

Absolutely love the album. Obviously some songs more than others but I like all the songs pretty well. My favorite changes quite often but definitely digging the Last of My Kind at the moment. The guitar in that song is amazing.

BJacks

Just an AIC-related update. I interviewed the band the other day and they revealed they're already thinking of another album. Jerry said there's "no reason to think it won't happen." My article is here.

Seen them four times in NYC already, and will probably see them twice more this summer. I'd definitely be down for a second record.

Maxflier

New song (album coming in the Spring):

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auto

Great news!

edstein

Can't wait.

Phodg

Nice.

Throwing Copper

God, I love Alice In Chains.

Loved the last record and they were awesome touring in support of it.

islandclaws

Sounds like more of the same from the last album, which I'm perfectly happy with hearing.

Traxan

Friends don't let friends get "Friends" haircuts. Right Jerry?



Uh, Jerry?