I've been needing a beer for a while... music-wise. For the past few years I've been sampling the sharp, biting taste of hardcore in all of its forms. The gentle and layered flavor of post and stoner rock/metal. The ethereal, absinthe-esque depths of progressive black metal. I still get the craving for a bold, sweet mug of melodic death. But a beer, in this case, would be modern rock. Most modern rock these days is... well, let me cut to the chase; It's shit. The riffs can sometimes be a bit catchy and chunky, but it's without the explorational qualities of the 1990's. True, it also comes without the rapcore tendencies of the late 90's and early oughts, but it still feels just as hollow and disposable. So when an old favorite was announced to be returning, I was loaded with mixed feelings: Greedily waiting to sap up new material from an old friend, but apprehensive about a band who has been on hiatus for over a decade and lost a very distinctive, identifiable lead singer. The new Alice in Chains would either quench my thirst with a delicious, carbonated blast of modern rock... or sit forgotten and barely touched, like a skunky old lager.The album itself opens up with the familiar-sounding “All Secrets Known”. It's Alice in Chains through and through and, while it sounds like it would be more at home as a mid-album track on Sap or Jar of Flies, it's still good... it's just not what I would've been expecting. Most of their albums (and most albums in general) either start off with a nut-punching kickass tune, or have a 2-3 minute quiet introduction that leads to a nut-punching kickass tune. In this case, Cantrell and Company have decided to greet us with a down-tempo, layered stoner ditty. It's also a great way to show how William Duvall is able to hit those Chainsey vocal melodies that, along with Cantrell's signature guitar sound, are the trademarks of this band.
And that's pretty much how this album goes: It's Alice in Chains, from all their albums, in all their styles. It switches between slower acoustic arrangements, stoner-tempo riff jams with the trademark vocal harmonies, and straight up rockin' tunes - all of it with a dirty ethereal southern glaze, dissonance-made-melody overlay, and general feeling of despair. There's a noticeable absence of Dirt influenced material, but considering that album was practically written in a puddle of heroin, I wasn't expecting to hear much of that disc show it's ugly face on this album. Duvall doesn't jump up as the bands lead most of the cut, content on sitting in the shadows on his first outing (And for good reason). However, at the end of “Private Hell” (The best track on this album by far, for me), the newest member of this almost legendary rock outfit blasts out with a primal scream that shows that he is as capable as Layne was. It's a chilling few seconds, but it's also a preview of what's to come: Once Duvall gets more comfortable with the band, and once the fans start letting go of Layne's memory, we'll start seeing them running on all cylinders again.
And that's what this album is to me: It's shaking off of the rust. A lot of the riffs are great, but the songwriting sometimes falters. “A Looking in View” is an awesome 5 minute song that is 7 minutes long. Sometimes things are beautifully written but they clink hollow, like a drumstick hitting an empty beer bottle. The old men have easily shown up all these new kids like Theory of a Deadman and Nickelback (And especially Godsmack), but a few of these new tracks lack the emotional punch of “What the Hell Have I”, the fury of “We Die Young”, and the immediacy of “Nutshell”. That's not to say it's a bad album, because it really isn't. In fact, it's pretty fucking fantastic and probably the best rock album I've added to my collection since Agents of Oblivion. It just feels like the band has returned to their old haunts, the lights are off, they're fumbling about a bit with a flashlight for the switch, but there is still that old familiarity in the air. I just hope Black Gives Way to Blue is what I predicted, and not one of my favorite band's initial shallow, protracted slide into mediocrity.
I needed a beer, and Black Gives Way to Blue is just that: A full-bodied, robust brew in a world full of flat, watered down bullshit. It's unfortunate that it happens to be a light beer... but I'm full of hope that the next time the waitress comes by my table that it'll be just what the doctor ordered. Cheers!
Verdict: Win [8.5/10]
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