Alice In Chains Black Gives Way To Blue Review

In the Nineties, Alice in Chains went multiplatinum on a grunge-metal sound that was like the soundtrack to singer Layne Staley's heroin addiction, which killed him in 2002. On the band's first album in 14 years, sludgy guitars are back, and they're coupled with vocals by guitarist Jerry Cantrell and new addition William DuVall, each of whom approximates Staley's tortured-zombie crooning. The hard-charging "Check My Brain" is as hooky as the old hits, and the title track — a Staley tribute featuring Elton John on piano — is pretty in a calm-after-the-storm way. What Black lacks are great tunes