Audio Mixer: Randy Staub .
When Layne Staley died from a drug overdose in 2002, it had already been several years since most Alice in Chains fans stopped hoping for a new album. The singer had become a recluse since the late-`90s, and there was little indication that AIC would ever again produce much in the way of new music. As a result, when the remaining members reunited to release BLACK GIVES WAY TO BLUE in 2009, expectations were low. To the delight of all however, the album proved to be perhaps the Seattle combo's most energetic and consistent effort since its masterpiece DIRT. Perhaps the most surprising element of the new record was how much it sounded exactly like Alice in Chains. While new singer William DuVall was not an exact Staley soundalike, he managed to evoke both the unique timbre and sense of deep angst that were the late vocalist's trademarks. Throughout, the sound is heavier and sturdier than ever before, with songs like the first single "A Looking In View" and "Check My Brain" borrowing a bit from the nu-metal bands Alice in Chains inspired, and beating the upstarts at their own game.
It's hard not to feel for Alice in Chains -- all the guys in the band were lifers, all except lead singer Layne Staley, who never managed to exorcise his demons, succumbing to drug addiction in 2002. Alice in Chains stopped being a going concern long before that, all due to Staley's addictions, and it took guitarist Jerry Cantrell, bassist Mike Inez, and drummer Sean Kinney a long time to decide to regroup, finally hiring William DuVall as Staley's replacement and delivering Black Gives Way to Blue a full 14 years after the band's last album. To everybody's credit, Black Gives Way to Blue sounds like it could have been delivered a year after Alice in Chains: it's unconcerned with fashion; it's true to their dark, churning gloom rock; and if you're not paying attention too closely, it's easy to mistake DuVall for his predecessor. There's a difference between desperately attempting to recapture past glories and reconnecting with their roots, and Alice in Chains fall into the latter category. While they'll never be mistaken for a feel-good band, there is a palpable sense of relief that they get to play together again as a band, and what's remarkable is that they still sound like themselves, capturing that weird murk halfway between '80s metal and '90s northwestern sludge, reminding us that we were missing something in their absence. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Spin (p.72) - "Alice in Chains still have an appealingly outcast aura on their first studio album in 14 years."
Billboard (p.84) - "The droning 'Private Hell' takes the listener into a trance-like state, while the album-closing title track is a salute to Stanley that features Elton John on piano."
Q (Magazine) (p.116) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he quartet sound reborn, with new vocalist William DuVall's eerie melodies perfectly complimenting Jerry Cantrell's lead-bottomed riffs. A stunning return."