Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way To Blue (New Vinyl)

NEW DOUBLE LP

New sealed copy. 2024 reissue. Gatefold jacket.

Black Gives Way to Blue is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Alice in Chains, released on September 29, 2009, on the 17th anniversary of the release of their second album, Dirt. It is their first record without original lead singer Layne Staley, who died in 2002, and their first album with new vocalist and rhythm guitarist William DuVall sharing vocal duties with lead guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell, who sings lead vocals on most of the songs. The title track is a tribute to Staley featuring Elton John on piano. This is the first Alice in Chains album released on Virgin Records and their first venture away from Columbia, who handled all of their previous releases. The album debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, and was certified gold by the RIAA on May 26, 2010, with shipments exceeding 500,000 copies in the U.S. and over 1 million copies sold worldwide. "Check My Brain" and "A Looking in View" were both nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2010 and 2011, respectively. Black Gives Way to Blue won Revolver magazine's Golden Gods Award for Album of the Year in 2010.

The span of nearly fourteen years between the self-titled album and Black Gives Way to Blue, marks the longest gap between studio albums in Alice in Chains' career. The band reunited in early 2006, with DuVall as their new singer. By April 2007, Alice in Chains had been writing and demoing songs for the album, but the band did not show further signs of progress until October 2008, when they announced that they had begun recording with producer Nick Raskulinecz in the studio. The album was recorded at Foo Fighters' Studio 606 in Northridge and at the Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles, produced by Raskulinecz and Alice in Chains. The band did not have a record label at the time of the recording and the album was funded by Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney. The writing and recording process was completed on Cantrell's 43rd birthday, on March 18, 2009. Musically, the album sees the band return to the heavy metal/hard rock style of Dirt and Facelift instead of the murky dark mood that their third album showcased with more grunge-fuzz pedal elements; some songs are noted for their acoustic elements. It also includes songs which Cantrell described as "the heaviest he's ever written".

TRACKLIST:

A1        All Secrets Known
A2        Check My Brain
A3        Last Of My Kind
B1        Your Decision
B2        A Looking In View
C1        When The Sun Rose Again
C2        Acid Bubble
C3        Lesson Learned
D1        Take Her Out
D2        Private Hell
D3        Black Gives Way To Blue