ALICE IN CHAIN'S 'BLACK GIVES WAY TO BLUE' WORTH THE 14 YEAR WAIT FOR LOVERS OF ALTERNATIVE ROCK

For me Alice in Chains were always a bit of a radical diversion from my standard tastes in music - blues, rock'n'roll, pop, a bit of prog and few other more mainstream genres. Seen by many alternative music purists as being the very best of the Seattle 4, which included Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, Alice in Chains were always a heavy duty unit with a manic intensity that owed just as much to the influence of 1980`s thrash metal as their grunge contemporaries in Washingston state. Far and away the most talented member of Alice in Chains is their co-founder, Jerry Cantrell, whose influences is as varied as Frank Zappa, Foreigner and Slayer. After a 14 hiatus which began in 1995, and after the drug related death of original lead vocalist Layne Staley and a myriad amount of other drug- related turmoils which made Alice In Chains fairly well an artisic failure, the band made a return in 2009 with new vocalist/guitarist William DuVall. For those who liked Alice In Chain's dark & brooding alternative rock output in the early 90`s, they'd surely like the album BLACK GIVES WAY TO BLUE. Opening number ALL SECRETS KNOWN sounds like a mixture of Crazy Horse and Celtic Frost, intense grunge metal which is as beligerent as Sepultura with repetitive brutality. LAST OF MY TIME & the title track are also up there with in the intensity stakes, but in true Jerry Cantrell style, there's flushes of reflective melody on the album which completely contradicts the predominant style of this unique & challenging alternative rock band. In 2011, original bassist Mike Starr also died as the result of long term substance abuse, Alice in Chains is the definitive alternative rock band despite all the tragedy and turmoil. The best alternative rock album of the 21st century.