New Alice in Chains!

[Jay Strange]

Big fan of AIC here, the new stuff is ok.
The thing is when Layne was in AIC there was a superpower
match up. Layne had that very rare gift of being able to sound huge
in the recordings, just a killer singer.His icing on top vocals brought
a shit load out of the rest of the music.
Take away that and ya fooked.
Cantrell is obviously doing his best and thats all
he can do without his songwriting/singing match up.
Dirt for me was when they hit their stride
Jar of Flies is also super choice also.
Tough spot to be in for Cantrell and thats obvious in the music
he now writes about.
This new stuff is better than most I hear on the radio

 

[RG955TT]

Seems to me too according to the formula, dirgy riffs and the layered vocal thing on every song. Would like to see them vary it up a bit but I do like them regardless and the tones and sound are very good. Just the dirge riff thing is getting a bit old for me, take a bit more of a chance. maybe the new album will do that, the last one didnt for me.

 

[tonmazz]

Sounds good! Pretty mean tone.

 

[metalmaniac93]

Love the new song and the last album. I personally think DuVall does a good job. They didn't want a Layne copy cat and IMO DuVall fits with their style. I personally even think he does a good job singing the older songs also. Laynes not coming back so I think it's great they finally decided to continue on. IMO the material they are putting out now is more than worthy of continuing with the AIC name.

I agree 100%. Of course it is not Facelift or Dirt, but those two albums will never be recreated. The last AIC CD rocked IMO. I have seen them live a bunch of times including Facelift, Dirt, Jar Of Flies, and Blue Gives Way To Black tours and they still kick ass!!!

 

[Frolid]

Like the last album, it desperately needs Layne, but it's still good.

I agree, I greatly miss Layne.. but

This does kick ass

 

[some dude]

I also never thought of them as grunge even though they got lumped into that category. Grunge singers generally tend to sing like they have balls in their mouth a majority of the time, a la Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder, etc. I've heard Vedder actually does put a pair of balls in his mouth in the studio. IMO they're a blues based hard rock/metal band, maybe not metal by todays standards, definitely metal by early 90's standards.

You do realize that Nirvana didn't invent grunge, right? The Melvins were metal. Mother Love Bone was pretty near hair metal. Tad was sludge metal. Soundgarden had that Zeppelin-meets-Sabbath thing. Malfunkshun, Skin Yard, Green River all had an 80s metal vibe with varying amounts of punk dialled in (by 80s metal I mean Voivod, Venom and Celtic Frost).

Pearl Jam's first album was straight up corporate rock. Ten and Nevermind were released a few years after grunge went mainstream.

Saying Alice in Chains wasn't part of grunge because they don't sound like Pearl Jam and Nirvana is like saying Korn wasn't nu-metal because they don't sound like Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park.

 

[Heritage Softail]

I also never thought of them as grunge even though they got lumped into that category. Grunge singers generally tend to sing like they have balls in their mouth a majority of the time, a la Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder, etc. I've heard Vedder actually does put a pair of balls in his mouth in the studio. IMO they're a blues based hard rock/metal band, maybe not metal by todays standards, definitely metal by early 90's standards.

You do realize that Nirvana didn't invent grunge, right? The Melvins were metal. Mother Love Bone was pretty near hair metal. Tad was sludge metal. Soundgarden had that Zeppelin-meets-Sabbath thing. Malfunkshun, Skin Yard, Green River all had an 80s metal vibe with varying amounts of punk dialled in (by 80s metal I mean Voivod, Venom and Celtic Frost).

Pearl Jam's first album was straight up corporate rock. Ten and Nevermind were released a few years after grunge went mainstream.

Saying Alice in Chains wasn't part of grunge because they don't sound like Pearl Jam and Nirvana is like saying Korn wasn't nu-metal because they don't sound like Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park.

I can see your point. I associated much of grunge with zero guitar leads, simplistic in a good way, and a plaid shirt.

The labeling thing is a bit blurry. I hear metal with very textured riff in AIC. Rooster does not fit an easy box, easily one of my favorite tunes. Then Nutshell.... Awesome.

 

[Jeff Hilligan]

Kills me that in today's music market....some people say this is not good stuff! Please the groove, the tone, the vocals are so many levels above all the crap out today! All I want is off tempo drums, huge riffs and the odd 4th vocals they continue to provide! This rocks and just enjoy it!

 

[dirtyfunkg]

Can't sleep, and had this question today. DIdn't want to start a new thread.

How the hell does Cantrell get that clean tone in Sickman off of Dirt? In that interlude/bridge section ("Can you see the end...")... the riff starts dirty, then a layered clean comes in with what sounds like a chorus on it. That sound has such a transient response... I couldn't figure out what it is.

The few thoughts that I'm thinking are...
Jazz Chorus?
An acoustic-electric?
Combo of the two above?

Back in the day I borrowed a 2x10 Crate amp that ran in stereo with a chorus on board that got really close to the AiC tone as I remember. I was a new guitarist back then with less than experienced ears though.

Something about that tone is just so haunting. A song I'm working on right now could use that type of layer on a certain section.

 

[Matt7]

Hell Yeah! Thanks for posting.

 

[fek]

Can't sleep, and had this question today. DIdn't want to start a new thread.

How the hell does Cantrell get that clean tone in Sickman off of Dirt? In that interlude/bridge section ("Can you see the end...")... the riff starts dirty, then a layered clean comes in with what sounds like a chorus on it. That sound has such a transient response... I couldn't figure out what it is.

I don't know the answer but I am now singing that section over and over again in my head. Thanks! In a good way. Not in the "I can't get Call Me Maybe" out of my head kind of way.

Aww dang it.

 

[TX6Strings]

Everything sounds great and that particular song's got a lot of potential but there's no hook...nothing that reaches out and grabs you like old AIC used to. Whether that was Staley or Cantrell is irrelevant. The song writing needs some work and it'd be killer stuff.

 

[se7en]

Thought the vocals and hooks could've been better. Riffs and layers are sick as usual...

 

[locoed]

I won't bother to compare,I do miss the pain/sorrow in Laynes voice with Jerry's contrast but I like Williams voice too,new animal with old chugs.