Morning. Just stopping in to let you know the new Alice in Chains single is out and you can grab a free mp3 by visitng the band’s website and giving them your email address. The song is called “A Looking in View” and if this track is any indication of how the rest of the album is then I’m going to go ahead and say that this puppy could be a major hit. It’s a heavy, heavy track that wouldn’t be entirely out of place on either Facelift or the self-titled record. Do I miss Layne Staley’s voice on the song? Sure, but smartly this first single is heavy on the harmony, with new singer William DuVall and guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell basically singing in unison throughout. As such, there’s really nothing about this song that doesn’t feel exactly like Alice in Chains. I am as surprised by this as I am aware now of just how much I have missed this sound. Cantrell’s guitar sounds like it must weigh nine hundred pounds on this track. Here’s the teaser for the video, which should also be out sometime today I think:
So welcome back Alice in Chains! Hopefully, if nothing else, by the end of the day this song will be all over the radio and those bands that have been blatantly ripping you off while you’ve been gone (let’s just call them “Godsmack”) will realize the gig is at last up and will then do us all a favor by running far, far away where they will never be heard from again. Ever. Please.
The album Black Gives Way To Blue won’t be out until September 29th, so that’s almost three more months to get over the fact that Layne is gone and this new music might – just might – actually be really good. Let’s hope so. I’m at least very, very optimistic now.
More soon…
Holepuncher 
I haven’t gone back to Alice in Chains since the 90s, though now this post has me intrigued. So many bands sounded like them at the time – and I think I always thought of them as sounding like like STP, who I thought tried to be a heavier Pearl Jam – I think they got lost in the shuffle for me. It’ll be interesting to listen to this without all of that around…
That’s interesting. Your chronology was a little off though because Alice actually released their first album 2 years before STP debuted. When I first heard “Sex Type Thing” I immediately wrote STP off as an Alice-clone, then when I heard “Plus” I thought they were ripping Pearl Jam note for note. Oddly enough I grew to like them quite a bit – they definitely were good songwriters even if they borrowed from familiar sources at times. I think STP had more of a classic rock influence than Alice in Chains. I honestly didn’t realize Alice in Chains was anything but a metal band until Nirvana came around and “grunge” started being thrown around all over the place. Anyway, there are some other Alice in Chains tracks on this blog if you get nostalgic – just do a search and you should find them. I think their material holds up really well.
SHIT! i want more AIC, i love that heavy guitar sound…mmmmmmm