New Alice In Chains Album!

[ryan]

Is F'n AWESOME.
It's out online but I believe it comes out next week...I'm going to buy it most definitely.
If anyone has heard it, what do you think?
Check My Brain is awesome -- really catchy, and your decision reminds me of nutshell...
Black Gives Way to Blue is a great song too, that's the one Jerry wrote for Layne.

There's a video on myspace here:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=63256219

That has the whole band talking about the new album and missing Layne :(

[LongKissGoodNite]

Dude, yes. Fucking yes.

Yes - :)

Been a fan ForEver

[ryan]

WATCH WHERE YOU SPIT....
:P

It's not as heavy as their older shit but it's still amazing -- I kind of knew it wasn't going to be that heavy though..
A Looking In View is sick though :)

Man I'm on my 5th listen through the whole thing and I just can't stop.
I'm addicted to AIC!

[LongKissGoodNite]

Fuck dude - their new front man sounds very similar to Layne .. Hes a perfect fit.

Their sound is still the same after all this time, which is good.

[The_Highwayman]

The single that got released sounded very over-produced to have that harmony that Layne and Jerry had, but what the hell I won't be buying another CD for another month, and I trust ryan's opinion...

[DarthStoner]

Fuckin A, so there might finally be music worth buying again... at last.

I gotta say that I was, and still am, kinda skeptical about AIC minus Layne, but since Jerry wrote almost all of the music, and most of the lyrics too, well, I don't see why it still wouldn't kick ass.

I haven't heard any new AIC stuff with their new singer, though I have seen some live cuts with him doing old AIC songs, and though he's no Layne (really, who is?) I still thought it sounded pretty good.

I sure am glad that AIC is back, maybe they'll even come to Hawaii for a show (fingers crossed)... the music scene has just been so stagnant and crappy since Nirvana, AIC, etc died, and I just can't get into that linkin park, third eye blind, blink 182 shit, so I haven't really been paying much attention to the modern music scene - who knows, maybe this will turn it all around (once again, fingers crossed).

I love punk rock too, but that seems to be dying too (dead already?)... WHERE THE FUCK IS THE GOOD MUSIC?!? Maybe I'm just getting old, and music is passing me by... I feel like my Dad saying, "back in my day, now those were great bands. The crap on the radio today, I just don't see how you can listen to that shit."

[youwonhundred]

I grabbed a torrent last night, with very low expectations. I was pleasantly surprised.

[dharma bum]

I want to like it but i can't without layne staley there and still calling themselves AIC. Maybe if they changed their name to "The Chains" like Grateful Dead did when Jerry died---the Dead...

But keeping the same vibe and feel and sound as the band had with Layne is wrong. They kinda wanted a clone.

I was a die-hard fan but I just can't get into this new guy.

[Deadfiend]

I want to like it but i can't without layne staley there and still calling themselves AIC. Maybe if they changed their name to "The Chains" like Grateful Dead did when Jerry died---the Dead...

But keeping the same vibe and feel and sound as the band had with Layne is wrong. They kinda wanted a clone.

I was a die-hard fan but I just can't get into this new guy.
That's what I was going to say, it not the real AIC so why not just change the name of the band, The only reason that they don't change the name is because of the money. Sorry ut I just don't buy into it, I seen the real Alice in Chains and loved them before anyone even knew who the fuck they were,and at the end we all know what was going o hapen, The olny reason that they put out the there last studio album is because that had too,at least we will always have layne's work with AIC, and of course Mad Season, but I just can't buy into the "NEW AIC" because it's not them, just like what the Misfits did when Glenn Danzig left, then the made the "THE NEW MISFITS" ya they put out a few ok cd's but they should have just renamed the band.

[Deadfiend]

At least when Bradley Nowell died, the band changed there name, the bands surviving members Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh formed the Long Beach Dub Allstars. But I did hear that Sublime reunited for one show with some 20-year-old named Rome, I hope that they will keep it to just that one show.

[dharma bum]

WHERE THE FUCK IS THE GOOD MUSIC?!? Maybe I'm just getting old, and music is passing me by... I feel like my Dad saying, "back in my day, now those were great bands. The crap on the radio today, I just don't see how you can listen to that shit."


There still is very good music out there if you look for it. Check out Paste magazine online for some pointers in the right direction. Beats Rolling Stone all to hell.

Now if you're a metal head and that's all you like---well ---OPETH, Fantomas, Meshuggah. Point is, good music is always getting made but it's not always what sells. Most people like their music broad, watered down, redundant...

Check out shoutcast.com and look into some college radio or indie rock----and they have metal.

[The_Highwayman]

Truth be told I can understand when Kurt dies or Brad died that they band changed their names, as those guys were the creative force behind the band, AIC's creative force was Jerry, Layne usually co-wrote lyrics and rarely music, however, I personally feel that his voice that made their music so unique would warrant a name change...but I can see both sides of the coin

[Paregoric Kid]

like I said in the Layne thread, to me it seems like they are just trying to cash in on the Alice in Chains name by using it after Layne died. they should have changed the name of their band in my opinion.

[ryan]

There still is very good music out there if you look for it. Check out Paste magazine online for some pointers in the right direction. Beats Rolling Stone all to hell.

Now if you're a metal head and that's all you like---well ---OPETH, Fantomas, Meshuggah. Point is, good music is always getting made but it's not always what sells. Most people like their music broad, watered down, redundant...

Check out shoutcast.com and look into some college radio or indie rock----and they have metal.

Opeth is basically my second favorite band, first is AIC :P
They are musical geniuses imho...and Mike Akerfeld knows nothing about music theory yet he writes these mozart like compositions...insane..

as far as AIC's name change I dont think they intended to do what they did it just sort of happened after the tsunami benefit concert
sean kinney even said right after the benefit show that he wanted to make another album just not as AIC

the music is still great, as was\were jerry cantrells solo efforts.

I too had my doubts but it's clear what their intentions are -- especially after I went to one of their club shows on their first "hey we're back" tour that they did after the benefit show -- it was the best concert i've ever been to...

first they did a 45 minute electric set, then they had a 15 minute video that they set up which basically was a tribute to layne and had all these unreleased footage of him and the band, then they finished with a 45 minute acoustic set -- and then just when you thought it wouldn't get any better, they came back out and played would, again, and man in the box electrically.

I still have my ticket from that show -- I should get that fucker framed seriously

http://i33.tinypic.com/maia7l.jpg

[LongKissGoodNite]

Truth be told I can understand when Kurt dies or Brad died that they band changed their names, as those guys were the creative force behind the band, AIC's creative force was Jerry, Layne usually co-wrote lyrics and rarely music, however, I personally feel that his voice that made their music so unique would warrant a name change...but I can see both sides of the coin

True - but I can relate this to Pink Floyd too, when Syd Barrett went nuts and had to be replaced, the band tried to continue its style the way it had been when he was the creative impetus, but as soon as waters started taking the helm a little more, which didn't happen for two albums later, then the band started to develop a whole new sound and direction, similarly when waters and gilmour had their falling out, gilmour took over and the band took another direction.

Bands evolve and thats ok. The only thing I might take umbrage with is the way they seem to be 'cloning' Layne in style and sound, I mean DuVall doesnt sound exactly like him, but its pretty damn close, and for that I think its a little disrespectful. If they were taking the sound and the music in a different direction, that might be more acceptable.

Either way, if my heads bobbin and im diggin the music .. I'm quick to forget. I wont usually let that kind of stuff get in the way of a good kickass jam :P

[pharmacoKinetic]

Jerry the driving force? I do not agree with that. They were a band, everyone contributed to the music.

Alice in Chains was Laynes band and was spelled "Alice N Chainz", then Jerry came along with Sean and Mike; thereafter the name was modified.

Layne wrote the bulk of the tracks during and after Dirt-1992.

Layne wrote 4 songs off Facelift; including "Man in the Box".

As his dependency issues became worse; he wrote more and more about isolation and addiction.

Layne did a lot on Dirt-1992, Jar of Flies-1994 was mostly Layne tracks, and self-titled "tripod"-1995 only had 3 songs from Jerry, thus as time moved forward so did Laynes lyrical contribution.

Layne had pain, you could hear it in his voice and when reading the lyrics he wrote were heavy.

He faded away due to a number of factors, but when Jerry tried to get the band going again in 1997, Layne did not want any part of it.

So Jerry went along without Layne, but kept Sean and Mike; Jerry Cantrells band did not do well without Layne. So after Jerry noticed his solo effort was not widely accepted, he ventured to re-start AiC with a 20 year track record.

If anything, I think Layne inspired many of Jerrys lyrics (down in a hole, grind, over now.

The new guy does not know what it feels like have written "rotten apple, nutshell, angry chair, dirt).

He should not try to imitate Laynes voice like many have over the years; this new guy should not try to sound like Layne; he's pathetic.


Bottom line is that the new guy does not have the angst in his voice, the pain emanating from Laynes lyrics that touched so many people.

Layne wrote about his life and experiences with drug addiction, opened up to the world about how fuked up things can get being a junkie; that cannot, nor should it be played out.

I am a die hard fan, and I have followed their music since facelife-1990; so I am very partial to Layne.

Start a new band, with a new name. I hope the newbies to AiC from their new album, will buy their old stuff and come to a realization of how much better it was.

If you want to hear new good music, try to listen to Tool.


No Layne, No chains

[Leave it ta Beaver]

I hate when bands get a new lead singer & still go by the same name, to me it's not the same w/ out layne it not alice in chain's, atleast to me!

I loved Sepultura but w/out Max as the lead singer it's not the same, there's alotta bands i've liked that replaced the frontman either cuz of death or 'em quitting but I can't get in to 'em ,it's just not the same!

[JayTrizzle]

lol. Jerry wrote all the music and more than half of the lyrics. How could you say he wasnt the driving force behind alice in chains? Layne was a great singer, and it really sucks hearing that new song, because Layne would have ROCKED out Check My Brain.