Black Gives Way to Blue

This article is about the album by Alice in Chains. For the title track from the album, see Black Gives Way to Blue (song).

Black Gives Way to Blue
Studio album by
Alice in Chains
ReleasedSeptember 29, 2009 (2009-09-29)[1]
RecordedOctober 23, 2008 (2008-10-23) – March 18, 2009 (2009-03-18)
StudioStudio 606 in Northridge, California
Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles
Genre
Length54:12
LabelVirgin/EMI
Producer
Alice in Chains chronology
The Essential Alice in Chains
(2006) 		Black Gives Way to Blue
(2009) 		The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
(2013)
Singles from Black Gives Way to Blue
  1. "A Looking in View"
    Released: June 30, 2009
  2. "Check My Brain"
    Released: August 14, 2009
  3. "Your Decision"
    Released: November 16, 2009
  4. "Lesson Learned"
    Released: June 22, 2010[5]

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.[1] 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.[6][7][8][9] 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,[10] and was certified gold by the RIAA on May 26, 2010,[11] with shipments exceeding 500,000 copies in the U.S. and over 1 million copies sold worldwide.[12] "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.[13] 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.[14] By April 2007, Alice in Chains had been writing and demoing songs for the album,[15] 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.[16] 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.[17] 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.[18] The writing and recording process was completed on Cantrell's 43rd birthday, on March 18, 2009.[19] 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.[20] It also includes songs which Cantrell described as "the heaviest he's ever written".[21]

  1. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference AM was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ JorgeM93 (February 2, 2022). "Top 10 Grunge Albums That Survived the '00s". Ultimate Guitar. Retrieved June 8, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Melodic was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Alice In Chains - Rainier Fog review". Pitchfork. September 1, 2018. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
  5. ^ "Future Releases on Alternative Radio Stations, Independent Artist Song Releases". Allaccess.com. Retrieved January 16, 2012.
  6. ^ "Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue". MusicFeeds. October 2, 2009. Retrieved November 25, 2017.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference DuVall lead was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "Album Review of Black Gives Way to Blue by Alice in Chains". Alternative Addiction. Retrieved November 25, 2017.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference LOMK was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Debut was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference RIAA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference gold was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ "Alice In Chains - Artist". Grammy.com. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
  14. ^ "Remaining Alice in Chains Members Reuniting for Summer Gigs". MTV.com. February 23, 2006. Archived from the original on April 14, 2006. Retrieved June 11, 2009.
  15. ^ "Alice In Chains Begins Writing New Material". Blabbermouth.net. April 26, 2007. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved August 5, 2017.
  16. ^ "Alice in Chains Working with Rush/Foo Fighters Producer". Blabbermouth.net. October 23, 2008. Archived from the original on May 25, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
  17. ^ Zina Walschots, Natalie (May 30, 2013). "Alice in Chains". Exclaim!. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
  18. ^ "Interview: Jerry Cantrell Discusses Alice in Chain's 2009 Comeback, 'Black Gives Way to Blue'". Guitar World. January 10, 2013. Archived from the original on July 2, 2017. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
  19. ^ "Alice In Chains Set To Release First Album In 14 Years". YouTube. April 10, 2009. Archived from the original on December 20, 2021. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference Billboard was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ "Jerry Cantrell interview: Get Born Again". Guitar World. December 8, 2009. Retrieved May 22, 2018.