[rating=7.0]
Normally when your lead singer dies, that spells curtains for a band.
But Alice in Chains was always more about Jerry Cantrell than Layne Staley arguably speaking. And the guitarist’s decision to resurrect the name 11 years after the enigmatic and troubled original vocalist for the Seattle grunge titans succumbed to his crippling narcotic addiction has given considerable weight to that argument.
Though Staley was, in fact, the group’s proper frontman, he shared a great amount of the singing duties with Cantrell. The way the two of them harmonized together like a flannel-clad Everly Brothers was always what made Alice such a compelling act beyond their loudness. And as his pair of excellent solo albums in 1998’s Boggy Depot and 2002’s Degradation Trip showcase, Cantrell is more than capable of holding his own as his own charge.
However, the guitarist once again found a fitting foil in William DuVall, a former figure in the Atlanta hardcore scene perhaps previously best known for fronting the late-90s metal outfit Comes with the Fall. Having come into the AiC fold as both the lead singer and second guitarist, DuVall proved his worth in 2009 by helping to make the first Alice album a much stronger comeback than expected.
Its most excellent follow-up, however, surpasses the promise of its predecessor in every way, shape and form.
Produced once again by Grammy-winning studio czar Nick Raskulinecz (Deftones, Danzig, Rush) alongside the band, The Devils Put Dinosaurs Here is the sound of Alice in Chains meeting their commercial expectations while making them entirely their own. Any kind of big budget sonic gloss Raskulinecz brought their way the group–rounded out by original drummer Sean Kinney and longtime bassist Mike Inez (celebrating his 20th year in the ranks)–usurps it into the tarpit sludge of their root sound and spews it back out like a polished fossil. And while not as dark as anything on such early masterpieces as Facelift and Dirt, songs like “Hollow”, “Lab Monkey” and “Phantom Limb” still harbor the absolute feel of classic AiC, thanks in full to the strengthened connection between the voices of DuVall and Cantrell, who harmonize far more on Dinosaurs than they did on Blue. Elsewhere, mellower cuts like “Voices” and “Scalpel” vividly hark back to Alice’s Jar of Flies/MTV Unplugged era with intricate soul and detail.
The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here rightfully earns its place alongside the very best of the Alice in Chains catalog and proves this MK2 version of the group is well worth keeping an eye/ear on in the years to come.
