10 Amazing Later Releases By Legendary Rock Acts
6. Black Gives Way to Blue - Alice in Chains
For most hardcore Alice in Chains fans, the band didn't really have any business existing past 2002. With Layne Staley finally losing his battle with heroin, the golden age of the band would probably be buried along with him, as the rest of the band either made solo projects or got out of the business altogether. During a show for charity though, Jerry Cantrell took a liking to one of the singers that came in to fill out Layne's parts.
With William DuVall now behind the mic, the tour of the new era of Alice in Chains was a lot better than anyone expected, as most fans rubbed their eyes to make sure that Layne wasn't still up there. Though the start of a new album may not have been what people wanted at the time, what happened on Black Gives Way to Blue sounds like a band completely reborn from the ashes. You still have your classic Alice cuts like Check My Brain, but you can tell that Jerry took all of those years honing his craft, setting the stage just right on songs like All Secrets Known or bringing out the acoustics one more time for Your Decision and When the Sun Rose Again.
William wasn't meant to just be a clone of Layne's voice, and his attention to detail and rough delivery on some of these songs gives it a much different identity, while never being too far away from the voice that gave them life in the first place. If classic albums like Dirt and Jar of Flies were born out of pain from the rest of the band, Black Gives Way to Blue is the album born out of survival, with these guys just happy to still be playing music after all these years.