10 Perfect Albums That Have Awful Production
8. Black Gives Way to Blue - Alice in Chains
There didn't really seem like any point in Alice in Chains continuing on without Layne Staley. Even if Jerry Cantrell had a hand in writing the majority of the songs, Layne's raw aggression and pain put into songs like No Excuses was going to be borderline impossible to replicate in the exact right way. There was life after death once William DuVall came into the fold though, and Black Gives Way to Blue was the kind of comeback we were all hoping for... after we got over our ears bleeding.
While the songs on this record are up to the same standards that you would get from Alice in Chains, this is one of the many records in the '00s that felt victim to the loudness wars, with most of the production sounding like it's clipping the microphones half the time. It might a little more bearable on some of the acoustic cuts like When the Sun Rose Again, but it tends to get old when you listen to a song like Check My Brain and being completely overwhelmed as you're listening to it.
The production may have mellowed out over the next few albums, but Black Gives Way to Blue still stands as the gold standard for modern Alice, having just the right amount of sludge and taste without ever sounding bloated or boring. Even with having to adjust the volume every time you listen to it, this was the sound of Seattle reborn for a new generation.