Below is an excerpt of a review I wrote for Crosscut. You can read the entire review by clicking on the jump.
Alice in Chains is one of
the more interesting cases of a major grunge group experiencing
post-90s success.
They don’t carry a catalog of anthems like Pearl Jam or Soundgarden. They’re nowhere near Nirvana’s poppy punk-metal hybrid style, and they don’t define their genre in the way a band like Mudhoney does. Oh, and their original lead singer died suddenly, replaced by a relative unknown four years ago. All of this points to Alice in Chains being one of the least likely comeback bands from the era of flannel fashion and Neanderthal hairstyles. But they’re not only making a comeback, they’re cranking out a batch of quality new tunes to boot.
There they were Thursday night (Feb. 4) at the Paramount Theatre, nearly two decades after the g-word was in Vogue, playing to a capacity crowd of rabid fans while supporting a new Grammy-nominated album — last year’s exceptional Black Gives Way to Blue. The album, which lost to AC/DC for Best Hard Rock Performance, was released 14 years after the band’s last studio recording.
