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Editorials

NICK RASKULINECZ IN CHAINS

 Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 4:30pm by

So, yes, Alice in Chains are recording a new album with new singer William DuVall. And, yes, it’s hard to accept the idea of AIC without Layne Staley. But in DuVall’s defense, Vince and I have seen him perform with the Men in the Box not once, not twice, but three times, and while he’s no Staley, he’s pretty frickin’ cool.

So. It would have been nice to see the band reunited with Dave Jerden, who produced their first two (and, in my not so humble opinion, their two best) albums, Facelift and Dirt. But they’ve gone with Nick Raskulinecz instead. Raskulinecz is “in” right now (he’s produced the Foo Fighters, Shadows Fall, Trivium, Death Angel, Velvet Relover, etc.), which is not to say he’s bad; in point of fact, the only thing I have against the dude is that I have to look up the proper way to spell his name each and every time I wanna write about him. If only this was the Sunset Strip in ’86 and he’d changed his name to Nikki Rakkett, life would be so much easier. Sigh.

And if these guys can still muster even an ounce of the magic they captured in their heyday, a 2009 Alice in Chains record could be this generation’s Back in Black.

Then again, it will probably suck.

-AR


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  • seveword

    Saw them perform a couple years ago, and I thought DuVall sounded great. No, he’s not Layne, but no one else is either. I’m looking forward to a new album for sure.

  • Damotello

    I’m pretty optimistic about the prospect of a new album, Jerry Cantrell’s solo stuff is solid.

  • vance almighty

    in my opinion, anything jerry cantrell has ever written is fucking excellent. ESPECIALLY his two solo albums.

    so, yeah, i have high hopes for this one. as with alice in chains with layne staley, i’m looking forward to at least a few of the songs to have cantrell as the lead vocalist. he sang some of their best songs, which is good considering he wrote 90% of the music anyway.

  • http://noyokono.blogspot.com noyokono

    I’m not optimistic about this, but I will keep an open mind until I hear some of the tunes.

  • lern2swim

    With Cantrell involved, it will not suck. Layne is dead, there’s nothing that’s going to change that. I’d rather have new Alice in Chains with a new singer (who I’ve heard nothing but praise for) then never hear a new AIC song ever again. Also, as was pointed out, Cantrell was doing the majority of the writing anyway. Now if we can just get Cornell to stop sucking all that hip hop cock and get him back together with Kim Thayil all will be right with the world (or at least an approximation)

  • bucketochicken

    As “reborn” bands/releases like this usually go, I gotta say I’m pretty optimistic here. Jerry is the primary songwriter anyway, and lends a TON to the vocal harmonies. His solo stuff is great (“Degredation Trip” was outstanding), so I’m very curious to see how this turns out.

    I’d bet my eyes it’ll be better than the new “Guns N’ Roses.”

  • lern2swim

    Bucket, that’s a pretty easy bet considering old AIC>old GNR

  • Aaron R A

    The whole concept of a new Alice In Chains album makes me a little nervous. For more than a decade, “Dirt” has remained my favorite album of all time, and I hope that the new album doesn’t retroactively spoil their legacy. And while Cantrell was certainly the driving creative force behind the band, there’s no way one can deny that Staley gave the music a lot of its darker tones, which was a large part of what set them apart from the grunge crowd. After hearing him once before, I have all the respect and faith in the world for DuVall, but damn…. He’s got some big shoes to fill.

  • http://hookssobig.blogspot.com Wayne

    DuVall sounded pretty damn good when I saw AIC a couple of years ago. Despite Nick Raskulinecz being a fine producer, not so sure I’m excited about new non-Layne recorded material.

  • Frank

    Raskulinecz just produced the new Rush album and it was the’re best in 15 years. With Jerry, Mike and Sean leading the way this album can’t be bad. As a matter of fact I’m willing to bet it will be the best thing i’ve heard in the last 10 years.

  • plingin

    WEAK…….not sure if the album will be good or not, so your too weak to take a side……nice.

  • Jill

    Saw them at the Fillmore last night in Detroit, and they were great! DU VAll has a higher energy which goes well with the band as a whole.
    In my opinion, he nailed some songs, but did not shred others either. I would see them again, and again. Also, New CD is effing awesome, but I expected it to..