I will always have a spot in my musical heart for Alice In Chains and I realized that again today. I loved Sap & Facelift, followed them through Dirt, Jar of Flies, Unplugged & the self titled. I don’t listen to them as much as I used to, but I revisit them from time to time. When I went to see “Band Practice” at The Moore Theater a few years back, the debut of William Duvall as their new singer, I was skeptical. New singer in a band is hard, new singer in a band from an impacting time and genre and with such a tragic end seemed almost impossible.

I was wrong. William Duvall stepped out there as a new guy in a band. He was humble and thankful and never once tried to be Layne or put off that he was in any way stepping into Laynes shoes. They approached it as a new chapter and they sounded incredible. Today, I got the new song “Check My Brain” from the forthcoming album “Black Gives Way to Blue” out on September 29th. It’s good. It’s really good. Since Jerry sang so much in AIC, his voice is as tied to their sound as Layne’s was and that vibe is there. I read that they spoke with Layne’s mom and got her blessing to go forward with this. I met and interviewed her once and she’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I’m sure that meant a lot to them.

So here it is, if you’re an Alice In Chains fan, I think you’ll dig it. I’m looking forward to hearing the rest of the record.

Alice In Chains