Genres: Alternative Metal, Post-grunge
Doom-mongers Alice in Chains return to follow-up their 2009 reunion album with a no-surprises minor-key stare into the darkness. Nothing on this album is truly bad it's just that there is nothing on it that is startling either. The last album these guys made was exactly what was needed from a band that agreed to carry on after their initial vocalist died of an overdose, it was pointing the way to new and fresher music without losing the feel of their best albums from when grunge was the hot-topic. I always felt that the mostly acoustic 1994 EP Jar of Flies was the best thing that this band ever produced and sadly the quieter approach of that album only appears on a few songs here in 'Voices', 'Scalpel' and 'Choke'. These songs have the strongest melodies on the record. Elsewhere the album churns with oppressive guitars that plod along in a morose way. The best doom and gloom songs come from tracks 'Hollow', 'Stone' and 'The Devil put Dinosaurs Here' which you can head-bang really slowly to if you are so inclined.
There really isn't anything else to be said about this album. Either you're a fan and you'll like it or you're not and will tire pretty quickly of it.
RATING: 3/5
Here is the video for 'Hollow'
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