Album Review

Alice In Chains – Check My Brain Out

• 2nd Oct 2009

When a style of music becomes part of the mainstream, and gets its own moniker, the bands that burst through the door first are usually the ones remembered as pioneers.

The bands that form careers and have longevity are the ones that transcend that initial wave and become a band in their own right; for the most part forging a sound entirely their own.
It is impossible to talk about the birth of grunge and the Seattle sound without considering Alice in chains, but it is possible to talk about AIC’s without referring to their origins.
Initially the simple process of carrying on after Layne’s death was unimaginable, but the band handled the entire process with tact, respect and thoughtfulness, to the point that when they appointed William Duvall as the new front-man the fans welcomed new material.

The album that followed ‘Black Gives Way To Blue’ is starting to be embraced by the hardcore, and allows the new line-up to make some of their most important material to date. Important because they had to allow William to bring in his ideas and feel whilst still maintaining their own identity-no mean feat.

The first single off the new album ‘A looking in view‘ was a perfect introduction, encapsulated in its own lyric ‘Distortion laced with spite’ slipping and entwining himself within the sound Duvall showed elements of the old school being held dear with one hand and the other pointing to a productive future.

The follow-up single ‘Check My Brain’ does what the second single was made for: reinforcing that the band is still capable of beating just plain dirty minor grooves out, and opening a few doors into the dark rooms AIC’s melodies reside. It allows them to skulk around their existing sound, pushing what they can do with its instantly scarring chorus and sinking furthur into murky waters with its droning riff and sludge dance in the dirt.

With ‘Check My Brain’ there is a healthy link to what has gone before and an acknowledgement of the elements that made them commercially successful, but a deep awareness of what the fans and the band themselves want- all wrapped together in a filthy bundle.