Alice in Chains Working On New Album

BY Brock ThiessenPublished Sep 8, 2008

Reports have surfaced that the long album-less Alice In Chains are re-entering the studio to record a new full-length. According to an online posting on AliceInChains.com (and re-posted by Blabbermouth), the heavy-riffing Seattle outfit have begun rehearsals for the upcoming album, which will mark their fourth album proper and the first since their 1995 self-titled release. More importantly, it will also be the first since the group's front-man Layne Staley died from a drug overdose in 2002, with a reunited Alice in Chains taking afro-topped singer William DuVall as their new voice.

The post by the Baldy, whose job is "to travel the world with Alice in Chains and send photos, videos and blog entries back to [the webmasters] at AliceInChains.com," tells us "the guys gathered in a rehearsal studio in North Hollywood for the last few days of July and the first few days of August, and began running through the new material and shaking off the rust.

"After four days of going through the songs alone, the producer for the upcoming record joined the guys and they spent another three days polishing and spit-shining the songs together. A lot was accomplished in that week, and everyone is eager to move forward."

In an interview with the Pulse of Radio this spring, Alice in Chains' new ringleader/guitar man Jerry Cantrell confirmed the band indeed had new material in the works.

"We've been working about the last four months, and there's a good bulk of music and a good body of work so far, and we're having fun, and you know, we're taking our time and trying to figure out where William fits in and where we need to step up, and I have all the confidence in the world in the guys," Cantrell said. "The most important thing to me is that we're all together and, you know, it's been a tough and painful experience at times, but it's been very rewarding at the same time."

Alice in Chains officially reunited in early 2006, obviously minus the deceased Staley, and along with DuVall, have been playing several live shows alongside fellow metal-leaning acts like Velvet Revolver and Deftones.

There is no word yet on which label could be releasing the new Alice in Chains album, who's producing it, or when we could expect to hear new material.

Alice in Chains "Man in the Box” (live in New York 2006)

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