After the four-year gap since their last studio album, Massachusetts hardcore/metalcore act Converge return with something quite different. A collaborative effort, Bloodmoon: I (Epitaph Records) sees the band joining forces with Chelsea Wolfe, Ben Chisholm plus Cave In singer/guitarist Stephen Brodsky, the seven individuals all contributing to something a little out of their usual comfort zones.
The albums that Grunge legend Jerry Cantrell has released across his solo career and his mothership Alice In Chains always seemed to have an intertwined relationship. 1998’s Boggy Depot and 2002’s Degradation Trip seemingly attempted to fill the void left in the wake of Alice’s hiatus and Layne Staley’s passing while Alice’s comeback albums with William DuVall on board essentially felt like Cantrell albums with extra riffs. This symbiosis turned cyclical with 2018’s Rainier Fog, which shared quite a bit of noticeable commonality with Boggy Depot . So where does Brighten, his first proper solo album in nineteen years, fit into this dichotomy?
Turns out those dudes in Whitechapel are going to be alright. About a decade removed from the great Deathcore rush, this Knoxville unit is still putting up strong numbers and successfully exploring beyond the confines of the genre. And if you enjoyed the genre line blurring on 2019s The Valley, well it turns out Kin (Metal Blade) is willing to venture further out into the woods.
Legendary rocker Jerry Cantrell of Alice In Chains has shared the title track of his upcoming new album, Brighten. Due on October 29, “Brighten” was co-produced by Jerry over the past year with film composer Tyler Bates and Cantrell’s longtime engineer Paul Figueroa. They welcomed a dynamic cast of supporting players, including drummers Gil Sharone and Abe Laboriel, Jr. (Paul McCartney), pedal steel master Michael Rozon, Vincent Jones on piano, Wurlitzer, and organ. Other rock legends added to the fun of this LP, including Duff McKagan (GUNS N’ ROSES) on select bass tracks, Greg Puciato (THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN) handling all of the background vocals and Joe Barresi (TOOL, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE) overseeing the mixing of “Brighten”. Together, they recorded eight originals and the LP closes with an approved-by-Elton John cover of his classic “Goodbye” as the finale. Listen to “Brighten” now!
Having stayed with Black Sabbath until 1983’s unfairly criticised Born Again (Vertigo) album, founding member Geezer Butler returned to the band in the early nineties but with a growing desire to prove himself as a solo artist. After leaving again in ’94, the iconic bass player and moustache enthusiast teamed up with former frontman Ozzy Osbourne for a while before eventually going it alone to form G/Z/R.
Yesterday, Alice In Chains was awarded the prestigious Founders Award from Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture (MoPop). They were celebrated for their 30-year career by a cadre of their friends and peers playing AIC covers from the Rock and Metal world such as Metallica, Korn, Mastodon, Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, and Fishbone, as well as members of Guns N’ Roses, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Jane’s Addiction, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, and others. Alice In Chains also performed their first show since the end of their tour cycle for 2018’s Rainier Fog album in 2019. The event was This year’s celebration was broadcast virtually on Amazon Music’s Twitch Channel watched by more than 275,000 people and raised over $600,000 USD. Watch Metallica and Korn covering “Would?” and the entire show as well.Continue reading
Today is the final Record Store Day event of 2020, Record Store Black Friday 2020. While this has been a devastating year for the entire world financially, the music industry has suffered the most. None more so than DIY bands and Record shops, the lifeblood of purchasing music and supporting the ecosystem. As many in the media have pointed out, of the countless great Record Store Day special releases out this year, today’s seem to be among the very best including Alice In Chains, Corey Taylor, Chris Cornell, David Gilmour, Anthrax, Puscifer, Post Malone, Masters of Reality, Baroness, Ice-T, Best Coast, Motorhead, Sonny Rollins and many more. If you have the cash and can support record stores and your favorite bands, today is one of the last days in 2020 to do it. Continue reading
Alice In Chains singer/guitarist William DuVall will host another solo acoustic livestream this Friday, November 27 @ 8PM EST. DuVall has been doing live streams during the pandemic since his world tour to support his solo album One Alone (DVL Records) was postponed. William will appear next week with Alice In Chains as they will receive the Founders Award at the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPop) in Seattle, virtually, with a celebration for the band from peers and luminaries. The band will also perform their first show of 2020. Buy a ticket for Williams’s solo show via StageIt.com at the link below. Continue reading
Alice In Chains is being honored by Seattle’s MoPop Museum of Pop Culture on December 1st, and the band will be celebrated by a cadre of their peers, as well as hold their first performance of 2020. Korn, Metallica, Mastodon, Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins, Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction, and Krist Novoselic of Nirvana are among the artists who will take part in virtual tribute performances when AIC is presented with this year’s Museum Of Pop Culture (MoPOP) Founders Award. The full list of presenters (virtually) is listed below. Continue reading
