Amazing guitar wrifs combined with brilliant lyrics are the perfect mix for an audio orgasim.

Brilliant! If you're an ‘Alice in Chains’ fan, you will not be disappointed by this latest effort.

William DuVall steps in seamlessly to Layne Staleys shoes to fill what seemed to be an unfillable hole and the rest of the band doesn't miss a beat, one could be forgiven for thinking this was the original lineup.

Alice in Chains fans have been waiting a long time for an album with new material and it's certainly been well worth the wait.

"Black Gives way to Blue” is the fourth full length studio album by alternative rockers "Alice In Chains” and their first in well over ten years!

The band were on hiatus since the mid 90's and after the death of Layne Staley (original vocalist) in 2001, the chances of there ever being another album other than a "greatest hits” or another "best of” were looking slim.

Enter William Duvall who after touring with Jerry Cantrell to promote Cantrell's second solo album "Degradation trip”, provided another guitar to the live show and took the challenging role of singing Layne's vocal part's for a few "Alice” tunes which Jerry threw into his live show.

Then in 2005, Alice drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Inez regrouped with Jerry for a reunion "AIC” tour and recruited William as lead Vocalist.

The tour was a great success for the band and within two weeks after the tour ended, Jerry Cantrell began writing new Alice material alongside his new found band mates and sure enough – the resulting product; "Black Gives Way to Blue”.

The album is outstanding and new vocalist aside, still sounds and feels like an "Alice In chains” record. It's dark, brooding and moody with a great blend of hard rock and melody with catchy guitar riffs and haunting "Alice” vocal harmonies which still make them stand out from other hard rock bands of the past and present.

The album is a long over-due addition to the "AIC” anthology and rather than serving as an insult to original vocalist Layne, serves more as a Tribute and continuation of hopefully more to come.

"Black Gives Way To Blue” is a great step forward for the band and is definitely the best rock album of 2009 thus far!