A Looking In View

I'm sure most know that on April 5th, 2002, after a long battle with personal demons, Layne Staley passed away. The story goes like this:
He died alone, in his apartment after overdosing. he wasn't found until about 2 weeks later when the police were called to kick the door down. Such a sad way to silence such an amazing voice.
When I had first heard it announced, it was 10 AM and I was sitting in my grandparent's living room watching some silly VH1 show. This was a very sad day for me personally as I grew up listening to Alice in Chains and fell in love with the vocals combo of Layne and Jerry Cantrell. Alice In Chains had been on an indefinite hiatus after their Unplugged performance (which is still one of the most amazing and chilling performances I've ever seen), so the death of Layne had pretty much put a nail in the coffin of my hopes of new material as well as getting to see them in concert one day...
That was until I heard that they were together and working with vocalist William Duvall. Despite a little different vocal range/style, he seem to compliment AiC's style nicely as well as adding a new/different element to move on from the Layne era. I was a little iffy on this new incarnation as Layne was such a big part of what sparked my fiery love for this band...
Ok, "a little iffy" is an understatement; I was EXTREMELY skeptical, until I heard their new single, "A Looking In View".



After hearing this, any doubts I had about the new era of Alice, were completely gone. I should have had more faith in Mr. Cantrell. This new song is vintage Alice with a bit more added "grunge" to it. I'm extremely impressed with it and will definitely be picking up the new album when it's released in the near future. :)

Much love,
Geoff