ALICE IN CHAINS Setting the musical bar high and releasing no album before its time      In July 2011, Alice in Chains frontman Jerry Cantrell began working on the band’s new record, but the process proved too painful—not artistically but physically. The guitarist was experiencing severe shoulder pain and underwent surgery to remove bone deposits. A nightmarish scenario for any guitar player, Cantrell wrote it off as an occupational hazard.... 

ALICE IN CHAINS The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here [emi] “Hollow,” the opening track on AIC’s fifth album, is a fitting title for a band that conveys emptiness like no other. Though half the original lineup has succumbed to a shared demon—substance abuse—the enduring Seattle grunge group retains its distinctive sound. It’s almost as if late frontman Layne Staley has returned for the infectiously kinetic “Stone” and the title track’s foreboding...