Review by Saxy S for Alice in Chains - The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here (2013)

When a band loses an integral member due to untimely death, it seems like an impossible task to replace them. Avenged Sevenfold dealt with this is 2009 with the passing of their drummer Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan. After Mike Portnoy filled in for the remainder of that tour, Brooks Wackerman took over in 2015 and the band would release one of their most diverse albums of their careers. One of the reasons I will never fully respect Slipknot ever again is because of how poorly they treated touring bassist, Donnie Steele after the passing of Paul Gray.

The same can be said for Alice in Chains after the passing of Layne Stayley. William Duvall was tasked with attempting to win back all of those people who enjoyed this band during the 1990s who would, inevitably, call it half-assed Alice in Chains and that it would never be as good as Dirt or the self titled album. 2009 was proof of that with Black Gives Way to Blue, a serviceable record that lacked the sort of growth that one would hope from an artist with almost fifteen years layover.

So what did Alice in Chains do in 2013 with The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here? How about creating the most unique AiC album that changed the direction of the band completely, but also established this as not being Layne Stayley's group anymore. And while I will admit, this album did not click with me right away, but going back and listening to it again years later, I think it helps appreciate Rainier Fog even more when you see where many of the bones were planted (pun intended).

To begin, this album is immediately better than BGWTB because of its production. The guitars are seismic in their delivery, but they don't clip the mixing. As a result, the bass lines are also distinguishable and give even the albums slowest moments a sense of direction and forward momentum. And I would be remissed if I didn't mention the fantastic sounding vocal harmonies between Duvall and Cantrell here. I mentioned it during the last AiC review, but it almost sounds like Stayley never left us.

The songwriting feels heavier than ever before. The riffs are chunkier, the harmonies in the background vocals and melodic guitar passages are superb. The hooks from "Hollow", "Stone", "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here", "Scalpel", and "Phantom Limb" are among some of the best Alice in Chains have had in this new era of the band. I love how this band moved away from the traditional grunge sound that made them so popular, but without losing much in the way of their unique identity.

Alice in Chains were always a dark and depressive group when it came to lyrical content. Many of the bands most influential songs: "Down in a Hole", "Nutshell", and "Angry Chair" were all deeply personal to Layne Stayley and his personal struggles that inevitably did him in. Where BGWTB was about coping with the loss of someone close to you, TDPDH addresses more general social issues; specifically the hypocrisy of religion. I love how songs like "Hollow" and "Phantom Limb" really flip off people who think that they can morally grandstand the plebs, but the mob is too large and the dissenting voices ring their words meaningless. Or how on "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here", how these same people in power would denounce scientific evidence that the earth is a sphere or, as the title suggests, that dinosaurs never truly existed as a living species. They were instead placed by the devil to please the ever learning human mind. Who are you more likely to believe?

I'm not sure that Alice in Chains will ever be able to live up to the cosmic levels (pun intended?) of expectations that myself and a lot of other fans have unjustly placed upon this group. This isn't Dirt by any stretch, but it isn't supposed to be. This is the new Alice in Chains. Whether we like it or not, Layne Stayley is not coming back. This is William Duvall's Alice in Chains now. And it is magnificent. Many people were unjustly harsh on this album when it came out, myself included. I suggest you give this another listen. You never know what bones you might uncover.