Comes With The Fall
Beyond The Last Light

And so the Alice in Chains have returned after years of silence, when no one thought even remotely that any mortal would dare to take the place of the gigantic Layne Staley... But no, the band has reformed and a new singer with an enormous responsibility on his shoulders. William DuVall, and who might he be? Where did Uncle Jerry find him? And most importantly, can he fill the huge void left by the premature departure of a tremendous vocalist like Staley?

Well.. There's talk that, in live settings, the guy does an excellent job and knows his stuff, but if anyone still has doubts about DuVall's talent, they should check out the latest work from his band, the Comes With The Fall, "Beyond The Last Light" (2007).

I recently got my hands on it and I must say that, from the first listen, the album brutally assaulted my eardrums. I would dare to say it surpasses the latest effort by Alice in Chains.. Maybe it's because I prefer powerful, screaming voices (does my nickname give it away? What do you say?), granite and mighty riffs, and hammering rhythmic sections, maybe it's because I can't seem to let go of grunge and hard rock, maybe it's because... But aren't these a bit my own business?

Anyway, this work deserves it and not a little, here you will find DuVall in great vocal form, perhaps you will find him extremely derivative (who said Soundgarden?), with riffs indebted in every way to the good Kim Thayil, you'll find drum barrages and hammering to the poor defenseless snare drum that screams "mercy" with every hit, a bass marching like an overpowered steam train, you'll be dealing with a trio (yes, a trio, because Will also plays the guitar and how he plays it..) with balls.

After all, how can one remain impassive in front of a sonic wall like "Rockslide" at the opening, or when the first notes of "The Last Light" might remind you of "My Wave", but I didn't tell you anything.. DuVall proves to be a truly great singer, winking at the Cornell of yesteryears, with a full and powerful timbre, not at all afraid to raise the tone when necessary. Honestly, I'm not sure why he was (deliberately?) put a bit in the shadows by Cantrell in the vocal parts of "Black Gives Way To Blue".

If you catch something of the Zeppelin on a riff level, I can only agree with you ("Beautiful Destroyer"), but here, it's damn hard rock and, whether you like it or not, there aren't many cards to play. Here they draw from the deck of the greats of the past, and I'd say they draw well.. There are no lack of (relatively) quiet moments ("White Riot", "Black Cross", "Still Got a Hold On My Heart"), real gongs to pull you away for a moment from the violent onslaughts in full face ("Deadly Ecstasy", with excellent voice-guitar harmonics and counter-times, "Hologram" which vaguely echoes the riffs of Floodgate) which end up stunning with the fiery finale of "Fire Come Down".

Excellent music, well-played and produced album, voice "as it should be", band granite just right, no drop in tone.

Definitely, passed..