ALICE IN CHAINS Guitarist On Upcoming Album: 'It's A F**king Strong Record'

ALICE IN CHAINS is putting the finishing touches on the much-anticipated follow-up to 2013's critically acclaimed album "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here". Due out later this year, the new disc was recorded in part at Henson Studios in Los Angeles with Nick Raskulinecz, who produced both "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here" and its predecessor, 2009's "Black Gives Way To Blue", and is currently being mixed by Joe Barresi (TOOL, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE).

Guitarist and co-vocalist Jerry Cantrell told Guitar World about the upcoming LP: "It's not that we were keeping it a secret — we just didn't want to say a whole lot about it until we had something to say. And we certainly have something to say with this one. It's a fucking strong record."

The basic tracks for the new ALICE IN CHAINS album were laid down at Studio X in Seattle, marking the first time the band had recorded in the city in more than 20 years, since tracking its 1995 self-titled album at the same facility back when it was known as Bad Animals. "It was cool to be back, because the studio is a part of our history," Cantrell told Guitar World.

As for the musical direction of the new ALICE IN CHAINS material, Cantrell said: "It's a record we haven't done yet, I can tell you that. But it's also a record that has all the elements of anything you would expect from us. It's got our fingerprint. And we're really proud of the material that we wrote and the performances we captured. There's some really heavy shit, some really ugly stuff, some real beautiful stuff, some weirdo trippy shit… it's good!"

Cantrell also addressed the fact that it has been five years since the release of ALICE IN CHAINS' last album. "It's a lot of work doing a record," he said, "and I think it gets harder the older we get. But we just wait until we're ready and until we have enough material that's up to the ALICE IN CHAINS standard, and then we do what we do. This is just the racket that we make when we get together."

"The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here" was the band's second disc with singer William Duvall, who joined in 2006 following the death of Layne Staley.

"The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here" sold 62,000 copies in its first week of release. It followed up 2009's "Black Gives Way To Blue".

The first two singles from "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here", "Hollow" and "Stone", both hit No. 1 on the rock radio airplay charts, while the album itself debuted on the Billboard album chart at No. 2.