I agree with that, though I wonder how Will feels about this albums themes. I always got the impression that he was quite religious from his lyrics with Come with the Fall. Example: The song "Before the fall." Lyrics speak of the crucifixion of Christ, fear, the love of God, faith, and worship.
I see no clear reason for DuVall to sing lyrics with content opposite of his beliefs, except if he's okay with doing so. I mean, it's not like he's a vocalist hired by Cantrell to sing his songs with him. On the other hand, Before the Fall was released in 2000. It's possible DuVall's beliefs have changed since then. If you're gonna cite more songs... the last Comes with the Fall album was released in 2007. That is still before the two latest Alice in Chains albums were released, so, still possible. Whichever way it is, I don't think DuVall would do this against his will.
That's a good point, but to the best of my knowledge Marcus of Mumford and Sons is an atheist and Mumford and Sons is quite a religious band in terms of lyrics so to say that someone wouldn't be a part of a band that they disagree all the themes within isn't always entirely accurate. Still it's entirely possible that Will's beliefs have changed, as mine have changed quite a bit since 2007 as well.
It's probably just a subject they all felt the need to elaborate on and create some music and lyrics around it. Whether he agrees or not is entirely up to him. Like I said, I'm sure there are many interpretations but the one Will wrote (Phantom Limb) shows some doubts regarding the whole concept of life after death. So I'd imagine he shares similar ideas to Jerry's. Phantom Limb, to me, is about a person dead or dying underground (first verse), waiting for that stairway to heaven but nothing happens, and he's pondering if he "gave his loyalty" to God too soon. Waiting for angels, but all he sees are vultures circling through a pinhole of light (second verse). Realizing that there's probably no transcendence in the end, his ego is pulverized after being blinded and brainwashed by all the promised things in the Bible (hence, the lyrics "Weathered brain a parasite within"). These lyrics are probably the strongest on the record, and the fact that Will wrote them suggests that he pretty much agrees with the entire thing.
Two new music videos released today! [video=youtube;7YDPNl7PeUU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YDPNl7PeUU[/video] [video=youtube;r0_2Wq9Aos4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0_2Wq9Aos4[/video] Voices was pretty awesome (also, DuVall is a boss for wearing a Van Halen shirt). The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here was good too. It could have been better, but it reiterated the song's message pretty nicely so I'm not too upset. Love the album, too.
Good. ~ I like both videos. "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here" reminded me of "Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared", haha. Good job.
BADASS track. Post-Layne Staley AiC has been surprsingly great. My one complaint is that they never really let William DuVall shine. The guy has one hell of a voice, yet it always feels like a Jerry Cantrell solo project more than anything. Still, I'm so excited for a new record.
The way the song is sort of sparse in the verses reminds me of Facelift. I agree, it needs more Will! Oh, well... it is a good tune. I'm interested to see what the album has in store for us. It's kind of hard to expect that it will exceed Black Gives Way or The Devil, but I hope it will be a little more exciting than this track suggests. "The One You Know" certainly isn't a behemoth of a lead single like "A Looking and View" and "Hollow" were. More of a middle-of-the-road catchy AiC track, kind of like "Check My Brain."
It's almost time.... Doing a chronological re-listen to all of AiC's albume/EP, to prepare myself. Up to Dinosaurs (title track at that), it's been a lot of fun. I'd probably rank them like this: Dirt / BGWTB -- 8.5/10 Facelift / Jar of Flies -- 7.5-8/10 Sap / TDPDH - 7/10 AiC - 6.5/10 Looking forward to Rainier Fog.
Will's solo acoustic album is out, and it's really fucking good, so folks should go check it out. "One Alone".