Alice in Chains

Anticipation is a double-edged sword: Die-hard new headbangers will no doubt jump all over Alice in Chains, the band’s first new disc in almost two years. But, save for the rare exception (the genuinely ominous ”Head Creeps”), high expectations aren’t going to make a sludgy stew of cookie-cutter riffs and self-indulgent, introspective noodling rock any harder.