In late summer of 2008, at the suggestion of longtime friend/Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, Alice In Chains met with producer Nick Raskulinecz to talk about the possibility of collaborating on a new album.

"I went to the studio where they'd been working on demos," recalls the producer, whose credits include Foo Fighters, Rush, Deftones. "We stayed outside and just talked for a couple hours....

In late summer of 2008, at the suggestion of longtime friend/Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, Alice In Chains met with producer Nick Raskulinecz to talk about the possibility of collaborating on a new album.

"I went to the studio where they'd been working on demos," recalls the producer, whose credits include Foo Fighters, Rush, Deftones. "We stayed outside and just talked for a couple hours. After the ice was broken, they brought me inside to hear some music. The first track started playing and I was immediately hooked - the riff was killer, so catchy and so heavy, and when the vocals kicked in, I looked at Jerry (Cantrell, Alice In Chains' guitarist/vocalist) and said, 'I don't need to hear anything else - I'm in.' I was just blown away."

By early fall, the band and producer had hunkered down at Grohl's Studio 606 in Northridge, CA, and were hard at work on Alice In Chains' first new studio release in more than 10 years!