[13] Black Gives Way to Blue won Revolver magazine's Golden Gods Award for Album of the Year in 2010.

[14] By April 2007, Alice in Chains had been writing and demoing songs for the album,[15] but the band did not show further signs of progress until October 2008, when they announced that they had begun recording with producer Nick Raskulinecz in the studio.

[21] On February 18, 2005, guitarist Jerry Cantrell, bassist Mike Inez, and drummer Sean Kinney reunited to perform a benefit concert in Seattle for victims of the tsunami disaster that struck South Asia.

[23] On March 10, 2006, the surviving members performed at VH1's Decades Rock Live concert, honoring fellow Seattle musicians Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart.

[24] Comes with the Fall vocalist William DuVall made his first public performance with the band during that show singing Alice in Chains' "Rooster".

"[14] In April 2007, the band's "official blogger", Baldy, posted an update on progress towards the writing of the album, saying that Alice in Chains had been in Los Angeles, California for five days, "sat through three rehearsals and one demo recording session, listened to several other demos" and the new material was "kicking his ass right out of his pants.

[31] In September 2008, it was reported that Alice in Chains would enter the studio that October to begin recording a new album for a summer 2009 release.

[16] The band did not have a record label at the time and the album was funded by Jerry Cantrell and Sean Kinney.

[33] Staley's mother, Nancy McCallum, was supportive of the band's decision to move on and visited them during their recording sessions.

[33] In April 2009, Cantrell told at the Revolver's Golden Gods Awards Show that Alice in Chains had finished recording the album on March 18, 2009 (his 43rd birthday and also the same day that William DuVall's son was born), and were in the process of mixing it for a September release.

[19] Elton John recorded the piano track for the song "Black Gives Way to Blue" in a Las Vegas studio on April 23, 2009.

[36]On December 1, 2020, Cornell Silver made her musical debut performing the song along with Chris DeGarmo at the MoPOP Founders Award tribute to Alice in Chains following an introduction by her mother.

"[20] The title track, "Black Gives Way to Blue", was written as a tribute to Staley and features Cantrell on lead vocals and Elton John on piano.

[40][41] Regarding the lyrics to other specific songs, Cantrell said the first single from the album, "A Looking in View", "basically speaks to any number of things that keep you balled up inside.

"[42] The second single, "Check My Brain", features lyrics dealing with Cantrell's move from Seattle to Los Angeles in 2003.

And having some experience touring on my own and doing that, it’s kind of a natural progression to take on a larger role on this record and this incarnation of the band.

[46]The album cover art features an anatomical illustration of a heart surrounded by a black and blue background.

[49] Photos of the band taken by photographer James Minchin III and illustrations designed by Emmanuel Polanco complete the booklet.

[50] Jerry Cantrell explained the album cover in an interview with Billboard in October 2009: The whole thing with the heart... there wasn't a real intention or a reason.

[53] To help promote the album, on September 17, 2009,[54] Alice in Chains released an EPK featuring all four of the members being interviewed while the Kiss makeup is being applied on them.

[55] An app for iPhone was released on October 27, 2009, featuring audio streaming of three songs from the album ("Check My Brain", "A Looking In View" and "Acid Bubble"), the music videos for "Check My Brain" and "A Looking In View", breaking news, photos, tour dates, band bio, discography, fan wall for commenting and access to Alice In Chains merchandise, tickets, web site and band mailing list.

[68][69] Alice in Chains revealed their new album publicly at a listening party on July 14, 2009 at the Ricardo Montalbán Theater in Los Angeles.

They played the entire LP over the PA system and performed an acoustic set including versions of songs "Your Decision" and "Black Gives Way to Blue".

[41] The UK magazine Classic Rock awarded the album nine out of ten stars in its review section in September 2009.

[71] On June 30, 2009, one of the songs from the album, "A Looking in View", was made available for purchase via iTunes and Amazon,[72][73] and for a limited time it was available as a free download through the official Alice in Chains website in early July.

[83] To coincide with the band's European tour, Alice in Chains released its next single, "Your Decision", on November 16, 2009 in the UK, and in the US on December 1.

[86] The third and last single, "Lesson Learned", went to radio on June 22, 2010,[87] and reached number 1 on the US Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks.

[88] Black Gives Way to Blue received Gold certification by the Canadian Recording Industry Association in February 2010, signifying sales of over 40,000 units.

[89] The album was certified Gold by the RIAA, in May 2010,[11] selling over 500,000 copies in the U.S.[12] Black Gives Way to Blue was voted number 2 on Kerrang!

The video features behind the scenes footage of the band on studio recording the album between December 2008 and January 2009.