The span of nearly fourteen years between the self-titled album and Black Gives Way to Blue, marks the longest gap between studio albums in Alice in Chains' career. The band reunited in early 2006, with DuVall as their new singer. By April 2007, Alice in Chains had been writing and demoing songs for the album, 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. The album was funded by guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney since the band didn't have a record label at the time. The writing and recording process was completed on March 18, 2009, Jerry Cantrell's 43rd birthday.
Musically, the album sees the band return to the heavy metal/hard rock style of Dirt and Facelift instead of the murky dark mood that their third album showcased with more grunge-fuzz pedal elements; some songs also have acoustic elements reminiscent of the band's two acoustic EPs and also from their third full-length album. It also includes songs which Jerry Cantrell described as "the heaviest he's ever written".
In 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. It was the band's first live performance since 1996. 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. Comes with the Fall vocalist William DuVall made his first public performance with the band during that show singing Alice in Chains' "Rooster". The band followed the concert with a short United States club tour, several festival dates in Europe, and a brief tour in Japan. DuVall joined Alice in Chains as lead singer during the band's reunion concerts. DuVall was an old friend of Cantrell's. They met in Los Angeles in 2000 through a mutual acquaintance, and DuVall's band Comes with the Fall was both the opening act and also Cantrell's backing band during the tour for his second solo album, Degradation Trip, in 2001 and 2002.
About the reunion concerts, Cantrell stated, "We want to celebrate what we did and the memory of our friend. We have played with some [singers] who can actually bring it and add their own thing to it without being a Layne clone. We're not interested in stepping on [Staley's] rich legacy. It's a tough thing to go through. Do you take the Led Zeppelin approach and never play again, because the guy was that important? That's the approach we've taken for a lot of years. Or, do you give it a shot, try something? We're willing to take a chance on it. It's completely a reunion because the three of us who're left are back together. But it's not about separating and forgetting — it's about remembering and moving on."
Kinney mentioned in a February 2006 interview that he would be interested in writing new material, but not as Alice in Chains. He explained, "If we found some other dude, I'd love to move on, write some cool tunes and change the name and go on like that. I don't see continuing as Alice and replacing somebody. ... We're not trying to replace Layne. We want to play these songs one more time, and if it seems like the right thing to do, it'll happen. I don't know how long it will go or where it will take us. It's kind of a tribute to Layne and our fans, the people who love these songs. It's not some 'I'm broke and I need the money' situation. We love playing together."
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." 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.
Recording began on October 23, 2008 at the Foo Fighters' Studio 606 in Northridge, California, with producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Rush, Stone Sour, Trivium, Shadows Fall, Death Angel). The band didn't have a record label at the time and the album was funded by Jerry Cantrell and Sean Kinney. In April 2009, Cantrell told at the Revolver's Golden God 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.
The album's cover art features the illustration of a heart surrounded by a black background. The illustration was made by British designer Matt Taylor. According to William DuVall, the cover was Sean Kinney's basic concept, but the other members also had a hand in it. Jerry Cantrell explained the cover in an interview with Billboard:
The whole thing with the heart... there wasn't a real intention or a reason, it's just a collection of ideas that we put together. To me, we had our hearts broken by losing Layne and losing ourselves. And also it took a lot of that to get through this process and to even take the chance, and to stand-up and risk. It celebrates his life.
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