Fueled by the hit single “Check My Brain,” currently No. 1 on both the Billboard Top Rock Songs and Alternative Charts, the new ALICE IN CHAINS album BLACK GIVES WAY TO BLUE (Virgin/EMI) entered Billboard’s Top 200 Albums Chart at No. 5 with sales exceeding 126,000 copies. You can purchase the album on iTunes here.

The debut comes amidst a flurry of activity surrounding the band, including heavy radio and video airplay (the “Check My Brain” video is currently featured on MTV2’s Elite 8), a sold-out U.S. buzz tour, and back-to-back performances on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” last Tuesday and Wednesday.

The album has also been drawing rave reviews from both sides of the pond: Playboy gave it four stars, calling it “Alice In Chains’ Back In Black.” NPR’s “All Things Considered” lauded the album for being “unexpectedly vibrant” and sounding “liberated.” Entertainment Weekly praised its “‘vertigo-inducing hard rock riffology, fevered acoustic ruminations, and gloomy proclamations, delivered with admirable force and brio.” Metal Hammer called it “a masterpiece” and “Alice In Chains’ finest hour.”

The band has also just released a “Making of” video for the trippy “Check My Brain” video. The clip can be seen below.

Next up is an October 30th performance on NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien,” followed by a trio of headlining radio dates in Texas, and then a headlining tour of Europe, set to kick off November 12th in Glasgow.

Tour dates are as follows:

Date / City / Venue
Oct. 22 San Antonio, TX Bone Bash @ AT&T Center
Oct. 23 Grand Prairie, TX KEGL Freakers Ball @ Nokia Theatre
Oct. 24 Houston, TX Buzzfest @ Woodlands Pavilion
Nov. 12 Glasgow, Scotland Barrowland
Nov. 13 Birmingham, UK Birmingham Academy
Nov. 14 Manchester, UK Manchester Academy
Nov. 16 London, UK The Forum
Nov. 17 London, UK The Forum
Nov. 19 Tilburg, Holland 013
Nov. 20 Antwerp, Belgium Trix Zaal
Nov. 21 Weisbaden, Germany Schlachthof
Nov. 23 Dortmund, Germany FZW
Nov. 24 Prague, Czech Rep. Lucerna
Nov. 25 Warsaw, Poland Stodola
Nov. 27 Budapest, Hungary Petofi Csarnok
Nov. 29 Vienna, Austria Gasometer
Nov. 30 Munich, Germany Thearterfabrick
Dec. 2 Milan, Italy Alcatraz
Dec. 3 Fribourg, Switzerland Fri-Son
Dec. 4 Paris, France Bataclan
Dec. 6 Nottingham, UK Rock City
Dec. 7 London, UK Brixton Academy