 On March 21 , 2011 , Alice in Chains announced that they were working on a fifth studio album , and both Cantrell and Inez later made statements that they had begun the recording process . The album was expected to be finished by summer of 2012 and released by the end of 2012 or beginning of 2013 . While Alice in Chains were writing for the album in 2011 , Cantrell required surgery , which delayed recording the new material . In an interview published in May 2012 , Cantrell explained , " The thing that set me back is I had some bone spurs [ and ] cartilage issues in my shoulders . I had the same issue in the other shoulder about six years ago so I 've had them both done now . It 's a repetitive motion injury from playing . " 
