ALICE IN CHAINS

"Scary's on the wall, scary's on his way"

Class C

Introduction

ALBUM REVIEWS:

DISCOGRAPHY GAPS

Disclaimer: this page is not written from the point of view of an Alice In Chains fanatic and is not generally intended for narrow-perspective Alice In Chains fanatics. If you are deeply offended by criticism, non-worshipping approach to your favourite artist, or opinions that do not match your own, do not read any further. If you are not, please consult the guidelines for sending your comments before doing so. For information on reviewing principles, please see the introduction. For specific non-comment-related questions, consult the message board.

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Introduction

The band that was too scary to take Nirvana's place. Well, sort of. The funny thing is, Alice In Chains were from Seattle, but they were hardly an essential part of the punk-influenced "grunge" scene, bent on overthrowing the cheesy influences of late Eighties metal and replacing them with, in the end, almost equally cheesy influences of pop hooks mixed with "original" Seventies' metal and Eighties' underground attitude. If anything, Alice In Chains were an offshoot of the late Eighties metal - and their earliest existence was as a glam metal band, with frontman Layne Staley wearing drag and more or less conforming to the Motley Crue side of things.

General Evaluation : Listenability: 4/5 . Good hooks, no noise-for-noise-sake, melodicity - what else d'ya want?

Resonance: 5/5 . That's the key, baby.

Originality: 1/5 . Mmm... well, they were among the "grunge pioneers", but they didn't invent grunge, and besides, grunge was hardly an invention in the first place.

Adequacy: 3/5 . Sometimes even the grimmest person on Earth could get sick of Staley's constant mopiness, I guess.

Diversity: 2/5 . Rockers and ballads? Well, at least these guys weren't into polka.

Overall: 3.0 = C on the rating scale.

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ALBUM REVIEWS

FACELIFT

Year Of Release: 1990

8



Overall rating =

Hey, here's somebody who sure knows how to plant the True Spirit of Non-Cheesy Evil into a well-chosen guitar note.

Track listing: 1) We Die Young ; 2) Man In The Box ; 3) Sea Of Sorrow ; 4) Bleed The Freak; 5) I Can't Remember; 6) Love Hate Love ; 7) It Ain't Like That; 8) Sunshine; 9) Put You Down; 10) Confusion ; 11) I Know Somethin' ('Bout You); 12) Real Thing.

These guys have a great sound worked out from the very beginning, but the riff department kinda suffers. Cut this by twenty minutes and...

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DIRT

Year Of Release: 1992

10



Overall rating =

Wanna know? Not Satan himself could put together such an immaculately conceived package.

Track listing: 1) Them Bones ; 2) Dam That River ; 3) Rain When I Die ; 4) Sickman ; 5) Rooster ; 6) Junkhead; 7) Dirt; 8) God Smack ; 9) Hate To Feel; 10) Angry Chair; 11) Down In A Hole; 12) Would.

The best death metal album I've never heard anybody call a death metal album. What kind of a fucked-up world we're living in when people make a metal album about death and I have to call it "grunge"? Screw you, terminology-setters! Dirt will always be "death metal" for me, and not "death metal" because it features a Cookie Monster guy grunting about Satan's smelly breath, chopped entrails, and a disembowelled Messiah to a bunch of zillion-notes-per-second riffs that all sound the same, but "death metal" because it's truly one of the scariest, most authentically nightmarish records ever made.

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JAR OF FLIES

Year Of Release: 1994

7



Overall rating =

The "acoumystical" side of the band is not really my cup of tea, but that's not to say it doesn't deserve attention.

Track listing: 1) Rotten Apple ; 2) Nutshell; 3) I Stay Away; 4) No Excuses; 5) Whale & Wasp; 6) Don't Follow; 7) Swing On This.

Technically, it's also an EP, but at least it's much longer than Sap, and I would say what's necessary to do is to put them both on one CD and sell it at regular price. Better still, issue a double CD with all of the band's 1990-94 output in interspersed order, which would prevent the listener from getting too worn out, whether it be through endless metallic riffage or endless menacing acoustic strumming. On the other hand, let's be fair to history.

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ALICE IN CHAINS

Year Of Release: 1995

9



Overall rating =

This one's depressing rather than frightening, but they have studied that emotion well, too.

Track listing: 1) Grind; 2) Brush Away; 3) Sludge Factory; 4) Heaven Beside You ; 5) Head Creeps; 6) Again ; 7) Shame In You ; 8) God Am; 9) So Close; 10) Nothin' Song; 11) Frogs ; 12) Over Now.

In order for me to write an inspired, convincing review of this album, I have to refrain from sleeping for forty-eight hours, drink a couple of gallons of vodka without any food, turn the lights down low so there's nothing around but the dim, murky glow of the computer screen, and tie a 20-pound iron ball to each of my fingers. Gee, I hope they didn't use a real dog on that album cover, but what fascinates me the most about it is not the lack of a leg, rather the look in its eyes. No better way to summarize this record.

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MTV UNPLUGGED

Year Of Release: 1996

8



Overall rating =

Well, it's not too different from what they were doing on their EPs, is it?

Track listing: 1) Nutshell; 2) Brother; 3) No Excuses; 4) Sludge Factory; 5) Down In A Hole; 6) Angry Chair; 7) Rooster; 8) Got Me Wrong; 9) Heaven Beside You; 10) Would; 11) Frogs; 12) Over Now; 13) Killer Is Me.

Pretty much the band's musical testament, I guess. Unplugged shows are usually detested by "selective" audiences, and occasionally for good reason - but for all of their crassness, this particular show doesn't exactly strike me as a purely commercial, publicity-dedicated event. Mostly it has to do with the fact that Alice In Chains already had a thing for doing "unplugged" material earlier in their career, and this MTV show thus feels like a natural continuation of the Sap/Jar Of Flies vibe. So there's some extra people sitting around and cheering and clapping, so who really cares? There ain't that much of 'em anyway.

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