Dirt - Alice in Chains

Contrary to popular belief (most would say it’s Nirvana’s Nevermind) this is grunge’s finest hour. Alice in Chains just made the most sense, especially when looking at the grunge scene from the perspective of a metalhead. These boys were much harder and much heavier than all of their peers, although Soundgarden had a good dose of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.

Alice in Chains had actually been an opening act for the famous “Clash of the Titans” tour (which included Slayer, Megadeth, Testament, and Anthrax) just before dropping their debut Facelift. But it would be another two years before Alice in Chains gave us their masterpiece. Bolstered, but also overshadowed, by the success of Nevermind and Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger, Dirt managed to make it to number six on the charts.

Here we see Alice in Chains shedding a lot of the filler that had been the back end of their debut. The lyrics here are extremely personal with many tracks relating to Layne Staley’s continuing decent into his heroin addiction. “Rooster” is all about Jerry Cantrell’s father’s experience in the Vietnam War and is probably Alice in Chains at their most political.

The musicianship has also been taken a step further (let’s be honest: the riff to “Man in the Box” is slightly less complicated than “Smoke on the Water”). The opening to “Them Bones” sounds like it could come from a death metal song, and the song continues its thunderous beat, never letting up. But that doesn’t mean that Alice in Chains has gone the way of Slayer (although Tom Araya makes an appearance towards the end of the album on Intro (Dream Sequence)). Alice in Chains seems to mimic the slow melodies of Nirvana on “Down in a Hole” but to a much better and moodier effect. The album is capped off with two great songs. First is “Angry Chair” a heavy dirge that has a very ominous almost Black Sabbath feel to it. The last track, “Would?” is maybe Alice in Chain’s best song. The song is a tribute to Andrew Wood, the lead singer of lesser-known grunge band Mother Love Bone, who died of a heroin overdose. Reminiscent of Megadeth’s “Peace Sells”, the song opens with a bass riff, which then leads into the main guitar riff. Most of the song is kept at a fairly low and brooding tone. Only during the chorus and end of the song does it really kick up the intensity. The end of the song extends the chorus allowing Staley to ask the questions “Have I run too far to get home?” and “If I would could you?” as if Staley were asking the questions to himself and not his friend.

Them Bones

Rooster

Angry Chair

Would?