September 29, 1992 - Dirt

Two weeks after my last release and a mere seven months since the EP "Sap" earlier this year, Alice In Chains released their second studio album "Dirt" on September 29, 1992. This would end up being their most commercially succesful album by far and it spawned five succesful singles. After their acoustic EP this full-length album returns to their heavier and grungier sound and contains many of the band's most famous songs. Layne Staley was using heroin heavily during this time period and his lyrics are much darker on this album as he dealt with heavy depression and addiction problems. That's some heavy stuff, let's see how this translates into Alice In Chains' latest work!

The album begins with a short single titled "Them Bones" and it's driven by some nice heavy guitar with Layne being his usual grunge-y self overtop. The verse flows right into a short chorus and then nicely back into the main riff. The guitar solo starts slow but ends up being pretty fast and sweet by the end before they play anfinal verse and choruses to close out this solid opener. Up next is "Dam That River" and it has a catchy, bouncing main riff with some great sounding guitar and Layne sings nicely along. He sounds at his grunge-y best in the chorus which is a slightly heavier version of the main riff. After another verse and chorus Jerry Cantrell plays a decent solo that fits the mood but isn't too flashy. A final verse and chorus finishes off another good song. Track 3 is the six minute "Rain When I Die" and Mike Starr plays a nice dirty, low bass riff that leads the way as we hear some cool distorted guitar and eventually some grunge-y ohhhing from Layne. The guitar ends up playing the same riff as the bass, but much louder and pretty sweet sounding and this forms the main riff as Layne begins the first verse. He holds some nice long notes in the chorus, especially the final "die" as the epic guitar returns and they roll on to the next verse and chorus. Cantrell plays a long solo that fits the dark mood but again no crazy parts to it as Jerry stays fairly tame. They play a final verse and chorus before ending the song as it began, but it's a false ending! They fadeout to silence, but then fade back in and end things on a loud note. The next song was the fifth single, "Down In A Hole" and it's the first slower and softer song on the album with a nice rhythm section and some cool light guitar leading the way. Layne sings in his one of a kind voice and sounds great overtop this kind of half-acoustic main riff. Things shift to a heavier but still slow riff as Layne gets louder to match the music. It's a simple but solid chorus with Layne nicely holding some long notes and Cantrell providing some solid backing vocals as well as his Layne imitation gives the vocals more power to them. They play another verse and chorus, followed oddly right away by another verse and chorus. There's no real solo, but Cantrell does close out the song with a short little guitar bit that sounds good. Track 5 is called "Sickman" and a nice drum beat starts it off that leads into a catchy verse. There's a great wail by Layne as they segue into the slow grunge-y chorus. They play another solid verse, another nice wail  from Layne, and then another slow chorus with Layne sounding great. They shift nicely to a new slow riff that ends with a short but epic solo by Cantrell, then it's back to the main riff for a final verse and chorus. The next song "Rooster" is probably their most famous song, and it's pretty slow paced and begins with some nice light guitar and bass before Layne and Jerry combine for a nice "hoo hoo hoo hooooooooooo" that fits the mood of the music very nicely. Layne begins the first verse in a low and very grunge-y voice that only he can do and Cantrell adds some epic electric guitar to the mix at times. After a quiet first chorus things shift to a heavier and louder version of the riff and things sound pretty sweet. Cantrell plays a short guitar solo between choruses and then they quiet things down again for another verse before slamming back in for the heavy chorus. They end the song as it began with some cool light music and Layne and Jerry hooing along. Track 7 is "Junkhead", a song about Layne's drug addiction and it has a nice heavy main riff by Cantrell and Starr compliments nicely with some cool low bass while Layne sings overtop in a way that only he can. There's lighter music in the chorus and I love the lyrics "what's my drug of choice? Well what have you got?" After another verse and chorus Cantrell plays a guitar solo, but it's pretty simple and repetitive. The change back to the heavy main riff is welcome as they slowly play another verse and chorus before nicely jamming out the ending. Up next is the title track "Dirt" and Cantrell kicks right into a cool and catchy main riff and Layne does a couple nice grunge-y wails before starting the slow verse that matches the music perfectly. Aside from a pretty epic guitar solo, the song just slowly rolls on, but never seems to get old and that's the sign of a good main riff. Track 9 is called "God Smack" and a catchy guitar riff leads the way as Layne sings in an echo-y sort of version of his usual voice that sounds interesting. They segue nicely into the chorus where Layne yells louder and Cantrell plays some nice distorted guitar. After another verse and chorus it's solo time and Jerry delivers a short but pretty cool solo. Then it's back to the main riff for a final catchy verse and a couple choruses to close things out. The next song is by far the shortest at just 43 seconds, titled "Iron Gland" and despite it's short length it features Slayer's Tom Araya on vocals! The song has some epic distorted guitar by Cantrell while Araya laughs maniacally and shouts "I am iron gland!" A weird but cool little interlude that brings us to track 11 "Hate To Feel" which has Layne on rhythm guitar in addition to his vocals. He plays a simple but cool-sounding backing riff and Sean Kinney plays a cool drum beat as well. Layne sings some long-held vocals in his usual fashion but they shift nicely and suddenly to a faster riff with Layne singing nice and low and Cantrell and Starr playing some nice offbeat stuff that sounds pretty sweet. The chorus has lots of backing vocals from Cantrell and at the end they nicely slow it down again to repeat the whole process. After another sped up part and another chorus Cantrell breaks out into a nice solo that is slow but sounds pretty epic. It leads perfectly into the sped up part for a final verse and a final chorus before they nicely finish off the song with a classic metal flourish that sounds pretty good. The next song is another single called "Angry Chair" and it has Layne on rhythm guitar again and Cantrell singing co-lead vocals. It's driven by another simple but solid guitar riff and Layne and Jerry sync up to sing the verse and Cantrell's voice just adds more emphasis to all the long-held notes. The latter half of the verse is much heavier and I love how hard it hits and Layne does a great job holding a long "heeeeey" at the end of each heavy bit. They play another quiet to loud verse before finally reaching a pop-y chorus. From here they go right back to the heavy part of the verse and this sets the stage for Cantrell's solo. Jerry delivers another pretty epic solo that fits the mood really nicely and it leads right back into the heavy part of the verse. They play a final chorus and then jam out the opening light riff until the song eventually fades out. The final song on this epic and very grunge-y album is "Would?" and Cantrell sings co-lead with Layne once again on this yet another succesful single. Starr plays a pretty sweet bass riff and Kinney plays a great catchy drum beat to keep things rolling while Cantrell adds bits and pieces of guitar here and there. Layne finally joins in to sing the first verse and as usual ge sounds pretty good holding lots of long notes in his grunge-y voice. Things roll right into a similar but more pop-y riff for the chorus and they roll right back into the catchy main riff. After another verse and chorus Cantrell plays a solo that is decent but not one of his best I thought. Layne sings a couple new verses before they nicely and heavily close out the song and the album.

That is the end of "Dirt" and I thought it was a pretty sweet album. Aside from the short interlude "Iron Gland", this album is one cool song after another and it never lets up the whole way through! Even the slower songs were still pretty cool and Layne Staley sounds awesome throughout the album. The music is nice and heavy for the most part as well and it was all very dark and grunge-y sounding. I think it's easily better than their debut album "Facelift" and that was pretty good as well! Alice In Chains are peaking just as grunge was peaking and they are worthy powerhouses of the genre. I look forward to hearing more in the future!