Alice In Chains - Dirt (1992)

When I start up Dirt I'm a bit shocked by what I hear. I was under the impression that Alice In Chains was one of the "godfathers of grunge" like Nirvana. I was really only basing that on the one song I know is by Alice In Chains, which to be honest I can't remember the name so maybe it's not even really an Alice in Chains song. I'll see if before I post this review I can find it on youtube or wherever. (Looks like I failed)

Anyhoo, the opener for Dirt is "Them Bones" and isn't a grunge song. It's got more of a hair metal tone, though if I were to compare it to a band I'm more familiar with it would be Stone Temple Pilots, particularly on their late 90s album No. 4. On Dirt at least Alice In Chains uses a much sharper guitar distortion than STP, closer to what I'm used to from Guns N' Roses. The deep throaty vocals are closer to grunge than hair metal. I once heard STP classified as glam rock, particularly when they played a darker tune like "Silvergun Superman". If Dirt weren't clearly so angry I might consider this a glam album as well.

"Rain When I Die" fades completely out with about 10 seconds to go, after a long section with the vocalist going, "Ehhhh Ehhhhhhhhhhhh Ehhhh Ehhhhhhhhhhhh Ehhhh Ehhhhhhhhhhhh..." I thought the song was over, but instead it faded right back in with more "Ehhhh Ehhhhhhhhhhhh Ehhhh Ehhhhhhhhhhhh Ehhhh Ehhhhhhhhhhhh..." for another few seconds before just ending. I can't hear this and not think of a much better song "Thank You" off Led Zeppelin II, which similarly fades out during a closing organ solo, only to fade back in for a powerful final chord. Note to bands that aren't Led Zeppelin: don't force me to compare your music with theirs. You're going to lose. Now all I want to do is listen to Led Zeppelin II. Argh, stupid Dirt.

"Down In A Hole" ...OK, now I'm feeling the grunge. This is the kind of tripe early 90s white people just ate up hoping it would eventually save rock music from the doldrums of the 80s. Unfortunately it was too ultra-serious, too whiny even when it was dark, and worst of all too formulaic. Any number of bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, or Staind could cover this song doing nothing more than changing the lead vocalist and it would fit perfectly in their catalogue. It's actually an OK song, but it's the kinda faux-epic sad grunge song that hasn't aged well.

"Rooster," "Junkhead," and "Dirt" are each something of a fusion between slow, slogging grunge and cheesy hair metal power ballads. Not that it matters, because the slow slogging part is the only thing I hear. These songs are 6, 5, and 5 minutes long respectively, but easily feel twice as long due to their tempos. In spite of all the hard hitting guitar, bass, and drums I'm yawning as I listen.

Wasn't there a shitty rock band called Godsmack? Did they get their name from "God Smack"?

Dirt is really boring and way too long. Alice In Chains had some decent riffs but didn't change up the sound enough for it to make a difference. Maybe if the album were closer to 40 minutes instead of 60 minutes I might have more nice things to say. But I also thought most of the songs were way too long by themselves. Ugh... My favorite thing about Dirt is the cover artwork. That's not really a positive comment on the album, except that they were able to hire a good artist for the cover. 2 stars.