what is in the alice in chains dirt album cover

The rest of his material is however topped by Dirt’s closer Would?, which still stands today as one of Alice in Chains’ very best songs. Cantrell further expresses his experience of depression ( Down in a Hole), and describes the horrors his father experienced while serving in the Vietnam War ( Rooster). Death in his near surroundings led him to ponder about mortality, leading to the immensely powerful Them Bones and Rain When I Die, although written by him, neither would have been half as good without Staley’s vocals. Staley does get it right on the interestingly sinister Angry Chair though, but the man behind the real quality material remains no one else than Cantrell, who always has been driving the band. The funny thing about the album is simply that if you experience it in the right way, it is a masterpiece, but if you’re not in the right state of mind, it will be very, very unappealing and unpleasant indeed.

Facelift was already dark, but Dirt is much, much darker, and as such not suited for all moods. As well as its songs suit Dirt (which is just about perfectly), the vocals, but also the drowning distortion that the guitars produce do not contribute to a very pleasant listening experience. Sickman, Junkhead, Dirt, God Smack and Hate to Feel are all driven by the haunting wail that Staley still has copyright on after all these years after his death, but there is of course a counter side to this. Logically, these songs are also the most unpleasant to listen to, as they sound so downright mean and heavy that you cannot actually enjoy them at all times. He wrote what was going through him at the time, and as such it is no surprise that all the songs (co-)written by him have the very same subject. The main subject focus here is Staley’s drug trouble, which literally half of the album is dedicated to. Dirt is about feeling low, depressed and sad, or as the title suggest, like dirt. Not a pretty picture, is it? It represents the idea of the album perfectly, however. Especially Staley and Cantrell, whose personal tragedies were the most harrowing, contributed hugely to the record, and unintentionally created an album chock-full of depression, addiction, loss, and other subjects in that vein.īut that is exactly why Dirt was so successful. Staley recently got out of rehab, but fell back into old habits quickly, Starr and Kinney were drinking all the time, and Cantrell had to deal with the deaths of two people close to him: his mother, and his close friend Andrew Wood, front figure of the short-lasting Mother Love Bone. Each four of the band members was going through heavy personal issues at the time, and it shows. Tom Araya (Slayer) ~ Vocals on Iron Glandĭirt wasn’t the easiest of records to make. Michael Christopher Starr ~ Bass Guitar Jerry Fulton Cantrell ~ Lead Guitar, Vocals Layne Thomas Staley (R.I.P.) ~ Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar It was received superbly, lauded by music critics, and still is Alice’s most popular record. The new album was released in 1992 and entitled Dirt. The period in which this happened became an opportunity for the band to do some soul-searching, and led to songs with emotionally heavy subjects, many among them dealing with addiction, an issue the band, and especially Staley struggled with, until his death. After releasing demo songs for was what going to be their second full-length on the EP Sap, Alice in Chains went on to record their actual second studio record.

What is in the alice in chains dirt album cover