Alice in Chains
- Scores: Noise 2, Unease 3, Complexity 1 (each 1 to 5)
- Genre: Rock, Alt metal, Sludge metal
- Mood: bleak, heavy, haunted
- Sound: down-tuned guitars, dissonant vocal harmonies, sludgy riffs, acoustic interludes
Recorded in Seattle in 1995 at Bad Animals Studio with Toby Wright, this self-titled album pares back the six to eight guitar tracks used on Dirt to three, for a more natural sound. Most songs use drop D tuning, while three use an open tuning Jerry Cantrell had never tried before. Sean Kinney played without a metronome, so tempos drift with the dynamics, and Layne Staley's distorted vocal on Grind was recorded on a 1932 crystal microphone from a pawn shop. Cantrell has said it keeps the band's metal roots while drawing on blues and punk.
Track list
- Grind (4:44)
- Brush Away (3:22)
- Sludge Factory (7:12)
- Heaven Beside You (5:27)
- Head Creeps (6:28)
- Again (4:05)
- Shame in You (5:35)
- God Am (4:08)
- So Close (2:45)
- Nothin' Song (5:40)
- Frogs (8:18)
- Over Now (7:03)