Alice In chains Ranking

Alice in Chains is one of my favorite bands of all time.

From their amazing Metallic debut, Facelift, to their Heavy Rock/grunge album masterpiece, Dirt, to their dark, gritty, sludgy, grimy, and experimental last studio album, Tripod— two solid EP's and a breath taking unplugged MTV album and live performance led by a broken, Heroine addicted scarecrow talent of a man, Layne Staley.

Their second release, Dirt, is often regarded as their finest hour. However, Alice is one of a few bands, if not the only band, I cannot pick a favorite from.  all equal in merit and for different reasons, I cannot pick a favorite Alice In chains Album.

SOooo... what's your fav Alice album... and how do you rank them.

Dirt would be my guess for most parties.

I loved the first two albums! I got them as new releases. 

I lost interest a bit on the third album… but Black Gives Way to Blue was a great comeback! Unfortunately everything since has been mostly forgettable. 

Jerry Cantrell and Layne Staley were amazing together. The chemistry was outstanding. 

R.I.P. Layne (one of the all time best voices in heavy rock)

How the heck I forget about the William Duvall Alice albums! I like all those too. Not as much as the Layne era of course but a great come back from a band I thought was dead and buried forever. 

Devil put dinosaurs here is great and Rainer Fog took a couple of spins before it grew on me. The hooks are hidden deep in that one, and the music is much softer than the usual Alice affair, almost pop in places.

Most rank facelift or Dirt as their fav. I love Tripod Just as much, but it definitely lives in it's own space, much like Believer's Dimension compared to the first two. Cheers.

One of my favorite bands! One thing I've always loved about them is their amazing vocal harmonies. Especially on the Jar Of Flies EP and the self-titled album. 

They're almost like a dark, twisted version of the Houston sound (King's X, Galactic Cowboys, Atomic Opera).

My top 3:

1. Alice In Chains (s/t) (One of my all-time favorite albums)
2. Dirt 
3. Facelift


I like the Duvall era as well. Black Gives Way To Blue is excellent.

Nice! Some love for the Self titled tripod album. Frogs, Grind, Sludge Factory, Again, Heaven beside you etc etc what a great album. It seemed no matter what state Layne was in he could still perform and never lost his voice.


Yeah they are sort of like a more depressing darker King's X. Jerry Gaskill has said when they played in Seattle before the big grunge explosion happened, Layne was at the show and after chased Jerry up the street to tell him he was blown away by their music. I believe Alice was inspired by King's X. That's when (possibly) the penny dropped and Layne encouraged Jerry Cantrell do some singing. Even their music become more down tuned heavy rock than the experimental metal vibe they had on Facelift. So I do believe King's X had some inspiration on Grunge for sure.

Definitely one of my favorite non-Christian bands.  
If I had to choose, I would pick Dirt as #1, but mainly because 'Down In A Hole' is my favorite song by them. 
But generally, I like songs from each of the albums I've heard so am waiting for a good "best of" CD to come out, but so far they are all disappointing.

My current favorite is Dirt. But Facelift was my original favorite. 

Ranking:

1. Dirt
2. Facelift 
3. Black Gives Way to Blue
4. s/t
5. Rainier Fog
6. The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here

EP ranking:

1. Sap
2. Jar of Flies

AIC is like a mix of Black Sabbath and King’s X. 

Sabbath influenced the riffs and dark feeling of the music. While King’s X influenced the melody and harmony side of the band.

I would consider the first two AIC albums (heavy rock) with metal tendencies. 

Songs like: We Die Young and Them Bones are definitely metal.

Some other bands that influenced AIC…

Van Halen (one of Jerry’s early inspirations)
Mother Love Bone
Soundgarden

Constantine wrote:Definitely one of my favorite non-Christian bands.  
If I had to choose, I would pick Dirt as #1, but mainly because 'Down In A Hole' is my favorite song by them. 
But generally, I like songs from each of the albums I've heard so am waiting for a good "best of" CD to come out, but so far they are all disappointing.

I have one called The Essential Alice In Chains. 

2 discs, 28 tracks.

I mainly got it for the four songs I didn't have already:

What The Hell Have I
A Little Bitter
Get Born Again
Died

MagnusPrime wrote:

I have one called The Essential Alice In Chains. 

Yep, that ones comes close but it lacks my favorite AIC song which is "Down In A Hole."   

Has anyone compared the original VS. remastered edition of the "Dirt" album?

I've read mixed things (i.e. complaints) about the remastered version.

Constantine wrote:Has anyone compared the original VS. remastered edition of the "Dirt" album?

I've read mixed things (i.e. complaints) about the remastered version.

No, all I have are the originals.

Let me guess: brickwalled mix like Death Magnetic and so many others?

The people that engage in this practice of ruining albums by making everything as loud as possible need a Singapore-style caning.

Constantine wrote:Definitely one of my favorite non-Christian bands.  
If I had to choose, I would pick Dirt as #1, but mainly because 'Down In A Hole' is my favorite song by them. 
But generally, I like songs from each of the albums I've heard so am waiting for a good "best of" CD to come out, but so far they are all disappointing.

Dirt is of course a masterpiece in every way. You try The Music Bank collection. It's got a bunch of stuff on that.

TZ75 wrote:I would consider the first two AIC albums (heavy rock) with metal tendencies. 

Songs like: We Die Young and Them Bones are definitely metal.

Facelift is mixed bag and has a lot going on in it. It's certainly their most "Metal" album, in the pure sense. It starts off like what you'd expect then takes a turn into a more experimental realm. I think this is due to they hadn't quite found their sound. I mean there's "put me down" which is very obviously heavily G N R influenced, even their name is— Guns N ROses-Alice N Chains, then changed to  Alice in Chains. Then you have "Real thing" which has chilli peppers and faith no More and  modern rock of the early 90's fused with metal and the emerging Alice in Chains sound.

Dirt is definitely Modern Heavy Rock, Them Bones is "Modern" Heavy rock, which originally comes from Sabbath. I know what you mean when you say metal, it's leaning strongly into Metal, that's why many call them a metal band. But Heavy Rock is a modern sound that came from the 90's, it's down tuned heavy, but not quite metal, yet heavy. Like King's X heavier stuff, or even Applehead's first album: meaning. That's why the Black album came out when it did with that new Heavy Rock sound. Especially for Dirt, the foundation is Modern heavy rock more than it is metal.

MagnusPrime wrote:

Constantine wrote:Definitely one of my favorite non-Christian bands.  
If I had to choose, I would pick Dirt as #1, but mainly because 'Down In A Hole' is my favorite song by them. 
But generally, I like songs from each of the albums I've heard so am waiting for a good "best of" CD to come out, but so far they are all disappointing.

I have one called The Essential Alice In Chains. 

2 discs, 28 tracks.

I mainly got it for the four songs I didn't have already:

What The Hell Have I
A Little Bitter
Get Born Again
Died

Get Born again is such a great song. Really moody and sombre. Another cool song is Fear the voices, co written by Mike Starr.

Constantine wrote:

MagnusPrime wrote:

I have one called The Essential Alice In Chains. 

Yep, that ones comes close but it lacks my favorite AIC song which is "Down In A Hole."   

Down In A Hole is essential!

It’s my favorite AIC ballad. It’s very moody like Cemetery Gates.

Constantine wrote:Has anyone compared the original VS. remastered edition of the "Dirt" album?

I've read mixed things (i.e. complaints) about the remastered version.

I haven’t been able to find a CD remaster of Dirt.

I think the original already sounds amazing. It’s almost perfect!

Yeah it doesn't need to be touched.