Dirt

Not my favourite kind of thing to listen to for sure, but I guess i didn't totally hate it...

Hard rock. It's okay

I came to this album expecting to love it, but sadly didn’t. It sounded like a low rent Metallica performing The Door’s songs turned up to 11.

My least favorite "grunge" band. What makes this not metal?

Another album that I couldn't get into. Admittedly it's not really my genre, but I can think of many other albums that aren't really "my thing" that I thoroughly enjoyed. I did make it all the way through so it gets 2 stars!

Enpä löytänyt yhtään kappaletta, mitä haluaisi kuunnella uudelleen.

I like the harmonizing vocal melodies, but they also sounded the same from song to song. They sort of felt like a one-trick pony, each track has the same sort of instrumentation and structure. Maybe if I loved repetitive grungy electric guitars chords I would love this album. Fav song was Rain When I Die.

Never really liked them

Of all the Alice In Chains albums, this is one of them. And not one of their better ones.

nirvana really was the only good grunge band… the chicken song is fun tho..

I can definitely see why people would like this a lot, but the sludgy, grungy sound permeating through the entire album really isn't for me.

Really thought I wouldn't enjoy this, didn't love it but there were a few tracks that surprised me.

Not for me

Too intense for me

Dirt so thoroughly wallows in the the dark elements of grunge that it feels more like exploitation than exploration of the truth or the reality of hard topics. I am sure the quality of the musicianship is exceptional, but it isn’t enough to compel further listening.

Sure, Alice in Chains have their own sound, but I don't like it very much. It sounds early 90s dated. It's not really bad, but forgettable to me. Don't want to be mean, but it's not even average.

It’s giving Mystik Spiral. I’m not mad at it but I wouldn’t listen to it on purpose.

I also like roosters. Im partial to farm animals. Would I own a farm? Would.

There was a point in time where I didn’t have my own defined musical tastes and I thought that anything from the grunge and alt-rock scene was what I preferred to listen to. I listened to this whole album and I now know that I liked certain radio singles, but a whole Alice In Chains album does not do it for me. It’s too slow paced and whiny sounding, and the lead singer uses the same affectation to his voice that Jack Black uses when he’s trying to be a silly guy. Now I know. Teenage me was really lost on musical tastes.

generic tuneless depression rock

Not terrible. There were a few songs I even kind of liked.

In a nutshell: “fuck my life, fuck the world” grunge. Emo grunge sounds like a contradiction, but I can’t find an adequate descriptor for this album. To its credit, Dirt encapsulates depression accurately. The riffs are what you would hear on Guitar Hero. It’s one of those “albums that defined an era but doesn’t really hold up now” Overall: 3/10

Nem az én világom, de itt-ott rá tudtam hangolódni. Ja és Here come the Roomster.

to be fully honest i listened to two seconds and did not care to continue

Tedious

grandly banal

yea I'm not there. maybe sometime in life. down in a hole was closest...

Rooster is one of my all time favorite songs. Down in a Hole is great as well. Other than that it's not my favorite album.

Singles are awesome! the rest of the album just isn't my thing right now.

Maybe my taste is not refined, but I felt as though when I had heard one track I had heard them all

A couple good songs and an interest cross between hair metal and grunge, but not for me.

I like Rooster but the rest is pretty repetitive

My musical taste has changed in a way where I can really only enjoy this type of music when I'm working out maybe or need some kind of emotional outlet. Not really something I'd listen to just for funsies anymore. 2 stars from me.

Rooster is excellent, a lot of the rest of this droned on. Feeling comes mainly from the vocal delivery...

I didn't hate it...

Smashing Pumpkins/Velvet Revolver crossover. Droned on a bit

Even though Alice in Chains was a popular band when I should have heaps of nostalgia for them I don’t. I’m not really into hard rock. I guess there’s some good guitar playing. It this does nothing for me. 2/5

dam that river god smack would?

i also can see the appeal, but unfortunately this is a bad place to start with understanding metal and grunge music. need to hear some more foundational shit

i can see why it's influential but i'm bored of it already

Im sorry but this is so unbelievably unenjoyable to listen to. You are all lying to yourself.

Dirt is a gritty and introspective album, showcasing Layne Staley's soulful vocals and Jerry Cantrell's haunting guitar work. While undeniably talented, the album can feel repetitive, lacking the dynamic excitement of their Seattle peers like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Nevertheless, its dark and atmospheric production captures the band's raw emotion and enduring influence on the grunge genre. NUMBER OF BANGERS -2 STAND OUT TRACK - Dam That River

I came in thinking I would like this record, I am sad to say I did not enjoy it... I find it compares unfavorably to other acts in the same scene (namely Nirvana), issues with production (not quality, certain effects choices don't suit my interests) prevent this from being a repeat listen... I can understand what other people would see in this album, just not for me.

Yeah this is ok. I can see why people would dig it.

didn’t love it!

I guess this is considered a grunge album. In my opinion it took itself way too seriously and lacked charm. Listening to the Spotify radio for this album brought up some other grunge stuff that I hadn’t heard before that were way more enjoyable on a first listen, e.g drown by the smashing pumpkins.

Not a big fan of the music.

Bit heavy for my normal listening

Nope, not my thing.

Grunge som har alldeles för mycket metal i sig.

“Ya this album was too goth even for me” - Geege. Agreed

Good sound. This is one where the bias sets in. I just don’t see myself listening to this.

Not for me.

Mouais

I like jar of flies, but not this one

Not as bad as I expected, but I wouldn’t purchase it.

I have an unreasonable hatred of this album. Through no fault of the musicians.

This is very much of it's time. If you listened to this with your mates in the 90s it must really hit you but to me it's just another grungey/rocky band singing about depression, drugs and pain. Not that's it's bad- it's well put together and produced but means nothing to my ears.

I went in with an open mind. First couple of track I enjoyed from a nostalgic point of view. But after a while I'd lose interest. Maybe I'm just more of a Pearl Jam/Nirvana fan, but I think this would have sound better at the time.

Im not going to remember I listened to this. All the songs sound incredibly similar

2.5/5. I can see how people would like this, but it's not for me. A bit too 90s grunge for me.

demasiado pesado y cansino

Meh, it was ok but I doubt I will ever listen to this again.

A lot of grunge albums personally felt bland at first but quickly grew on me. This one however will probably not.

One finds it insufficiently grungy to qualify as actual, you know, grunge. After all, it checks nearly every box for ‘90s metal cliches: jagged hooks on top of endless base of cheg-cheg-cheg; vocals that range from strained to scream-y; and lots and lots of self-seriousness and false drama that only adolescent boys would find deep and or heavy or relatable or meaningful. The end result is tedium, extreme tedium.

Ээ... Лучшая песня - Would?

01) Them Bones - 7,0 02) Dam That River - 7,0 03) Rain When I Die - 6,5 04) Down in a Hole - 7,0 05) Sickman - 5,5 06) Rooster - 6,5 07) Junkhead - 6,0 08) Dirt - 6,0 09) God Smack - 5,5 10) Intro (Dream Sequence)/Iron Gland - 1,0 11) Hate to Feel - 6,0 12) Angry Chair - 7,0 13) Would? - 7,5 TOTAL: 6,04 (60/100) The music and melodies are not that interesting, the songs are kind of monotone to me. Drug use was a lyrical theme on the album so I can't really relate to the lyrics either. I guess the real grunge/metal/hard rock fans would say that this is much better than "Nevermind" but I'm not a grunge/metal/hard rock fan so I can say that I prefer the likes of Nirvana or even Pearl Jam.

Rooster, great. One or two others okay. The rest, just noise pollution for me.

Far too reminiscent of Nevermind.

every song sounds the same, I've heard rooster too many times. Not exciting

Plus point: they can touch a tune. Minus points: everything else and the length of the album. I guess CD was still a shiny new format in the nineties. Nevermind is 49 minutes. This is 57 but feels soo much longer.

dnf not for me but it was nice

not for me

Harmillisen raskasta - taidot menevät hukkaan.

If I liked this kind of music, it would probably be a decent version of it, listening was fairly easy, but it really is just not my thing

not my vibe but ok . cewl. . some real dark shit. 2

Wasn’t a favorite of mine. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Was listening to this while driving and it actively contributed to my road rage.

This was the most heavy metal of all of the Seattle grunge bands. And that’s exactly why I don’t like it. His voice is amazing though.

AiC is really everything I don’t like about grunge. I know that a lot of grunge is an opposition to the status quo while also projecting an aloofness that’s absent from punk music. But other major grunge acts like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, or Soundgarden brought so much passion, anger, and even joy into their music. Every musician in Alice in Chains sounds like they don’t want to be making music, as if recording is their 9-5 that they’re sick of and dying for retirement. I know that making music IS work, but it doesn’t need to sound so uninspired. Having said all that, Dirt is my favorite Alice in Chains album and it’s easily their most tolerable.

Not to my taste

Personal grade: 2/5 With a more "objective" grade of 8/10??? That last mark might equal a 5+2 addition, plus *one extra point* for the "impact" of this record on a small subset of "alternative rock" fans during the nineties. When you read what those fans wrote about this record, it sounds like a treat *on paper*. Too bad said treat escapes my attention whenever I actually listen to *Dirt*. Are my ears at fault here? You see, having gone through the nineties as a "alternative rock" teenage fan, I've tried to "like" *Dirt* many times. Yet it never clicked for me. I've always found it linear, repetitive yet not hypnotic enough, and displaying poor melodies and uninteresting rhythms. And Jesus H. Christ, those cheesy hair metal solos, so ridiculously hackneyed. Not to mention the "dated" sound of this album (not as dated as Pearl Jam's *Ten*, in another genre, but close). A few cuts stand out ("Rain When I Die", ballad "Rooster", and the somewhat famous single "Would?" closing the proceedings. But the rest just drowns into sameness, just like a heroin junkie drowns into a drowsy state indeed. It even surprises me to admit it, but if I had to listen to depressed, ill-at-ease vocal meanderings over somewhat jammy dirges, I'd rather listen to Tool (are Tool albums in Dimery's list, by the way?) Or closer to Alice In Chains' mark, maybe I would elect to explore Soundgarden's LPs instead. I know all of those acts are quite different animals. But those different animals can at least make me "feel" something once in while. Can't say I'm feeling much whenever I listen to Alice In Chains. My loss? Number of albums left to review: 255 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 326 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 186 (including this one--an extremely rare occurence for a record I grade with a 2/5 mark. Consider me open-minded here. Or open to the idea that my music taste makes it impossible for me to enjoy an admittedly well-crafted album on a "technical" point). Albums from the list I won't include in mine (many other records are more important to me): 238

With the first two tracks, I thought this would be an hour of being screamed at. The next two tracks softened a bit, with less screaming (and a small bit of real musical enjoyment for me). With tracks 5 (Sickman), we were back to screaming, then less screaming with Rooster (which I think I recognized as having heard before). Then I got bored with assessing which tracks were "more screaming" vs "less screaming". Totally not my music.

Rain When I Die is funkier than I would have thought. Guitar reminds me of Rage or something Im getting bored at sickman They don't have the sauce God smack has the sauce This album is technically good but doesn't have the sauce

Álbum conceptual sobre la conciencia resignada y el autodesprecio de un adicto a la heroína, "Dirt" es uno de los mejores discos de Alice in Chains, si no el mejor. En él se aprecia el origen sonoro de un grupo crecido entre las hordas grunge que, sin embargo, hunde sus raíces en el heavy metal y no en el punk, como sus coetáneos de Seattle. Entre un puñado de canciones sombrías y desesperanzadas sobresale el tema "Rooster", una historia de supervivencia.

naja..

Save a handful of albums, I don’t think many genres have dated as badly as grunge.

Meh.

I didn’t like it, but I hated it less than I thought I was gonna hate it second-half of the album was definitely stronger than the first

Nirvana set the bar very high for the grunge, so this kind of bands are boring for me

Is it just me but I don’t get this type of music

Good

Back half was better

Not for me. I can hear the musicianship, but the music feels a lot like a drone. Yeah, yeah, that's grunge to some extent, but it's just not for me.

I feel like this another one that I should like on paper but it doesn't do much for me. Would? Is very good though.

Yes, it is grungy. Yes, I think it’s too grungy. I love Alice In Chains songs, but it is a little mood killer to listen to a whole album. I feel like I listened to a whole minor key album. I love how good the musicians are, and how they explore unexpected key changes, but maybe a little too much on that. Repetition legitimizes, but what happens when you repeat too much? I am tired.

de e väl bra men jag bryr mig nt

Pfff too much

I liked its identity but it sounded all the same, I didn't realize when the album ended

Not a fan of metal

it's funny to get this right after Nirvana. it's so silly in comparison that I'm not going to spend time reviewing music I don't enjoy music: hated. (⌐■_■)

There are some Alice In Chains songs I really like. Jar Of Flies and Sap are a great collection of songs. On Dirt, Rooster, Would, Them Bones are all good songs. The rest I really can't get into though.

Não é péssimo, mas definitivamente não é feito pra mim. A partir da quinta música já começa a parecer tudo igual, com os gritos ficando irritantes e raros momentos que salvam, além de ser muito mais longo que devia. Talvez algum dia clique comigo Fav tracks: Rain When I Die, Would? Least fav track: Sickman

Couldn’t wait for this one to finish. Couple decent tracks, but rest is not good. 1 star without Rooster, and 2 stars is being kind.

Not for me.

The problem I’ve realised with this game is that I’d never choose noisy guitar rock to listen to as a whole album so the music suffers as a result.

Not a huge fan of the dark grungy style. I think I would like this more if I was more depressed. I couldn't make my way through it all. Definitely not in the mood for it. 1.5 stars

A good hard rock album. But very negative and depressing. Death, drugs and Rock & Roll. And they figure everybody hates them; ie, “we’re our own race - stoners, junkies and dealers” or something close to that. Still…..some decent guitar work.

It was good just not my thing.

This is unintentionally funny. Trite riffs and silly lyrics. I hear teens in flannel who worked hard at their guitar lessons doing well at the high school talent contest.

Coming into this I know Rooster and Would? This hit when I was a teen, but I was not into these guys. Heard other songs off the album at that time also. Going to try and keep an open mind, but, again, I might be too old for this shit. Okay, listened all the way through. Unencumbered and keeping an open mind, I was left thinking, yet again, this album is just not for me. I'm not a fan of the singer's voice of their sound. I know people love this, but its just not for me. It was fine revisiting it, but didn't do much for me.

Es rock, medio heavy, asi que de primera impresion no de mi agrado.

1st track and 'Dirt' were okay but otherwise quite intense

Ieder zijn ding. Dit is echt niet mijn ding. Normaliter houd ik wel van grunge, maar dit is extreme grunge, erg grimmig en zeurderig. 2/5.

uh.

I honestly truly don't get the love for this, it goes on for ever.!

Not really my music - I „normally“ :-) like this kind of music, but why this album is on the 1001 list. From my point of view, there are better ones. Perhaps 1992 was such a bad year for grunge,guitar,rock,… :-)

Ah! It's "Barrel's o' fun" from Doom II. But is this album barrels o' fun? Well, kind of. This is actually the first time I've listened to this album, despite it being from "my era" and being into grunge music. I've always liked "Them Bones" and as a started listening to it I was kind of pleased that the rest of the album had the same sound. But maybe it was too samey? Alice in Chains never really chimed with me the way Nirvana or, later, Soundgarden did. They just sounded too depressing... which is a weird thing to say given the other bands I like. I dunno. When I got to the last track, "Would?" I remembered it was another single that I liked, but overall I didn't feel that I'd fallen in love with album. I can't say I'd listen to again. But maybe I will and it will grown on me.

rockrockrockrockrockrockrockrockrockruk Ik vind hier dus niet zoveel aan. Het is Grunge rock en ik moet daar niet zoveel hebben. Het album duurt voor mij te lang, de nummers zijn niet bijzonder genoeg en het klinkt allemaal redelijk gelijk aan elkaar. Het is geen 1 want ik kan me best voorstellen dat mensen dit helemaal fantastisch vinden, ik ben daar gewoon niet 1 van. En dan is dit echt te lang om boeiend te blijven.

Not my taste but not the worst

2,5

Growly shouty music just the wrong side of tolerable for a few tracks.

Good background listening but im not sure i would actively listen to it, i dont like this guy's singing voice like his accent/the way he talks

Rock I might like the instrumental version better.

Album which caused me take a break on this site.

Its the Budweiser of grunge. Predictable, plain, boring, and just like dozens of other bands.

Raskaaseen päähän, auts! Annan mahdollisuuden myös tälle levylle, vaikka en odota sen kuuntelua. Biisit ei jää mieleen, tuntuu olevan lähes sama sointikulku jokaisessa. Tasapaksua, tylsää, yllätyksetöntä. Sopii kyllä lenkille tempon puolesta, mutta ajatukset lähtee saman tien laukalle, enkä keskity enää kuuntelemiseen. Ei jatkoon.

Ja, dit is dan weer niet mijn muziek. In z'n soort vast prima gemaakt, maar voor mij had het niet gehoeven.

It was fine. Probably a guitarist's band

Too heavy for me. I actually like some of their more chill stuff. “Don’t Follow” (unfortunately, not on this album) is a GREAT song of theirs you should check out if you haven’t. As for Dirt, I do have an affinity for “Rooster.” I didn’t care much for it when I first heard it, but when you listen to the lyrics and realize it’s about a Vietnam vet (I believe, the singer’s father) it strikes a different chord.

I understand why this album exists, and it’s well executed for what it is. Unfortunately not my thing. Drumming is especially tight.

ok

It's everything I expected from an Alice in Chains album. Not my cup of tea, but not bad.

Not really my guitar style. Too much distortion, I guess. Makes it harder to make the melody shine. Some parts were nice, but I don't see myself seeking this album out again any time soon.

With all due respect, this kinda sucks. I grew up in Washington and TOTALLY get the influence and importance and legacy of Alice in Chains, but I just can't anymore.

not my thing

this one scared me ngl

Generic whatever with cacophony

Classic hard rock / metal. Good, but not what I want to listen to most of the time.

Eh

This was my kind of thing back in the early 90s and I had some friends who were really into it… but I never really got to grips with AiC. Don’t know what it was, it just never really clicked with me. This album offers some tasty riffs here and there but little else to me in 2023… plus I’m not a fan of his voice…

Don't like hard rock

The rock was a little too hard for me. Felt very 90s though. Not something I personally would go back and listen to on my own time

This is an album of music for sure. Middle of the ground for me honestly, didn’t really get into it

2 stars

FFS, cheer up, guy 🙄😂 Was this the birth of stoner rock? I was quite up for hearing this but it wore thin pretty quickly. It sounds like a desert, which is kind of the point I suppose. But I prefer my biospheres greener. Sort of a bridge between G'n'R and QotSA 🤔

The album is interesting to say the least. I think that there were some pretty decent songs and some songs that were just not enjoyable. I’m not saying that I hate that music but this isn’t my usual music genre so I don’t think I would listen to more of their music. It definitely could be better in my opinion. 2/5

Not bad not great

Not as great as when I was 16. There are a lot better albums from 90’s grunge than this.

Ugh. God, what a chore to get through. I definitely was not in the mood for this today. I do enjoy their distinctive quartal harmonies, but damn that lead singer's voice is everything i hate about grunge. That coupled with the sluggish tempos and depressing lyrics. Yeah, I get that people dig this, but I really don't. I never how how to rate an album like this. Do I try and be objective or do I give it my own personal rating? Usually, I go the subjective route because this is how I personally react to this music and how likely I am to check it out again. Sometimes I regret doing this as it's clear I just heard the wrong album on the wrong day and I feel bad about it later. Today I'm going to split the difference. My personal rating is a 1 because I honestly couldn't even make it through the whole album. I get that people dig this, and good for them, but boy I really don't.

Not my style. early 2000's soft girl era.

3. Dirt - Alice in chains 4/10 Would I listen again ? No Favorite song : Rooster Honorable mentions : junkhead Least favorite : the first and last third of this album I went in expecting way more, the entire albums feels and plays like it's just one big long wave of the exact same sounding note that lasts however long the album is. The solos are just good enough to engage me back in the songs but it's just back to the same. Rooster is the highpoint of the album and the bass on junkhead offers a heavy but needed relief to every other instrument, voice included.

Not really my thing

Alice in Chains definitely got a style that I don't particularly care for nowadays. Heavier rock sounds - approaching grunge maybe? There's some cool harmonizing? going on here in the first couple songs at least, but I don't particularly care for the singer's voice. I don't much care for this kind of vocal grittiness for the most part anymore. The guitar and bass distortion on Dam That River is so heavy it's like a wall of sound. Kind of cool. Breaking it down a bit in Rain When I Die. Lot of mystery going into the song that is slowly uncovering itself. The vocals here are in a more pleasing register, marginally. So far this is the song I like the most from the album. Unfortunately, the song is half over now and I'm getting bored. It's like the song heard - enter the bridge where some new interesting stuff happens, but not enough to keep me fully engaged. The song faded out - all the way to line, and then faded back up!!! Hate that! Down In A Hole starting off a lot softer - we got an acoustic guitar up in here? Reminding me vaguely of Goo Goo Dolls kind of stuff, but with a lot more effects pedals. This song the most pleasing to hear now, but I'm not stanning them yet. Why are so many of these songs so long? Not to min-max music, but do this many songs need to be this long? Sickman is not it! Heavy, then moaning, then droning, before dropping back into the metal-esque throbbing. The song is not boring by any means, but it is also not appealing to me in any way. 2 songs from the end and I really can't wait for it to be over tbh. Such a droning album from a genre I do not care about at all. Thank god that one is over. I did not like this album at all! Not my thing! Sorry Alice in Chains, maybe if I listened more to you like 15 years ago.

I can't tell if my rating is simply because this isn't to my taste but I suspect there's something more to this that is leading me to two stars over three. Whatever that is, I'm not willing to spend any more time considering it. I'm cool with maybe being "wrong" on this one.

Nicht so meins, ich mag die Tonalgen nicht

Lo grunge ok, pero no suy fan de lo metalero.

# 67 : I thought it was ok. A bit ordinary for the genre. Dam That River

Didn’t like

Schoopls outshd a

Eurgh...

Best Song: Would? This track has a darker, brooding quality that is absent from the rest of the album. Worst Song: Down In A Hole. I just find all these kind of power ballads annoying. It feels antithetical to everything else that the band produces and just feels like an excuse to have a "lighters up" song. Slow and skippable. Overall: If a whine were a musical instrument. Mostly just one (whined) note, resulting in a really repetitive listening experience. There are better grunge bands by far.

Not my vibe sorry

Ihan ok. 2.5/5

Not really bothered

There's a couple of ok tracks, but not really my thing.

Decent enough, heavy grunge. Wouldn't really ever choos to listen to it though but wouldn't turn it off if it came on...

Too much Metallica, not enough Mudhoney/Nirvana/early Soundgarden. And harmonising tenor heavy metal vocals are rarely a good thing.

Not for me, but the hits are ok.

That song about the Rooster really sucks.

Heard it before?: No Enjoy it?: it was ok, expected more but it was a bit bland for me Favourite song: Track 12 - Angry Chair

I was going to write about Grunge, Gen X and the insidious politics of apathy, but this record drained me of the, or any, inclination. They could’ve disheartened me with less than a third of this record - it’s really potent!

Grunge remains a dreary mess. I keep trying with it, it keeps failing.

Got a couple solid bangers on here

2/ 12, 17%

Bit too long and droning

Thought this was bollocks cheers

Never been too big on grunge, this is the sort of thing that just sounds okay to me? Would be middle of the road if not for the song Them Bones, which I've always hated with a passion

Njaa

Angry gym music for the sad man with no taste. idk nirvanna's kinda unimpeachable but them aside I think I'm not super into grungy

Nostalgiasyistä ihan hauska, muuten ei kyl lähe.

One assumes the title was not meant to imply “dull as …” though it’s fitting in just that way. Noisy Pretension would also have been a truth-in-advertising sort of title. This reads more metal – with all the jeg-jeg-jeg foundations – than grunge, in which the melodious quotients tend to be higher. Vocal style might be best described as half-Axl, half-Vedder, and feels precisely that dated now. Tired and too long and takes itself too seriously, which is what so much of '90s metal.

Je préfèrerais être un moineau qu'un escargot

noyée dans une mer de grunge / metal / rock insupportable

Too sludgy for me but I appreciated how melodic a lot of the vocals were.

It was something in its time

Sure it’s good for it’s type but not my thang

It's too damn long for every song to be that low bpm. I understand the cultural importance, but generally pretty weak.

blugh. This album is fraught with all of the things I hate about the 90's. Long hair, long underwear under shorts, heroin, combat boots, depression, dramatic depression, tortured artist syndrome, broke-assness, 1-800-Collect and Carrot Top. Yeah, this one brings back memories, but not good ones.

Dit is helemaal niks

Some fairly decent rock riffs overall far too close to metal-like pointless shouting

Nah.

pretty turgid

Plodding, grindy, grimy, sluggish, perpetually whiny vocals. I just can't get into Alice in Chains. Couldn't then, can't now. Also what is the thing where a song fades out... then fades back in? What is that supposed to do for me? Especially when I'm not looking for seconds.

Not bad. Not really my style.

decent, not really my jam though could be some good inspiration for mixing though

Hmm, visiskas rokas, man per daug rokas. nekabina nei viena daina, nesiklausyciau, visos gana panasios

Been putting this album off for awhile. First track was exactly what I was worried about. Just not my thing. Rooster though is a pleasant surprise. Rest of the album went by ok. Nothing spectacular to report. Not something I'll likely listen to again.

Svo mörg partý sem liðu fyrir þessa plötu í den. Þetta er ekki algjörlega botninn, það eru einstaka tónlistarglætur inn á milli, stundum er lækkað í distortioninu og grungmumblið er misáberandi, en heilt yfir er þetta bara vond minning og leiðinleg.

Feels like an album that would have "meant" something to 6th formers but makes it difficult to access for those hearing it for the first time in their later years

Picture the scene - it’s a January Monday, you’ve just turned on weekend listening but were busy from Friday til now which means you’ve got four bad boys to listen to. This is the last one but you’re done. You should have had a palette cleanser, a little break to listen to some comfort blanket music of your own, but no, you’re stubborn. You tired, you really tried - you put yourself in the shoes of your disaffected boyfriend when you were a teenager who listened to this kind of music, but to no avail. You just didn’t get it. Sorry James, I didn’t understand you then and I don’t understand you now. Peace out.

Слишком роковый рок, мне такое не по душе

All the songs are the same

I've got very little interest in taking heroin or in hearing about heroin. This album therefore doesn't really appeal to me thematically. Musically, it's a bit of a one-paced dirge and I robustly dislike the vocals. Rating: 2/5 Playlist track: Them Bones Date listened: 31/12/22

Didn't enjoy the beginning but it got me back around the end. Wasn't convinced but was alright

This is the kind of music guys wearing wife beaters love to blast on their blutooth speaker while disc golfing. This album somehow smells like cigarettes.

Lots of sounds. Lots of guitars going wah-wah-waaaooooowwwww!!! 2.5

YOURE LISTENING TO THE MENS ROOM ON 99.9 KISW SEATTLE. Aside from the well-known bangers, I found the album to be pretty boring. Bangers do bang tho. 2.5/5.

It's hard rock. Less grating than I thought, even some shoegazy sections, and I'm sure important in developing their genre, but not my deal. Drummer has a Meg White level of talent.

Aggressive, but still found it boring, not much happening in this music.

Dog dirt

It's a bit sludgy and dull. When it leans into its Sabbathy influences it gets better (God Smack for example) but where it relies on 5 minute song lengths and work is me junkie wisdom, it's pretty boring.

Don’t doubt the commitment here, but not my bag. Give me Soungarden over this.

Grunge, guitartungt, kedeligt

This album is mediocre at best. Lyrically, the songs read like a series of hollow and disjointed angsty phrases. It is also musically unremarkable.

Was not my sort of music at all bit too heavy for my liking

Great album to listen to if you want to hate yourself. “Rooster” and “Would?” are my two favorites.

Great production on this thing, but the grungy sameness of every track gets boring really quick. Lyrics leave more to be desired, should of been an amp-up album but instead just made me bored. This has never been my genre, but I’ve heard far better executions

Just not my thing, hard to say much but just so intense and too full on

Just pretty boring

un embole..

LA butt rockers turned Heroin dorks flopping around being miserable

Not impressed Samey samey

Not a heavy metal fan to begin with, so this didn't do much for me.

Yeah, look...this one didn't do much for me. I love loud, bombastic music but this was kind of an audio blend of sameness to be honest. A good album but just not my thing. Probably would be a four star album if I liked it. As it is, eh...sorry, not very listenable for me. Fave track: Them Bones

... Prefs: Them Bones, Dam That River, Rooster, Would? Moins pref: Rain When I Die

Nice heavy rock/grunge, but loosing some of the magic over the years

Ik vind het wat saaie muziek. Prima te luisteren, maar niet heel spannend of zo. **

i put this on in the background and carried on working. it feels like its been on an entire week of my life and its only track 7.

Not nearly dirty enough for me

Growly male voice, growly guitars, prominent heroin abuse, '90s Seattle angst. Of that very well represented genre this is by far not my favorite.

Gotta be honest this one was not really for me. I came to eventually appreciate the dark vibes and depraved lyrics but overall the vocals and instrumentals weren't really doing it for me. I will say I appreciated it more when I turned the volume up a few notches. Them Bones, Rooster, Dirt are good. Angry Chair is a funny song title. Feel like I need to develop a heroin addiction and drive around in a rusty car to really get into this album.

Definitely, not my cup of tea. Almost an hour of an album where every song sounds similar? In my humble opinion, they could have shortened the length of the record. Everybody is talking about the memorable riffs of the first three songs, but for me they weren’t memorable at all. I’ve just listened to them and they didn’t get stuck in my head. Appreciate the effort, although I do not quite understand why it is considered a masterpiece. Best songs (for me): Dirt, because it sounds slightly different from the rest, mostly at the beginning; and God Smack, because of how the singer brilliantly plays with his voice. Worst songs (for me): the first seven, from Them Bones to Junkhead.

I'm bringing a lot of baggage to this, because the guitar tone reminds me so much of early 2000s guitar center line 6 amp drop d shredding. The harmonies are good, but I find them a little grating (which is weird, because I love X's grating harmonies). Again, this negative review is a me-problem.

The album is grunge music. Some of the songs were familiar. The problem with grunge is always the vocals. I do not care for the singing on grunge albums and this holds true on this album. Vocals aside the music is decent. The album is between a two and a three. I will round down.

Very dreary, couldn't find an access point at all

Ok....I'm doing my best to listen to albums that I wouldn't normally touch with a barge pole (as the expression goes) Got through half of it...unremarkable Seattle cock rock/grunge with lotsa drug references...it all becomes a bit samey and depressing. I like the tone of the lead guitar. Won't pursue further....(this probably means I'm going to get a Pearl Jam album at some point doesn't it. .?)

I get the influence Alice in Chains had and all that but grunge/sludge from their era has never been my favourite. I don't hate it, I knew Them Bones and Rooster and Would? already, but I prefer what the genre eventually became and diversified into more than the band themselves.

Arjan is fan, dus ik heb het geprobeerd. Ik vond het niet eens zo verschrikkelijk. Best melodieus 🙂.

Painful to listen to this.

57 minutes and all kinda the same. It was okay.

At least I finished it...

I've heard this band's name for a long time but honestly have no idea if I'd ever heard anything by them. It's a familiar sound, of course, due to the few years leading up to this album's release and the several years that followed with all sorts of bands being lumped in -- fairly or unfairly -- that mushy category of "grunge." So, I put in some effort to remove all those connotations and just let myself listen to the album as its own work. Overall it's not really my style, but I can appreciate how tightly they play. A little too much yelling for my liking, and I'm sure it's just my own biases getting in the way, but they sound to me like some guys trying just a wee bit too hard to be dark and brooding. I know that's not open-minded of me -- I don't know anyone in this band, so for all I know this is a super-accurate reflection of who they are as people and artists -- but I can't shake that feeling, sorry, folks.

1001 Albums Generator Day 6 I used to talk about music late into the night with the friend who’d lent me Crooked Rain, while sharing a bottle of Hennessy he’d drunkenly splashed out on while walking back from a night out. One time, we watched Alice in Chains’ MTV Unplugged session, while he told me what had happened to Layne Staley. It’s a powerful show, but it felt like rubbernecking. Even by 1996, he looked broken, hunched over his lyric sheet, with Jerry’s sweet harmonies seemingly covering for his frailty as much as enriching his melodies. That performance aside, I think of Alice in Chains as one of several hard rock bands erroneously lumped in with grunge, despite having no connection with punk and because they were contemporaries who shared the yarling vocal style and lack of glamour. I’m not a big fan of the art=pain idea. The fact he was really hurting isn’t enough to make it good. If you divorce the music from the tragic biography, there’s not much in it to convey the depth of feeling, so I’m left with little more than the thought that these guys have spent a lot of time practising licks. I don’t mean to criticise them for proficiency or for being show-offs (what else is a rockstar supposed to do if not seek attention?); their weakness is in the gap between the emotion they want to convey and how they go about it. It reminds me of kids who had mundane lives in term-time but were full of stories of the amazing adventures they had during the summer when no-one else was around. Alice in Chains aren’t fantasists, but they’re similar in one sense: because they’re annoying it’s easy to miss that they really need to be liked and this is how they’ve learned to seek affection. It comes across like someone showing you a fresh wound on their wrist and then doing a kickflip. They aren’t ready to be honest about what they want and aren’t ready to receive it if offered. I also dislike the production. Given that I quite like the Unplugged show and the way Layne and Jerry’s voices sound together, I can’t help wondering how I’d feel about this album if it had been recorded by Albini. I want someone to sharpen and dry out the sound, making the drums kick like a pissed off mule against a wooden gate, rather than someone trying to do as much damage as they can to a tin shed with a sack of fish. I want it to swing rather than plod. Basically, I want it to be either In Utero or Sleep’s Holy Mountain and it just can’t.

I think I missed my grunge phase growing up! Not my cup of tea...

I've never heard anything by Alice In Chains, all big hits and deep cuts included. I've just been aware of them as key players in grunge and metal of the 90s, so was interested to see what "Dirt" had in store. It's definitely a guitar album: Jerry Cantrell is a colossal presence, unleashing sludged out riffs, chromatic runs and furious leads all over the record. But an album can rarely hold complete attention with guitar wizardry alone: the songs themselves need to stand up too. Opener "Them Bones" is energetic but hardly inspiring: a cutthroat riff, howling vocals and lyrics soaked in apocalyptic self-pity. The rest of the album veers between up-tempo palm-muted metal riffs and cloying, doom-laden refrains (within the same song, a little awkwardly, in "Sickman"). One of my main takeaways, though, is that "Dirt" is more melodic than I expected. The chorus of "Rain When I Die" is soaring and titanic, punctuated by long sustained notes and manages to stand out from the rest of the album. The album also features unabashed harmonies that I didn't expect, whether in the vocals or lead guitar ("Hate To Feel", intro of the strong ballad "Down In A Hole"). Overall, the sonic texture we are left with is heavy, weighty and dark, but there's more to it than grunge's reputation had me believe. It's produced like arena-rock in technicolour: vast, expansive, like the desert landscape depicted on the cover. "Rooster" is the emotional peak, showcasing both sides of the band without being too heavy-handed: it builds very well through a falsetto harmony intro and first verse before the wall of guitars crashes in after the two minute mark. While it was nice to find myself enjoying elements of many of the songs, it wasn't enough to redeem the album for me completely. "Dirt" is much too long, and several of the tracks start to merge together after a while. There were very few stand-outs by the second half: instead, each riff growled into the next like a huge cloud of dirt. I can appreciate why fans of the grunge genre may enjoy this, but it isn't for me. With a lot of editing and a little less self-seriousness, this could have reached up to 3 stars- it's unlikely I'll be seeking it out again.

I tried but I failed

It was a chore listening through the whole album. Lead's vocals are kinda nice though.

I get why some people would like it but I couldn't get into it

Too slow, too long and very samey. It's also kinda generic, the only song I'd heard before was Rooster (and possibly Would?, but I didn't make it that far), but I felt like I'd listened to these songs hundreds of times before. Some of it is catchy and I guess that, along with the familiarity is why people like this album/band, but I can't get into it.

This is one that I was excited to listen to as I am typically a big fan of music from this time period/genre, but it unfortunately just didn't do much for me. It started somewhat strong with the opening track (one I have definitely heard before), but it just became more and more dull throughout the VERY long listen. Rooster was the only song that stood out immediately because it was a little more upbeat/emotional than the others. Nothing impressed me instrumentally as far as guitar and rhythm parts go, and I did not enjoy the lead singer's nasally voice for the most part. I find that this pales in comparison to the energy and passion from other grunge acts that were performing at this time (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, etc.). I can understand why this might have been popular back then, but I can't help but think of it as boring now. 2/5.

Tycket det mesta låter lite detsamma förutom kanske två låtar. Lite edgelord:ig stämning men med ett väldigt snyggt utförande. Allting bärs upp av sångaren som gör ett toppenjobb, tycker musikaliteten lutar sig för mycket mot samma saker hela tiden och allt flyter ihop. Tycker grunge-genren överlag har lätt att bli monoton och tråkig, tycker de faller i den fällan..

det var ett album.

Buttrock as fuck. I just can't get into it at all, not my thing. Vocally the style is almost a meme now.

Helt ok rockalbum, väldigt tungt, metaligt, mörkt, grungeigt och heroinigt. Lite för tungt för min smak, och oftast ganska tråkigt. Men absolut inte dåligt. Några feta gitarrsolon dyker dock upp här och var. Kommer troligtvis inte återvända till det här bandet speciellt ofta. Fastnade mest för de lite lugnare låtarna, som Down in a Hole och Rooster. Titelspåret Dirt är bra, alldeles lagomt mycket metal och låter lite som Black Sabbath. Även avslutningsspåret Would? är bra. Bästa låt: Down in a Hole.

First Listen. I know the song Rooster from before the rest was new. It seems ok.

I can tell this is a good example of a genre that I'm not particularly fond of. Innit.

I never liked too much of Alice in Chains. No good reason for it, but never liked it. This album showed to me the reason: It's the same song for 1 hour! It's not absolutely bad, normally I like this 90's feeling, but the exact same song for 1 hour is too much 90's for me.

Nope...not for me. 2 stars

I'm not sure what it is that I'm supposed to like about this album. If asked, I'd say I like grunge but perhaps the truth is that there are a few grunge bands I liked but that's where it started and stopped.

The 90s to me just seemed way too late to be starting a metal band, though I guess since they're from Seattle they were officially part of the grunge movement. The harmonies are a nice twist, it makes them sound a bit southern rock-ish, if that's your cup of tea.

It ain't for me.

Creed vibes

From my era - not a huge fan then, and hasn't aged too well to my ears

Ну такое, роцк батянский тоже

No me gusta demasiado este tipo de música.

Better than I expected but def not my vibe. Kalvin Phillips

Just really not for me.

Some good moments but for the most part a little below average. In a nutshell, Carlton Palmer.

Thats a no from me. Not bad but not good either

This album should be in my wheelhouse (heavy 20th century rock), but it is not. Maybe it’s the nasally, whiny vocals. Maybe it’s the ‘I’m more depressed than you’ lyrics, but whatever it is, it’s not for me.

me not like it

Them Bones is the only song I know and want to continue knowing from this album. How come there are like 20 tracks here??? I had to tap out with 3 left.

ehh

Mehhhhh

"Rooster" and "Would?" are OK, for the rest, not my style (fif rock)

Muddy, moody and boring gunge.

Nicht meins

O no. this isn't for me

After a while i wished my ear canals would block

It all sounds the same to me, and it’s all just so terrible.

Almost painful

1/10… grunge / *1992

I would always reach for the radio dial whenever this band came on. Time has not improved my opinion. If anything I have less patience. Sitting through this was a chore. How was this even in the running let alone made the final cut for this list?

This album is Dirt.

punk no mi onda, capaz va p entrenar

Ugh, do I have to? I guess I am kind of surprised that so many of these albums are . . . not that good? And/or unpleasant to listen to? But, I suppose, a reminder that taste is subjective, beauty is the eye of the beholder, etc., etc. But, still . . . this sucks (lol). The only thing I need to decide is between 1 and 2 stars, which gets back to the old (and -- as it applies to music like this - not very interesting) question of how much weight do I give to how much do I like it (i.e., not at all), vs. trying to be more ... objective (?), in terms of their skill, or originality, or whatever. Eh, f**k it, that's too hard; 1 star.

good example of why I think the 90s were weak for music

I didn't totally hate this album, but it's definitely not my cup of tea. A lot of noise, a lot of heavy metal instruments, nothing that stood out to me.

Langweilt mich so sehr, dass ich es nicht zu Ende gehört habe.

Started kinda strong but very quickly I realised first impressions are misleading. Punchy start but entire album was uninteresting and samey. Topped off with shit vocals akin to guy from my office singing to the radio (sorry to my colleague btw) and I was skipping through songs towards the end.

I've listened to a lot of albums so far, and some aren't for me but I understand why people like it. I cannot comprehend how people like this album, it's just soul-sucking.

Not my thing at all

Alice in chains, heard of em never listened. Why are we screaming. Ok man. Let’s do this. Sure. Dirt. Big ol pile of them bones indeed. Sure. “The album's lyrics explore depression, pain, anger, anti-social behavior, relationships, drug addiction (primarily heroin), war, death, and other emotionally charged topics” like yeah man what are we doing here. If you say so. I just don’t have anything to say it’s just metal. Like yeah. Me when my chairs mad at me. Favourite: Rooster Least favourite: God Smack

Såhär brukar det låta när man i en film ska ha med ett fiktivt rockband och musiken mest är rock med stort R. NPC-grunge.

Did not enjoy this at all.

This just ain't for me

The album theme of heavy metal/grunge/alt is not something I'm really interested in.

The only song on the album I liked was the last one, “Would.” But I remembered liking them before… lt made me look up their “Jar of Flies” EP, which was a favorite back in the day.

Wow. Just finished Mark Lanegan’s memoir and a book about In Utero, so the timing seemed great. This was bad when it came out, and is worse now.