Analyzing the Metalness of Alice in Chains

Alice in Chains is one of the early bands that got me into metal. I have mentioned many times that I was in junior high when the grunge wave was taking over MTV. Groups like Nirvana and Pearl Jam were all over the place. I did like those bands, but never as much as I liked Alice in Chains and Soundgarden. To me, there was just something more to those bands that I could not find in Nirvana and the others. Well, that's because the music was more metal, and that was the music that for which I was becoming interested. I will discuss Soundgarden in more depth at a later time, but for now I want to focus on Alice in Chains.

I have heard many people state that Alice in Chains is not a metal band. I'm not sure what music by this band they are listening to, because it has never been less than obvious to me that they are a metal band. Sure, they have some hard rock influences and yes they are a part of the grunge scene, but grunge is not really a clear genre description as the band's never had a coherent, consistent sound. Even looking at the biggest grunge band, Nirvana, it's never clear just what their sound really is. Sometimes its punk, sometimes it's not. Grunge takes influence from a variety of genres, including some bands that are more influenced by metal. Alice in Chains is one of these.

The band originally formed as a glam metal band, but eventually dropped all of those influences and went for a darker sound, influenced by Black Sabbath, doom, and thrash metal. Guitarist Jerry Cantrell has even said that he primarily considers Alice in Chains to be a metal band.

FACELIFT
I do not own this album, but have heard it. The songs "Man in the Box", "We Die Young", and "Sea of Sorrow" all appear on this album. "Man in the Box" was the band's breakout hit and features a very heavy riff that is slowed down and repeated throughout the song. Layne Staley's tortured vocals soar over the top of the riff. "We Die Young" is basically a thrash/groove metal song and is possibly the most metal track the band has ever done. Even "Sea of Sorrow" is clearly a metal track.

DIRT
The band's follow-up album helped them break out to a much wider audience. The songs were shorter, tighter, and punchier. They still put out some longer tracks, but the band had streamlined their sound. The album begins with the incredibly heavy "Them Bones" and Staley's pained yowl. The main riff is definitely a metal riff with guitar solos layered upon it. "Dam that River" is basically a stoner metal song with a bludgeoning riff. The main riff out of "Rain When I Die" is a reworking of Sabbath's riff in "Electric Funeral". "Sickman" bears a strong resemblance to some of the heavier bands out of the Sunset Strip glam metal scene, but delivered in a minor key and heavier. Even songs like "Junkhead" and the title track, while being softer, are still at their core clearly influenced by Black Sabbath's doomy, sludgy style of metal. Many of the remaining songs also feature heavy main riffs delivered in a minor key.

The lyrics on this album deal a lot with the darker side of human existence: drug use, depression, and other heavy topics. The atmosphere of the entire album is cold and miserable. Staley's pain is felt clearly from his vocals and lyrics.

I think that a lot of people who do not consider Alice in Chains to be a metal band focus on the band's softer songs. "Down in a Hole" and "Rooster" are two of the band's biggest hits, yet neither can really be considered a metal song. They have some elements, but are more or less simply hard rock songs.

ALICE IN CHAINS
The self-titled album came a few years after Dirt. In between that time, the band released an EP with some softer, more melodic material. Some suggested a change in style. This album corrected that feeling. This was actually the first album I ever got on CD.

The undeniably metal tracks are "Grind", "Brush Away", "Sludge Factory", "Head Creeps", "Again", and "God Am". These songs are even heavier than the metal tracks from the band's previous album and the doom metal influence is very clear on a number of them. The riffs were clearly metallic, but there is some hauntingly beautiful music to go along with it. The band accomplished its goal of producing ugly music in an attractive way. "Again" in particular has an extremely heavy riff.

There are again some non-metal tracks on this album and the band does have a few mostly acoustic numbers as well. "Heaven Beside You", "Shame in You", and "Over Now" are beautiful songs driven by Cantrell's impressive acoustic guitar work.

BLACK GIVES WAY TO BLUE
Alice in Chains released their fourth full-length album in 2009 after a 14 year hiatus due to the continuing drug problems and eventual death of singer Layne Staley. William DuVall handled vocal duties on this album and he surprisingly sounds significantly like Staley.

As for the music, this is a very consistent album. It is extremely heavy and loud, but it is slow and somber. While the music is much slower than the majority of the music that came before from this band, it also appears to be very much a return to the sludgy doom of some of their heaviest material. I think this album can best be described as a stoner doom/traditional metal album. It sounds like something that would have come out in the 1970's. The riffs have a lot in common with groups like Sabbath and other heavy metal bands from the period. This continues throughout the album without much deviation.

Alice in Chains is a metal band that has had some non-metal moments. That is very evident from their full-length albums. The people who do not consider the band metal are mostly basing it on songs they have heard on the radio.