Dirt

Brutal and hard but exciting and surprisingly melodic, DIRT made Alice In Chains national stars in 1992 after being around the Seattle alternative rock scene for many years. They produce a blindingly together sound, with the bass of Mike Starr able to switch between following the bass drum beat and cloning Jerry Cantrell's guitar note for note, albeit a few octaves lower. They have such polish that they are often reminiscent of the heyday of Led Zeppelin. Lyrically they plough the familiar angst furrow with tracks such as 'Junkhead', 'Sickman' and 'God Smack'. Equally satisfying are 'Them Bones' and 'Rooster', which saw them start in a direction that led to Jar Of Flies two years later.