Alice in Chains: Dirt (1992)

Alice in Chains: Dirt (1992)

It's impossible to put into words the connection I feel with Dirt. It was released in September '92, and by the following year I was obsessed with it.

For a multitude of reasons, '93 was a hugely pivotal year of my life. The shit that occurred in that 12 month period influenced my life's course everyday thereafter. It's been 30+ years since then, but the album is still as important to me now. I consider it a masterpiece, without question and without equal in the 'Grunge' genre.

It's a fairly long album, not far off an hour, but the cohesive musicianship and quality song-writing is of such a high standard that it never drags it heels. By comparison, the band's previous full-length album, Facelift (1990), had a shorter runtime but felt longer.

The list of things that need to align perfectly to enable such a seminal work to emerge are too numerous to mention, from the controllable (e.g., mic choice + placement; reflections and reverb, etc) to the less easily handled aspects (e.g., interpersonal relationships, attitudes to work, and in some cases the quality of drugs that were available that day), but what will stand out most to the average listener is how important the pairing of guitarist Jerry Cantrell and vocalist Layne Staley were to the final product. It's the kind of magical partnership that doesn't occur often.

When it comes to texture and harmonising, they're like two sides of the same coin. The Rooster track is a good example. Lyrics were by Cantrell, but are delivered with such heartfelt power by Staley that one could easily believe they came directly from the vocalist's own experience.

Kudos also to Mike Starr (bass) and Sean Kinney (drums). When such synergy is in play, the emotive power of Alice in Chains as a collective never fails to move me, even at their bleakest.