Dirt

Editors’ Notes Alice in Chains were the darkest group to emerge from the grunge explosion of the early ‘90s. Where other groups balanced their moody extremes with pop hooks (Nirvana) or anthemic riffs (Pearl Jam, Soundgarden), Singer Layne Staley eventually died at the hands of his addiction and Dirt remains one of the most disturbing looks at a wasted life and is one long slide down to the bottom of Dante’s Inferno. It’s frightening in its intensity and its mastery of a world Black Sabbath once merely suggested.