ALICE IN CHAINS: Dirt Vinyl 2LP (30th Anniversary + Insert)

Thirty years on and Dirt still sounds like the bottom of a very deep hole. Released in 1992, Alice in Chains' second album captured something that grunge, at its most commercially acceptable, kept trying to sand off: genuine darkness. Layne Staley wasn't performing despair. He was reporting from it.

This 30th Anniversary double LP brings remastered audio to a record that was already immaculate in its bleakness. From the tar-slow drag of "Them Bones" to the hallucinatory sprawl of "Would?", Dirt sits at the intersection of heavy metal and gothic dread in a way that still hasn't been replicated. Jerry Cantrell's down-tuned riffs hit like a wall collapsing inward. The insert adds archival weight to a release that deserves permanence on your shelf.

If you came to dark aesthetic through black metal or industrial, this is the Seattle record you owe a debt to. Essential alternative fashion for your listening room.

Format: Vinyl 2LP, 30th Anniversary Edition, remastered audio, includes insert. Origin: United States (Seattle, WA).

Fans of: Soundgarden, Mad Season, Melvins.