10 Most Underrated Metal Albums

As the grunge scene started to fall in the wake of Kurt Cobain's death, it was clear that Alice in Chains' days were numbered. After coming off of their massive acoustic EP Jar of Flies, Layne Staley was really starting to lose his battle with his addictions, oftentimes keeping to himself and hardly muscling up the screams he could in the early days. Despite it sounding like a disaster on paper, AOC's self-titled "dog" record turned into one of the heavier things they ever made.

Working out of Seattle, most of this record feels like a hodge podge of different riffs strung together to try and make something coherent. Instead of just a sloppy mess though, this offers a virtual smorgasbord of everything that made Alice in Chains amazing in the first place. While songs like Grind do have that signature darkness laced throughout every single riff, the acoustic cuts like Over Now and Heaven Beside You show that said darkness can work when unplugged.

Although Staley is much more limited here, Jerry Cantrell really steps up on this outing, taking lead on almost every other song to help out his musical brother in arms. Even though this record became the unintended epitaph for this lineup of the band, its bright spots hold up a lot better than they have any right to.