10 Perfect Metal Albums With No Bad Songs
5. Dirt - Alice in Chains
When grunge really hit the big time, we didn't really need the big metal bands anymore. Though the heavyhitters like Judas Priest and Metallica were too big to bring down at the time, who needed to hear heavy songs about turmoil when we already had people like Nirvana talking about their own inner struggles? As fate would have it though, all you need to do to get on metal's level is to make your songs as pitch black as possible.
Since lead singer Layne Staley was dealing with a bad heroin habit at the time, most of Alice in Chains' sophomore release was like seeing a man slowly pull himself apart from the inside out. Across every track on here, Layne is holding absolutely nothing back in his lyrics or his delivery, talking candidly about his addiction on songs like Down in a Hole while also delivering his most agonizing screams on Rain When I Die.
Though they probably thought something like this would have been therapeutic for him at the time, it all but confirmed Layne's fate as he went further into his addiction. With the help of Jerry Cantrell though, they were able to at least make a cautionary tale for anyone who thought that drugs were the key to success. It may get you high at first, but you're in for a long road down to Hell.