10 Perfect Metal Albums With Only One Bad Song

Every grunge band coming out of Seattle had gotten used to dipping into some morbid territory every now and again.

In between the anthems like Alive by Pearl Jam or even Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit, there were some somber songs like Jeremy and Polly respectively that left fans thinking. Alice in Chains was covered in darkness from day one, and Dirt sent us on a slipway down to hell...most of the time.

From cover to cover, you can practically hear Layne Staley grappling with his addictions in the vocal booth, as if he knows he's fighting a losing battle. Just as you reach the final stretch though we get Iron Gland, which sounds sinister but comes off as cute when you hear the backstory. Looking to chill out in Joshua Tree during the recording, this was originally just a riff that Jerry Cantrell would play in between takes of other songs.

This got on the band's nerves so much that they eventually cut Jerry a deal: you can put it on the record, but you can never play the riff again. Although the skeleton of the riff has a lot of potential, the guest screams from Tom Araya and the Iron Man plagiarism feels more like a parody of what people expect from metal bands.

You know you've gone too far with your riffs if even the voice behind Slayer can't save it.