Alice In Chains Albums Ranked From Worst To Best

You only get to make your first impression once. There's even the old adage that any respective musician has their whole life to write their first album. Whereas other bands might still be road testing their material on their first outing, Alice hit us with a smack in the mouth on Facelift.

From the moody guitar tracks to the ethereal harmonies, the crux of Alice in Chains is all accounted for on this record, starting with the amazing one two punch of We Die Young and Man in the Box. Compared to what would come later, this is also the closest Alice came to metal, with songs like Love Hate Love being the demented lovechild of Black Sabbath and the slower elements of Slayer. At a time when most of the Seattle scene was still struggling to make a name for themselves, this is the record that earned Alice an opening slot on the Clash of the Titans tour alongside Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax.

The kicker to the whole thing was that this actually came out before grunge really exploded. Yeah, this picked up steam long before the Nirvanas and Pearl Jams of the world really hit the ground running. Instead of coaxing off the goodwill of the alternative community, Facelift is the sound of four guys throwing caution to the wind and making from-the-gut rock music...and winning over fans anyway.