Alice In Chains - Alice In Chains

A good chunk of doing this blog is having to psychoanalyze myself. Did I dislike this album because of inherent issues, or is it something about my childhood? Was I just having a bad day? Conversely, do I like a band just because it is indie? All these are serious possibilities, as I often cant trust my first listen. This is one of those situations.

This album is self titled, but I am told it is referred to colloquially as “tripod” by fans due to the three legged dog and guitarist on the front and back of the jewel case. My research tells me this was the last album to be put out before the band (Staley) kind of self destructed. I have not really listened to Alice In Chains before, other than the singles, so this is kind of coming in at the end. So much is not how I feel about this album.

On my first listen I really didn’t care for this album. Thought the drumming is often fast, the music comes off as painfully slow and lethargic. I compared it to the sound of a depressed middle aged obese man going to the refrigerator in the middle of the night for a sandwich, then just eating a few slices of cold turkey rolled up and shambling back to bed. I also called them the Everclear of the Grunge world, as I felt they said yeah a lot. I think the song “So Close” made me say that. What was my problem? A lot of people I respect love this band, and some of their bigger singles are on this album, which seems to be well regarded in its own right. But when I listen to it all I hear is a pile of uninteresting sludge. Sludgy music.

I think my problem is that I have already heard almost all that Alice In Chains has to say. In high school, back when I still listened to the radio, I listened to New York’s rock station, which played what became an increasingly repetitive cycle of early Ozzy songs, Alice in Chains, and AC/DC. This would be punctuated by interesting songs that would not be repeated. Worse, they filled the spaces in between with Nu-metal. Whn not getting lost in masturbatory rap-rock fantasies, Nu-metal all sounds like the wannabe, no-talent offspring of Alice In Chains, a car battery, and a brick of balsa wood. There is a remarkable lack of virtuosity in the music. People often say that grunge is a combination of punk and metal. If so, Nu-metal has combined Punk's virtuosity with Metal's songwriting, and they all seem to draw from Alice IN Chains’ well. So though it is unfair for me to judge the originator of a genre by his or her spawn, I feel like I have heard every Alice in Chains single to the point of hatred.

I posted this rant on Google+. I have gotten comments from a few people that made me want to give the album another listen. It was pointed out that all their albums are different, though that doesn’t help me with this one. I was told that this is their heaviest album. People seemed to really like this album. So I gave it another listen.

There are some pretty fun moments here I guess. “Again,” with its backup singers, is kind of hilarious. I feel like the band is joking a bunch in here, which makes me more sympathetic. Some of the performances do seem more energetic on my second listen. So I can listen to this without feeling pure rage. But the music is still very conventionally structured with very few pop hooks and no cool metal moments. It is unremittingly heavy, but without movement the heaviness just sounds lazy or oppressive.

I have moments where I want heavy music. I can see myself wanting this sometimes. This leaves me not sure what to do with this. There are some interesting things here. I might be able to get into this with some repeated listening. But my problem with this is that I have already listened to it too much. I am pretty sure I will be selling this back. I know a lot of people like this band, and I can understand why, but I really do not like them.