Facelift

Being among the first wave of the Seattle scene, AIC’s Facelift is a good example of hard driving radio friendly (for the most part) metal done very well. It’s not nearly as castrated as glam metal, nor extreme as thrash. It’s a perfect balance, and via the lyrical content Alice In Chains already distinguished themselves from their peers by having a darker edge. There is no good time to be found anywhere, though it isn’t nearly as dark as Dirt would be. For the most part the band knew their stuff pretty well, save a couple of missteps (“Confusion”, “Sunshine”). Many know Man in the Box but really the other songs are just as fantastic, like the crushing It Ain’t Like That, the anthemic Sea of Sorrow, the creepy Love Hate Love (which Evanescence seems to have liked enough to copy its sound on the Open Door), and the slow build of I Can’t Remember. It’s not as rooted in punk like Nirvana, 70’s arena rock like Pearl Jam, nor psychedelia like Soundgarden, but it is by far the most heavy metal of them. Therefore this is both a top tier grunge and a top tier metal album. They’d even do better on Dirt.

Alice In Chains is one of the all time greatest bands of all time but I wish Layne Staley lived longer🤘

Best AIC album ever! Jerry at his best writing & Lane doing fantastic with tracks like Man In The Box! As Jerry said, they are not grunge but hard rock!

What is this I feel this is demonic we should be focusing on god and the light not dying this horrible do not listen if you do you better pray that the darkness inside this song will be banished in name don’t focus on this album focus on go

Man in the box and Dirt might be the best 1st & 2nd albums from any hard rock group ever. Seems like the 2nd album after a group breaks out isn’t as good as the 1st.

Every song on here is fire. Every song. My favorite song is probably Sea of Sorrow but, there’s really not a bad song in the lot. Maybe you should go back to listening to Britney Spears, dude.

Hard to believe this album is over 30 years old now. AIC is so underrated in general. Besides Man in the Box; Bleed the Freak, Sea of Sorrow, We Die Young, all amazing.

Arguably one of the most innovative of the genre. AIC was initially placed alongisde acts as diverse as Iron Maiden and Anthrax, where they did not fit in. Here they start to find there sound. There are remnants of glam on tracks such as "Real Thing" and "It AIn't Like That" next to the grungier, heavier metallic sounds of "Man In The Box" and "Sea of Sorrow". The record is cascading and no track feels like filler, though it does seem to play with different genres. Overall a great piece of discography.

This record is the one Alice In Chains made first, released first, and played live first. It only makes sense to start where they did, THE BEGINNING OF DISCOGRAPHY. Then do yourself the pleasure of buying SAP, then DIRT, Jar of Flies, self titled etc.

What an amazing debut. Not a lot of bands have this great of a debut. Stellar. Top 5: We Die Young, Sea of Sorrow, Love Hate Love, It Ain't Like That, Sunshine. Every other song on here is amazing too!