alice-in-chains4lyfe
I first heard of this band when i saw they're fantastic "Liar" music video on a Beavis & Butthead DVD a while back, so i decided to check them out and downloaded this album, and i thoroughly enjoyed it.
The band presented a very unique mix of hardcore punk, alternative rock, jazz and Sabbath inspired traditional heavy metal, similar to the new york band Helmet who also play hardcore & jazz inspired alternative metal. The album is very consistent, all songs are in the hard rock mode, with a few forays into funk metal (Shine, Wrong Man) doomy spoken word poetry (Liar) and experimental rock (Tired). The best aspect of the album are the lyrics, they are very poetic, cathartic and at times inspiring.
Without a doubt one of the best hard rock/alt metal albums of the 90s, which was a somewhat dark time to be playing hard rock, with this sort of music being frowned upon in favour of trendy "grunge" and "alternative rock".