ALICE IN CHAINS — Sap (review)

ALICE IN CHAINS — Sap album cover EP · 1992 · Non-Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Sap" is an EP release by US heavy/hard rock act Alice in Chains. The EP was released through Columbia Records in February 1992 and it bridges the gap between the band´s debut and second full-length studio albums "Facelift (1990)" and "Dirt (September 1992)". After finishing up their tour supporting "Facelift (1990)", the band went straight to the studio to start recording the track "Would?" for the Cameron Crowe movie "Singles" (June 1992) but in addition to that track the band ended up recording around 10 demo tracks for their next album during the same session. Alice in Chains opted to release 5 of those tracks, which were (mostly) acoustic tracks, as an EP as a gap release between their debut- and sophomore studio albums.

An early version of "Rooster" was recorded during the sessions, but ultimately left off the EP, as the band wanted that song included on "Dirt (1992)". Therefore "Sap" features 5 tracks (one is a hidden track titled "Love Song"). Ann Wilson of Heart guests on a couple of tracks and Chris Cornell (Soundgarden) and Mark Arm (Mudhoney) also guest on "Right Turn".

While "Facelift (1990)" is a bleak, depressive, heavy, and dark affair, "Sap" shows a more mellow and melancholic side of Alice in Chains. This is still not music full of sunshine (which would probably also have felt weird) and "Right Turn" is downright depressive, but the tasteful acoustic arrangements and the skillful performances make "Sap" both a worthy and interesting follow-up release to "Facelift (1990)". As always it´s the vocals and vocal harmonies by lead vocalist Layne Staley and guitarist/backing vocalist Jerry Cantrell (who sings a lot of lead vocals on this EP), which provide the band´s music with its unique character and sound. This is deeply emotional and melancholic music, and the band make sure that their performances match the intensity and passion of the material.

So upon conclusion "Sap" is a nice and different sounding gap release, and also a pretty bold move from such a young band with only one full-length album under their belts, but "Sap" proved to be a huge commercial success for Alice in Chains as it ended up selling more than 500.000 copies. So great was the demand from their fans for new music from them, that Alice in Chains deliberately didn´t do much promotion for the release. No music video was shot for any of the tracks on the EP, and the label didn´t advertise the release in the press either. They just sort of slipped the EP unto the market, and watched what happened. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved, although I´d argue that both the acoustic based tracks on "Dirt (1992)" and on the band´s second acoustic based EP "Jar of Flies (1994)" are overall more complete and interesting material.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Absolutely Terrifying Insult Sludge Metal
ETHBAAL
Buy this album from MMA partners
Withered Metalcore
ABSENT COLORS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Where All Paths End Deathcore
ABASCABAN
Buy this album from MMA partners
Sarberus Sludge Metal
MALICIOUZ
Buy this album from MMA partners
Lightning In A Bottle Traditional Doom Metal
PENTAGRAM
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Absent Colors - Digital Prison (Official Music Video)
ABSENT COLORS
Bosh66· 2 days ago
Absent Colors - Withered (AI Generated Visualizer) #shorts
ABSENT COLORS
Bosh66· 2 days ago
Absent Colors - Hollow King (Official Lyric Video) (feat. Michael Luck of Dark Signs)
ABSENT COLORS
Bosh66· 2 days ago
ABSENT COLORS - We Let The Devil In - OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO
ABSENT COLORS
Bosh66· 2 days ago
Absent Colors - PURGE (Official Music Video)
ABSENT COLORS
Bosh66· 2 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed