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.
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