Review Summary: Facelift is a record that first brought grunge into the mainstream media in the early 90's. The album is a fantastic hybrid of both grunge and metal and posseses the classic raucous and harrowing sound of Alice in Chains.
When people hear the word “grunge” many immediately think of the 90’s, and rightfully so. All of the best and most influential grunge albums like Nevermind, Dirt, Ten, and Superunknown were all released in the early 90’s. However it is actually the late 80’s when grunge started up with bands like Motherlovebone, Mudhoney, and Screaming Trees. Most people are unaware that Nirvana’s first album, Bleach, actually came out in 1989. The problem for these bands was that in the late 80’s, it was metal that ruled all. Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer and Megadeath were at the forefront and the grunge bands were still waiting in the weeds of the Pacific Northwest for their time to shine. It was not until 1991 when grunge had really hit the mainstream media when Nirvana had basically become the biggest band on the planet after releasing Nevermind. But what about 1990? What about the year when grunge first started to transition into the mainstream media? In 1990, the music scene was a bit in limbo as fans were more than 2 years into the waiting process for a new Metallica release and a new Guns N’ Roses release and they needed something to occupy themselves with in the meantime. This made 1990 the perfect time for Alice and Chains to release Facelift, their impressive and menacing debut album.
Guitarist Jerry Cantrell and vocalist Layne Staley formed Alice in Chains in 1987 in Seattle. They eventually recruited Sean Kinney on drums and Mike Starr on Bass. They spent the late 80’s playing numerous gigs around the Pacific Northwest before signing with Colombia Records and recording Facelift, an album that meshed grunge and metal, which is another aspect that made the records timing of release perfect (It was the first grunge album to be certified platinum). There are many metal driven songs like the opener “We Die Young” and “Put You Down” that bring a more fast-paced metal sound, whereas tracks like “Love, Hate, Love” and “Confusion” have a darker, more grunge sound to them. Alice in Chains would continue to maintain a metal aspect to their grunge sound throughout their career. The standout track of the album is obviously “Man In The Box”, a song that really introduced Layne Staley and the band to the Rock N’ Roll world as its music video got a lot of play on MTV. Maybe Staley’s most memorable moment of his career is when he belts one of the finer choruses in the Alice in Chains catalogue on this track: “Feed my eyes, can you sew them shut?/Jesus Christ, deny your maker/He who tries, will be wasted/Feed my eyes now you've sewn them shut.” “Man In The Box” was a highlight on the record and still to this day is perhaps the song that resonates the most with fans.
Another high point of Facelift is “Bleed The Freak”, a darker song with a harrowing build-up and great chorus: “These stand for me/Name your god and bleed the freak/I like to see/How you all would bleed for me”. One of the shining qualities of Alice In Chains is the chilling and eerie build-ups that transition so perfectly into vocal assaults from Staley, who has the perfect voice for Alice In Chains as he sometimes sounds as if he is in agonizing pain while harmonizing over the vicious and aggressive guitar riffs from Cantrell. Though Facelift has its very strong moments, it is also a bit frontloaded, as it can turn into a tough listen towards the end of the album. Some of the tracks like “Confusion” and “Sunshine” seem to drag on for a while. Cantrell said he wanted the record to have a “moody aura” to it and it certainly does as it contains themes ranging from death, adolescent drug dealing, to even censorship in the mass media. Overall, the album is an exciting debut effort by a band that was one of the more promising of the era.
Facelift is a record that proves that grunge and metal, like many opposing sides in history, where not so wholly different from each other, and I mean that in a positive way. Both sides brought heavier musicianship than others, both sides had aggressive signing, and both sides possess such a dark energy that has influenced so many other bands we hear today. The only real differences are that one (Grunge) is more angst and lyricism driven, while the other (Metal) is more dominance and sound driven. I guess you could also throw wardrobes in as a difference, but does that really matter? After Facelift was released, Alice in Chains opened for the Clash of the Titans tour in 1991, which featured metal bands Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax, a tour that found the band unfortunately being rejected by the predominantly metal audience. Nevertheless, Facelift went on to be a huge success and is one of the albums that helped bridge the metal-dominant late 80’s into the grunge-heavy early 90’s. Most important of all, it introduced us to a stellar band. For me this album always raises the question: Would music just be better off without labels?
