At a time when the music world was a’changin’, this band – and especially this album – came out of nowhere and brought forth those changes with a bang.
Try and class this as you will – heavy metal, grunge, alternative – it doesn’t matter. Appealing to a multitude of masses, this album brought a new face to the music scene and made its mark immediately. Combining riffs and breaks that on the surface seem so simple, and yet are quite brilliant, and the magical quality of the diverse vocals of Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell, Facelift is a blending of anger, sorrow, frustration and determination that combines to produce an album that constantly drags you back for more.
Without doubt, as has been mentioned previously a number of times, it is the first four tracks on the album – “We Die Young”, “Man In The Box”, “Sea Of Sorrow” and “Bleed The Freak” that are the gem. They set up the whole mood of the album and make it what it is. “Love Hate Love” centres the album, and you can feel every word Layne screams at you through the speakers.
This created a storm amongst those I was friends with at the time it was released, and it hasn’t really lost much of its gloss since. A groundbreaker at the time, it still shows why all these years later.
Rating: One of the best of its time. 4.5/5
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