Jar Of Flies would be released January 25th of 1994. It’s estimated that Alice in Chains has sold over 4 million copies of Jar Of Flies. This would be Alice In Chains second acoustic album after 1992’s Sap.
The band Alice In Chains is a traditional four-piece band from Seattle, Washington, that formed in 1987. They started as a glam band but later turned into a grunge band during the Seattle grunge movement that overthrew music in the 90s. But this band had more of a sludgelike metal sound to inspire it, unlike other grunge bands at this time. Layne Staley, the lead vocalist for the band, is the everlasting voice of grunge. Many people think of his voice as something that will never be replicated again, with the heartwrenching performances to the notes he could hold forever. Some music that inspired him was black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Van Halen, and Twisted Sister, and this music sound definitely influenced the sound of the band. He would be born on the 22nd of August in 1967 and die on the 5th of April 2002 in his apartment after a drug overdose from a mix of heroin and cocaine. Jerry Cantrell is the lead guitarist and backup vocalist for the band. He fit this band as a jack of all trades; he would write heavy metal-like riffs, amazing acoustic melodies, beautiful backup vocals with Layne, and would write most of the songs for the band. Cantrell’s sound is so unique and special, with the Wha pedal to make his guitar sing to the blues and rock/metal sound that he has acquired. To this day, at the age of 59, he is still touring, doing his solo stuff and Alice In Chains with the same passion and dedication to music he has always had. He has to be one of my top five favorite guitarists for so many reasons. Mike Inez is the former bassist for Ozzy Osbourne and fit the band’s sound very well. Overall, both of the bassists have awesome tones, basslines, and sound perfect for the band. Sean Kinney, the drummer of Alice in Chains, first played the instrument at just the age of five, and at 9, he played for his grandfather’s band. Sean had an amazing groove that was perfectly fitting for the band. After Layne died in 2002, the band would perform again in 2005, and to this day, the band is still touring with all original members except Layne, who was replaced by William DuVall. Nobody will ever be able to replicate Layne’s voice, but William does a very good job in the band.
Jar Of Flies is an album that brings out the beauty of the acoustic songs that Alice in Chains writes. A lot of Alice in Chains’ acoustic songs a very underrated, and there are so many good ones, especially on this album. The title and art of the album comes from a science experiment that Jerry Cantrell did in third grade. The experiment has two jars of flies, one of which would be underfed, the other overfed. The goal of the project would be to see which flies lived longer. The album cover has a boy looking into the jar with flies, with the band’s name Alice in Chains printed on the jar. What I love most is the colors and how the red and orange mix perfectly together. This leans a little bit more into an EP rather than an album, but it’s considered an album on most platforms like Spotify. The album has so much emotions in the songs, and thats what I love most about Jar Of Flies. Starting with their number one most popular song, you don’t even need to know the band to know this one Nutshell. This song is a masterpiece that contains pure emotion, sadness, loneliness, and addiction, and it’s all packed into this song. The guitar weeps with just four cords, until the ending solo with Jerry Cantrell playing a shred full yet emotional solo. The bass sticks out on this song so much and complements the guitar so well in this song adding another layer and making the song so much fuller sounding. Nutshell has left an impact on grunge music, Alice in Chains, and acoustic songs like no other and will always be recognized for how heartwrenching it is. The next song is Don’t Follow, It’s way too underrated for how good the song is. It reminds me of Nutshell a lot with how it sounds, both vocals and the guitar itself. The first half starts with fingerstyle with slight chord changes that sound beautiful, and over top of it, a harmonica fighting perfectly in the song and making it a little sadder sounding. The other half of the guitar starts strumming some chords, and the harmonica plays at a faster tempo than before, and Layne’s vocals get a little bit louder. And end with just the guitar playing the chord progression from the beginning of the song. I think the song is about going in a direction in life that you don’t want to go, and then when the tempo speeds up, it’s more looking at the good things and how you want to go back to those times. thats just what I think of the lyrics. And lastly, I want to talk about Whale & Wasp, an instrumental song with no lyrics. This song captures the emotion in two different forms of guitar and other instruments. It has lead guitar playing a one-note part and then into a beautiful sounding solo. The tone is very strong and out there, but it’s not like a metal song with crazy distortion, which I love; it almost sounds clean and dirty at the same time. In the background, theirs also an acoustic guitar playing something very similar throughout the song in a classical or fingerstyle playing style. And for the classic string instruments, the song uses violin, viola, and cello. Theas instermenst all a whole new layer to the song and is very different for Alice in Chains, and it truly fits this song well. I like that they’re fairly noticeable in the song, especially when the lead guitar isn’t playing, the rest cuts through in the mix well. I like this being an instrumental because it really captures the voice and soul in an instrument.
I would recommend this album to anyone, especially if you like acoustic/more calm-sounding songs. If you’re a fan of ’90s rock/grunge and Alice in Chains, this is a good album for you. But I think the most important this is the emotion in every song on this album. If you want to lissen to music that tells a story and has emotion from the vocals to the instruments, check out Jar Of Flies by one of the most legendary bands of the, 90sAlice in Chains.
