"…There are several songs on the album that do showcase the group at their best…" ~allmusicguide
Considered by many to be the leading lights of the Seattle grunge scene of the late 1980s/early 1990s, and perhaps the most influential rock band of Generations X & Y, Nirvana was a powerful trio of musicians who brought a unique aesthetic to a growing-stale rock scene…
Think of the one-shot Seattle supergroup Mad Season as the grunge version of sober living. Guitarist Mike McCready, best known as the main six-string slinger in Pearl Jam, met bassist John Baker Saunders while in rehab, and the two paired with Screaming Trees' drummer Barrett Martin and Alice in Chains vocalist Layne Staley, partially in hopes of steering the singer onto the path of the straight and narrow. Ultimately, the plan didn't pan out, but for a brief while, the quartet - who adopted the name Mad Season - did have their moment of clarity, captured on the 1995 album Above. There was a single issued to modern rock radio - "River of Deceit" - but this record downplayed easy hooks and melody in favor of churning introspection and slow vamps that occasionally flirt with blues (the never-ending 12-bar "Artificial Red," balanced by the distorto riffs of "I Don't Everything"), but usually conjure nothing more than the dank sludge of Seattle…
It’s quite understandable for a fan of Bathory to be interested by Quorthon’s solo project, aptly named Quorthon. However, if you’re expecting thrashy viking metal or misanthropic black metal, you will be disappointed. The best way to describe Quorthon is as a modern grunge tinged hard rock band. There is a lot here that will entice an Alice in Chains fan more than a Bathory fan…