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User
Reviews 29
Approval 97%
Soundoffs 31
News Articles 6
Band Edits + Tags 54
Album Edits 109
Album Ratings 915
Objectivity 92%
Last Active 04-07-18 8:10 am
Joined 01-06-15
Review Comments 315
| ArtBox's Art Box: Ranking AiC's Album Artwork
Week 4, coming at you live half a week late and with blatant apologies. Nonetheless, let's do it. This includes the five studio albums and the Sap/Jar of Flies EPs. It's late. I'm not entirely coherent. | | 7 |  | Alice in Chains
Jar of Flies
I'm going to be completely honest. I'm biased as hell. It's what makes the lists fun. This creeped me the fuck out as a kid, and it creeps me the fuck out as a semi-adult. It's a jar of flies. Literal, cool. But that fucking face, man. I don't need any is-he-decapitated boy heads today. It probably means something more important. I just see deadness, and it's a bit too much. | | 6 |  | Alice in Chains
Sap
Again with the literals. It's a bucket of sap. Again, cool. I think the lighting and general colour palette do well in their simplicity though. Even though it's a well made cover, I don't believe Facelift's cover really captured the sort of darkness that Alice in Chains did well, so Sap is a nice way to start the evolution of that aesthetic. | | 5 |  | Alice in Chains
Facelift
I feel like I'm looking at a clown's acid trip, while also being on my own acid trip. A mishmash of distorted horror, even if that horror is punctuated with a campy rainbow-tinted lens. | | 4 |  | Alice in Chains
The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
My bias for red kicks in once more. Out of all the rock bands to deal with the public's cries of Satanic imagery, the one who never felt that pressure decides to kick back, and what better way to kick back than with an optical illusion? Sure, literally dinosaurs are the devil, if you want to take it at literal face value, which AiC love. There's also that silhouette reflection just out of sight facing the opposite direction, much like religion could look the other way on certain aspects. It's just a really smart design. And it's red and red is Satan. | | 3 |  | Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains
Heroin addiction, as I'm led to believe, is crippling. The dog itself is crippled, but everything is smoothed over - covering the gaping wound that we assume would be there, should be there. Alice in Chains are a band defined by their struggles, and what better representation is there of a struggle than a physical struggle? The grain in the filter makes it seem like all these struggles were so long ago - a pity that they weren't. | | 2 |  | Alice in Chains
Black Gives Way to Blue
The black of night background. The shrivelled grey heart, barely living but still glowing, throwing the last of its energy into the gloomy red aura. This is the heart of the band, decayed after years of all the shit they put up with and put into themselves - and it's still beating. A solid fourteen years after the self-titled, after doing the bare minimum to survive, it pumps a little faster. Faster still. And in the depths of the blackened abyss, a dissonant riff emerges... | | 1 |  | Alice in Chains
Dirt
Really, this and BGWTB's covers can be swapped around on a whim, but for now, Dirt tops the leaderboard. Everything about the cover screams "Dirt" - especially the word "Dirt" in a gigantic blocky font. The transparency of the figure - and the ambiguity of their fate - sits well in the stark desert orange shades. A box canyon in the middle of nowhere, slowly sinking but not nearly submerged enough to accept defeat. The cracks come closer... It's sad but funny. Even if we'll never know the full extent of the band's misery, and even if they never want to share, the band's artwork always invites us to come closer. Take a peek under. See the holes in the skin, see what's within. But don't come too close. | |
onionbubs
10.01.16 | 6 is 1 for me
I'd like 7 more if it was just the jar of flies tbh. The imagery looks cool but the kid seems kinda out of place. Don't find it creepy. Just looks dumb tbh | Archelirion
10.01.16 | 2 is 1 for myself but as you said, they're pretty much interchangable. I also love 7's artwork for basically the same reason you hate it - it's creepy as fuck yeah, but deservedly so.
Really love the analysis you do of these - it's something I'm pretty sure I couldn't manage even if I tried. | FullOfSounds
10.01.16 | Hey nice list, likin' these descrips.
7 is my favorite | Shadowmire
10.01.16 | 3 > 7 > 1 > 6 > 5 | Drifter
10.01.16 | 3 is 1 | AlexKzillion
10.01.16 | They all kind of suck honestly | DoofusWainwright
10.01.16 | 7 and 1 are the most iconic and share a similar palette | ArsMoriendi
10.01.16 | 3's the only artwork I actually deem to be pretty decent. AiC covers are a bit meh overall though | danielcardoso
10.02.16 | 3 is my fave, 1 and 7 are great too. and 5 is a bit funny to look at i guess lol. | EvoHavok
10.02.16 | 1 would be my favourite as well. | Ryus
10.02.16 | yeah all of these are awful |
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