Short Cuts

Above -- Mad Season

With the Seattle scene no longer cool, and the flannel-clad masses no longer mesmerized by every garage band to hail from the North Woods, what are hardworkin' grunge artists supposed to do for a side project?

The answer is Mad Season.

Alice in Chains lead vox and admitted heroin user Layne Staley joins forces with Pearl Jammer Mike McCready on the new disc Above. Fortunately, the new brew is not Pearl in Chains, or another Seattle sound-a-like.

Above takes the best parts of Alice in Chains -- Staley's drug-stained voice and thoughtful lyrics -- and mixes it with the solid lead work of McCready's guitar.

While some ditties, such as the annoying "Lifeless Dead," sound like rejects from Alice in Chains' sophomore effort, Dirt, other tunes showcase how insightful sonics can fill the anti-grunge vacuum.

Standouts include the phenomenal "Wake Up," and the quiet "Long Gone Day" which springs to life with (gasp) -- a saxophone.

The opener "Wake Up" is the call to action that places Mad Season's songcraft well above anything on McCready's Pearl Jam outing Vitalogy.

The lyrics build to a dark crescendo, "For little peace from God you plead/And beg/For little peace from God you plead."

Although a Seattle supergroup sounds like a bad idea, the insightful Mad Season have proven that grunge is indeed ripe for (once again, pardon the pun) -- a Facelift.

Abrasion -- A.M. Prophecy

Does the 'A' in A.M. Prophecy stand for 'Alice in Chains'? The music sure sounds like it.

On Abrasion, their new release, the local rockers put forth 12 grungy tracks which lead one to question whether Penn State should relocate to Seattle.

Although it is a comical understatement to say that this style is completely unoriginal, A.M. Prophecy does a good enough job of simulating it to make this a decent album. It could almost be called a good album, if not for the lack of consistency.

Most of the songs sound very much as if they were secret, unreleased tracks deleted from Alice in Chains' Jar of Flies EP.

"Undefined" and "Manhorse' are both hard, impressive endeavors. But the prophets break their stride. Their main falter is in the point at which they attempt to branch out and transcend their influences and find that they cannot. They try on many tracks and in many areas to meld their grungy, alternative-ish sound with blues and mainstream rock, or in some places, pop.

Overall, Abrasion is a commendable effort. The word "effort" must be emphasized, because the attempt of this State College band to both reflect a style that is generally popular on a widespread level and fuse it with other styles that their hometown can identify with is rightfully impressive.

Anyway, Abrasion is the type of album one can easily appreciate but it's not-so-easily listened to. The prophecy is that it will sit in a CD collection and collect dust.

Above -- Mad Season

Abrasion -- A.M. Prophecy