Upon its release,
Sap
was a revelation, a seemingly tossed-off EP of four mostly acoustic
ballads
(augmented with a goofy bonus track) that threw
Alice in Chains
' melodic gifts into stunning relief while exposing a gentler, more melancholy side of their sound, something that
Facelift
never even hinted at. The mood is still bleak, but not affectedly so, as was sometimes the case on
. There's a newfound maturity in the subtlety and confessional introspection of the first four songs, whose somber beauty is unfortunately dispelled by the bonus track (in a different context, it might be idiotic fun, but it really doesn't fit here). Still,
served notice that there was a great deal more depth to
than their debut had let on, hinting at the potential that would be realized with
Dirt
. ~ Steve Huey