Nurse
Artist: Therapy?
Community Score: 6.70

An expanded recording budget does wonders for Therapy? for their first proper studio record, released by new label A&M. But rather than record with a label-approved producer, the Irish band opted to go with their soundman to provide a grunge tinge to their punishing noise. So the band's fans rested easily knowing that Nurse was more than their... Read More

Tiny Music...Songs From the Vatican Gift Shop
Artist: Stone Temple Pilots
Community Score: 7.01

Purple established that Stone Temple Pilots were not one-album wonders but Tiny Music...Songs From the Vatican Gift Shop illustrates that the band aren't content with resting on their laurels. Without abandoning their trademark hard rock, STP have added a new array of sounds that lend depth to their immediately accessible hooks. Dean DeLeo... Read More

Stoner Witch
Artist: Melvins
Community Score: 7.61

The early to mid-'90s proved the Melvins' golden age, and the three principal albums from that period -- Stoner Witch provides the centerpiece -- are virtually unassailable in their range, depth, power, and experimental courage. Picking up on the basic framework of Houdini, Stoner Witch resolves into an ear-catching workup of classic rock... Read More

American Thighs
Artist: Veruca Salt
Community Score: 8.60

With their thin, singsong vocals and fuzzed-out guitars, Veruca Salt may sound like the Breeders and the Pixies, but lack either band's talent for inverting pop conventions or taste for the bizarre. What Veruca Salt has instead is a raw talent for simple, infectious pop songs; the result is a surprisingly fresh fusion of alternative pop and... Read More

Purple
Artist: Stone Temple Pilots
Community Score: 7.99

Stone Temple Pilots had hits with Core, but they got no respect. They suffered a barrage of savage criticism and it must have hurt, since their second effort seems a conscious effort to distinguish themselves as a band not indebted to grunge. That didn't get them anywhere, as they were attacked as viciously as before, but Purple is nevertheless... Read More

Troublegum
Artist: Therapy?
Community Score: 8.00

A high watermark of early alternative metal, Troublegum is a spectacular, powerful, clutter-free record. Densely packed at 14 songs in 40 minutes, there's sharpness on every level, demonstrating that the promise evidenced on Nurse was no mirage. Chris Sheldon's job on the boards provides separation among all the instruments, avoiding the mashed... Read More

Jar of Flies
Artist: Alice in Chains
Community Score: 7.90

Written and recorded in about a week, Jar of Flies solidified Alice in Chains' somewhat bizarre pattern of alternating full-length hard rock albums with mostly acoustic, ballad-oriented EPs. That quirk aside, Jar of Flies is a low-key stunner, achingly gorgeous and harrowingly sorrowful all at once. In a way, it's a logical sequel to Dirt --... Read More

Inhaler
Artist: Tad
Community Score: 8.00

Thanks to producer J. Mascis, Tad gets a more focused and driven sound on their major-label debut, Inhaler, easily their best and most consistent album to date. Fortunately, the group has lost none of the grit that marked them as the grungiest of the Seattle scene, while keeping their songs full of hooks and melodies. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine,... Read More

Ignition
Artist: The Offspring
Community Score: 7.71
Superstar Car Wash
Artist: The Goo Goo Dolls
Community Score: 6.83

The hard rock rawness of Buffalo's Goo Goo Dolls makes Superstar Car Wash an album that is high on amicable guitar riffs and attractive hooks, with an edge that never goes away. All the choruses are sandwiched perfectly between the crunching throttle of electric guitar and pleasing rock rhythms, changing pace and style just a notch in each of... Read More

Pure Cult: The Best of the Cult (For Rockers, Ravers, Lovers & Sinners)
Artist: The Cult
Community Score: 10.00

Say what you want about the Cult -- a band which will certainly go down as one of the most schizophrenic in rock history -- but singer Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy could sure write a great tune. Just glance at a few titles included on their hard-to-find, but definitely best greatest-hits collection Pure Cult: "Edie (Ciao Baby)," "Love... Read More