There are many different versions of this single, among them two different coloured versions, a blue one and a green one, both of which contain an unreleased b-side from King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime.

I am reviewing the blue version. The title track "Digging the Grave" is one of the weaker songs from King for a Day, and sounds like some Ramones worship done badly, although to be fair it is a little bit catchy. The song only available on this single "Absolute Zero" is a great synth heavy alterna-metal song. The two album tracks on this single "Ugly in the Morning" and "Cuckoo for Caca" are two of the best songs from King for a Day, both very heavy with some hilarious scat vocals from Patton (later copied by countless garbage nu metal singers).

Overall a decent mini compilation of sorts, recommended for hardcore FNM fans.

In their 25 year existence, Alice in Chains have undergone quite a musical evolution.

From the dark days of playing mediocre glam metal, the rifftastic hard rock of Facelift, to the legendary Sabbath inspired doom rock of their next two full length albums (shielded behind the silly, imaginary media created grunge label), along with their unexpected two acoustic EPs released on the side, one could never really know what to expect from this group, and the fact that they have overhauled their sound to better fit in with the metal crowd whom they abandoned with the release of their 1992 EP Sap confirms this.

With 2009's comeback album "Black Gives Way to Blue" the evolution continued, instead of turning to the horrid "post-grunge" radio rock manure of bands like Foo Fighters, Nickelback and Creed (which was always a very real fear), Alice instead came back harder & darker then ever, with bone crushingly heavy doom/sludge tracks like "A Looking in View" mixed in with a few Facelift esque hard rock songs (Take Her Out, Check my Brain) and some acoustic alternative rock songs (Your Decision, When the Sun Rose Again). Well this song pretty much picks up right where "A Looking in View" left off.

The first thing you'll notice is this song displays Alice in Chains new found love of over the top heavy, downtuned guitars. The vocals of William DuVall, which many stuck in the past Layne Staley fanboys criticized on the last album, continue to carry the legacy of Layne well. Perhaps they may be a little more radio oriented then Layne's unique voice, but they are by no means bad.

This song reminds me quite a bit of the Tool song "Bottom" (a band people seem to like to compare to AIC a lot) in that both start off with a very heavy riff, slowly descend into a cathartic chorus with some quiet spots, which carries the rest of the song, before ending with another heavy riff.

Also of note is a killer guitar solo by Cantrell at around 3:50.

Overall this is a great doomy song, right up there with the stuff from "Dirt", perhaps even a little better. I wouldn't say it's pure doom metal or sludge metal since it still has some alternative elements from the old days, however it's dam close. One can only hope the new album delivers more songs like this.

Originally written for http://www.metal-archives.com/

Californian band Snot's 1997 debut album "Get Some" presented a mix of the downtuned guitars of nu metal, the aggression of hardcore punk, grunge vocals, and funk. Well this sound wasn't exactly revolutionary or anything, but it was a refreshing change from the usual rap oriented nu metal of the day. The band shows potential on some song's like "I jus' Lie" and "Unplugged" along with some interesting chill-out funk tracks, however the majority of stuff on here is pretty forgettable hardcore punk fare with some really horrible sounding shouted vocals. After this album was released the lead singer Lynn Strait and his boxer Dobbs (pictured on the album cover) passed away in a car crash. This pretty much ended Snot, with the band sadly fading into obscurity.

By no means a classic in this genre, but it does have a few redeeming qualities about it.

Slipknot is a nu metal band from Iowa and this is their popular debut album from 1999.

I have never understood why this band is so popular. Their sound is very generic nu metal, that fails to distinguish itself in a crowded genre. Even other maligned nu metal band's like Korn and Mushroomhead at least manage to distinguish themselves from the rest by experimenting with other sounds/genres etc. This is the only Slipknot album i've heard and i was not impressed, all the songs here have the same sounding riffs, same boring shouted/rapped vocals and idiotic lyrics that sound directly aimed at angsty teenagers.

I know the nu metal fans eat this sort of stuff up, but fans of other genres should steer clear.

"Strap it on" is the debut album from the legendary alternative metal band Helmet. Helmet are one of those bands who simply don't ever get enough credit. Many often credit band's like Faith no More and Rage Against the Machine for starting the so called nu metal genre, however Helmet are definitely a band who had a large impact on the genre, with their use of drop d tuning influencing everyone from Korn, to Tool, to Marilyn Manson.

This album is their most hardcore punk influenced, and sounds very different from the band's later albums which were more straightforward alternative metal/hard rock affairs. The sound of this album is a very unique mix of post-punk, noise rock and metal. The albums production is very raw (like most underground 80s hardcore albums) however this is a good thing as it adds to the whole rough and dirty feel of the album.

All the songs have the same raw anger, but my favourite has got to be "Sinatra" a song with some incredibly heavy riffs, later covered by fellow alternative metal Deftones. "Make Room" is an interesting heavy blues type of song, and features a monster riff/drum outro. Page Hamilton has never been known for his singing ability, and it shows on some songs on this album. Songs like "Rude" could have been much better with a different singer. This problem was especially prevalent on the band's post-90s albums.

Overall a fine album, and a great addition to any hardcore or alternative metal fans collection.