 According to Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic , Alice in Chains ' sound has a " Black Sabbath @-@ style <unk> and an unconventional vocal style " . The band has been described by Erlewine as " hard enough for metal fans , yet their dark subject matter and <unk> attack placed them among the front ranks of the Seattle @-@ based grunge bands " . Three of the band 's releases feature acoustic music , and while the band initially kept these releases separate , Alice in Chains ' self @-@ titled album combined the styles to form " a bleak , <unk> sound that balanced grinding hard rock with subtly textured acoustic numbers " . 
