Mad Season – Above (Vinyl LP)

A haunting collision of grunge, blues and raw vulnerability - a record born from Seattle's darkest days.

Released in 1995, Above is the sole studio album from Mad Season, a remarkable collaboration between musicians from the Seattle grunge scene. The lineup brought together Alice in Chains vocalist Layne Staley, Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin and bassist John Baker Saunders, creating something that sounded distinctly different from their respective bands. The album also features the vocals of Mark Lanegan on Long Gone Day.

Where Alice in Chains often channelled darkness through crushing riffs and harmonies, Mad Season leaned into bluesy guitar work, spacious arrangements and a more introspective atmosphere. Staley's unmistakable voice is at the centre of it all, delivering lyrics that feel painfully personal against McCready's expressive playing.

River of Deceit became the album's defining track, its restrained melody and stark lyrics capturing the struggle between self-awareness and self-destruction. Wake Up unfolds slowly into a powerful meditation on addiction and the difficulty of breaking free, while I'm Above delivers a heavier, more confrontational edge.

The album's title reflects its search for perspective beyond the struggles that surrounded its creation. Yet Above never feels like a neat redemption story. It's honest, uneasy and often devastating - a snapshot of musicians confronting their own demons through music.

Mad Season's story was tragically short. Saunders died in 1999, and Staley died in 2002, lending the album an added weight in retrospect. But Above stands on its own merits: a beautifully atmospheric record that reveals a more vulnerable side of the Seattle scene.

Essential for fans of grunge, alternative rock, blues-inflected guitar music and the deeper, more introspective side of 1990s Seattle.