Screaming Trees - Sweet Oblivion

The Screaming Trees should've had it all, and Sweet Oblivion is the album that should've given it to them. The Ellensburg, Washington, band's second major-label disc is as expert a set of pounding grunge and shifting moods as anything this side of Nirvana. But despite a set of brilliant hooks, intriguing lyrics ("Shadow of the Season," "Julie Paradise"), and Mark Lanegan's attention-getting vocals, it stopped short of going gold. Still, along with its belated follow-up, Dust, this is a masterwork of '90s hard rock. --Rickey Wright