Purple

Having scored a massive hit with their debut album, Core, Stone Temple Pilots returned to the same sludge-filled well for Purple, only to come up with an album that's harder, more concise, and filled with thunderous, punishing riffs. Headbangers will rejoice over the grinding guitars of "Meatplow," "Vasoline," "Lounge Fly," and "Unglued," but the album reveals far more than one dimension. They back off the throttle for the hushed (though still intense) "Pretty Penny," "Big Empty" puts a respectable spin on the phrase "power ballad," and the catchy, hook-filled "Interstate Love Song" asserts itself as one of the most memorable alt-rock singles of the '90s. --Daniel Durchholz