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| Sludge Metal https://forum.metal-archives.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=139925 |
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| Author: | Forever Underground [ Tue Aug 29, 2023 12:17 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Sludge Metal |
Sludge metal is by far the subgenre that I have explored the least in my short 10 years listening to metal, firstly because it is one that took me longer to discover compared to thrash, doom or power metal for example, so maybe it is not distorted to say that it is a subgenre that has less popularity perhaps? And the second reason is because I never really knew how to explore this kind of music, for quite a long time I couldn't recognize what was sludge metal and what wasn't, and even today I still have my doubts about the genre, like "what is actually atmospheric sludge? Also most of the releases I've listened to haven't really appealed to me. Although that has changed recently as there have been a few albums I've listened to that really made me feel like 10 years ago when I was discovering the world of metal for the first time. So this topic is as much to ask you for your interpretation of the subgenre, help me to know it better and maybe also help someone who is as lost as me in this muddy path. Oh and above all I welcome any kind of recommendations of bands, albums etc etc. I myself leave in the spoiler a list of the albums of the genre that I've listened to so far. I read you, greetings!
Spoiler:
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| Author: | Durag [ Tue Aug 29, 2023 12:24 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
I dont listen to much actual sludge metal like Eyehategod, its a subgenre I've really meant to dig into, but I absolutely love atmospheric sludge metal / post metal. Neurosis and Cult Of Luna are two of my favourite metal bands and Times Of Grace is one of the greatest albums ever imo, especially when paired with Tribes Of Neurots Grace. |
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| Author: | hallowed78 [ Tue Aug 29, 2023 12:51 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
There was a time around 2005-2006 when I was hellbent on making sludge my favorite genre. This was driven by several great releases around that time, but mostly by the fantastic The Ruin of Nova Roma by the Welsh band Taint which is an album I adore to this day. Crunchy guitars and the tune low, play slow attitude were a welcome change from a diet of death buzzing and black shrieking. I saw in a short span of time Crowbar, Neurosis, Ufomammut and The Ocean live all of which made impact on my listening habits to this day. So I went out looking for more of that stuff and bands like Noothgrush, Eyehategod, Keelhaul, Grief and such. Really enjoyed genre as a whole, with its tangents branching out to doom and stoner, or to a more hardcore position with some bands, but these days I'm down to just a couple of bands that stuck with me through the 2010s. Fun times. |
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| Author: | nakzox [ Tue Aug 29, 2023 1:48 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
All great stuff you've got on that list already though. The major thing you're missing imo is Crowbar, one of my top bands of all time. |
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| Author: | Gravetemplar [ Tue Aug 29, 2023 2:36 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
If you've already listened to Neurosis - Through Silver in Blood or Buried at Sea - Migration and don't enjoy them maybe the genre isn't for you. |
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| Author: | robotniq [ Tue Aug 29, 2023 2:42 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
"Streetcleaner" is a brilliant album but I've never heard it described as 'sludge', there is way too much hip-hop bounce on that record to sound 'sludgy' to my ears. I have never considered Isis, CoL or Neurosis to be sludge either but I guess I could be wrong on that one - perhaps the genre labels have changed since I last paid attention. Dystopia and Corrupted are two more classic bands that you need to check out, on the nastier side of the spectrum. Iron Monkey were a monstrous live band back in the day, I'd recommend checking them out too. You need to check out "Cop" by Swans too, for one of the heaviest and sludgiest records of all time (regardless of whether or not they meet the genre classification) |
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| Author: | Forever Underground [ Tue Aug 29, 2023 2:53 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
nakzox wrote: All great stuff you've got on that list already though. The major thing you're missing imo is Crowbar, one of my top bands of all time. I'll give them a listen. Thank you! Gravetemplar wrote: If you've already listened to Neurosis - Through Silver in Blood or Buried at Sea - Migration and don't enjoy them maybe the genre isn't for you. From Neurosis I've only listened to Enemy of the Sun and overall it was ok but nothing I really loved, although I think it's a band that can have the same effect that Cult of Luna had where I had to listen to a few of their albums before I started to really like them. robotiq wrote: "Streetcleaner" is a brilliant album but I've never heard it described as 'sludge', there is way too much hip-hop bounce on that record to sound 'sludgy' to my ears. I have never considered Isis, CoL or Neurosis to be sludge either but I guess I could be wrong on that one - perhaps the genre labels have changed since I last paid attention. Dystopia and Corrupted are two more classic bands that you need to check out, on the nastier side of the spectrum. Iron Monkey were a monstrous live band back in the day, I'd recommend checking them out too. You need to check out "Cop" by Swans too, for one of the heaviest and sludgiest records of all time (regardless of whether or not they meet the genre classification) See, that's one of my problems, I'm not sure what is sludge and what isn't, I've seen people write about "Streetcleaner" and "Dopethrone" as sludge albums but I can't say for sure myself. Also Isis, CoL and Neurosis are usually described as atmospheric sludge and I'm not really clear about the difference, is it because they add elements of post rock? I'll try the recommendations, thanks! |
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| Author: | Gravetemplar [ Tue Aug 29, 2023 3:53 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
Forever Underground wrote: nakzox wrote: All great stuff you've got on that list already though. The major thing you're missing imo is Crowbar, one of my top bands of all time. I'll give them a listen. Thank you! Gravetemplar wrote: If you've already listened to Neurosis - Through Silver in Blood or Buried at Sea - Migration and don't enjoy them maybe the genre isn't for you. From Neurosis I've only listened to Enemy of the Sun and overall it was ok but nothing I really loved, although I think it's a band that can have the same effect that Cult of Luna had where I had to listen to a few of their albums before I started to really like them. robotiq wrote: "Streetcleaner" is a brilliant album but I've never heard it described as 'sludge', there is way too much hip-hop bounce on that record to sound 'sludgy' to my ears. I have never considered Isis, CoL or Neurosis to be sludge either but I guess I could be wrong on that one - perhaps the genre labels have changed since I last paid attention. Dystopia and Corrupted are two more classic bands that you need to check out, on the nastier side of the spectrum. Iron Monkey were a monstrous live band back in the day, I'd recommend checking them out too. You need to check out "Cop" by Swans too, for one of the heaviest and sludgiest records of all time (regardless of whether or not they meet the genre classification) See, that's one of my problems, I'm not sure what is sludge and what isn't, I've seen people write about "Streetcleaner" and "Dopethrone" as sludge albums but I can't say for sure myself. Also Isis, CoL and Neurosis are usually described as atmospheric sludge and I'm not really clear about the difference, is it because they add elements of post rock? I'll try the recommendations, thanks! There are different mixes of the genre. I'd say pure sludge bands are scarce. Eyehategod are one of the purest sludge bands that I can think of. Then you have stoner/sludge (Electric Wizard, Sleep), sludge/drone (Buried at Sea, Khanate, Monarch), post metal/atmospheric sludge (Neurosis and all the bands that copied them like Isis and Cult of Luna), progressive sludge (early Masotodon and Baroness) and even bands like Eagle Twin that mix sludge with blues. While I consider Godflesh mostly an industrial metal band, the influence they had on sludge was massive. Streetcleaner was probably the clpsest they were to playing sluge. |
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| Author: | Metal_On_The_Ascendant [ Tue Aug 29, 2023 4:13 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
Neurosis and Cult of Luna are my faves. I could never really get into Isis' overrated albums except for a few songs/moments here and there. Pure sludge is more like Eyehategod and Crowbar though. Neurosis did a lot more experimenting. Godflesh is one of my favorite bands ever but they're really not sludge even though most of those bands worshipped "Streetcleaner". Just listen to whatever Gravetemplar recommends. Dude really has great taste in metal. |
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| Author: | SanPeron [ Tue Aug 29, 2023 4:24 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
I am surprised no one named the best sludge band of all time, created by the musicians of the best sludge bands in the world, stuff like Eyehategod, Crowbar, Corrosion of Conformity, etc. That band is of course Down. NOLA is their first and best album. Some would argue that they are a mix between stoner metal and sludge, and that may be true. But sludge and stoner almost always go hand to hand. I also wanted to discuss what we call sludge, because stuff like Acid Bath or Crowbar is pretty different to Neurosis, Isis, Cult of Luna and those post-metal more modern bands. Shoutout to Acid Bath, killer band, one of those bands that became a lot more mythical and famous many years after they disbanded. |
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| Author: | ZenoMarx [ Tue Aug 29, 2023 4:33 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
I don't understand Godflesh, Neurosis, or Dystopia being here. Floor, especially the early stuff. Thug (Bovine Records). Noothgrush demo. Suiciety (Texas). Maybe Sloth? Sea Bastard. Godheadsilo (Elephantitus Of The Night, if you don't like that EP, you won't like anything from them). Billy Crystal Meth. Maybe Su19b post-Crossed Out phase? There are tracks littered here and there that I think might apply, like this Benumb track: https://benumb.bandcamp.com/track/stood-up-and-sold-out |
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| Author: | poormouth100 [ Tue Aug 29, 2023 4:51 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
sludge metal fundamentally is a mixture between doom metal and hardcore punk, to put it simply. you can trace the genre's roots pretty clearly to the album my war by black flag, but bands like the melvins and eyehategod kind of elaborated on it and turned it into an actual thing. black flag were pretty much just incorporating sabbath into their sound, making slowed down and doomy punk songs, etc. the reason for your confusion is because the genre has splintered into a bunch of different directions, not all of them sounding too much like the other. streetcleaner could broadly be described as sludge metal but obviously it's not the same thing as eyehategod or crowbar which are "pure" sludge, and then you have atmospheric sludge which was invented by neurosis and spawned a legion of other bands. to give you some recommendations for what i would consider "essential" sludge metal... neurosis - through silver in blood (this is absolutely essential if you at all liked enemy of the sun, and this is a lot better than that album, although neurosis are a band that grows on you... still, this is one of my favorite albums ever) eyehategod - take as needed for pain (dopesick is great too, but for me this is their best album. be prepared for some absolutely filthy, scuzzy punkmetal) crowbar - sonic excess in its purest form (this is straight up no frills sludge metal, it's not quite as raw as eyehategod but this album and band in general just riff fucking hard, if you like sabbath then this is absolutely essential) dystopia - dystopia (on the punkier side of things, killer record) you mentioned sleep and electric wizard, tbh i really don't consider either of them to be sludge metal at all. they're both just stoner/doom bands which could get kind of rough but dopethrone and sleep's holy mountain just ain't sludge metal albums. the thing about actual sludge metal is there's a massive punk influence, not too dissimilar from early metalcore. hell, the genre was invented by a hardcore band and some of the biggest names in the genre started out as punk too... like neurosis, whose first two albums were hardcore. |
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| Author: | Metal_On_The_Ascendant [ Tue Aug 29, 2023 4:56 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
SanPeron wrote: I am surprised no one named the best sludge band of all time, created by the musicians of the best sludge bands in the world, stuff like Eyehategod, Crowbar, Corrosion of Conformity, etc. That band is of course Down. NOLA is their first and best album. Some would argue that they are a mix between stoner metal and sludge, and that may be true. But sludge and stoner almost always go hand to hand. I also wanted to discuss what we call sludge, because stuff like Acid Bath or Crowbar is pretty different to Neurosis, Isis, Cult of Luna and those post-metal more modern bands. Shoutout to Acid Bath, killer band, one of those bands that became a lot more mythical and famous many years after they disbanded. Neurosis were never strictly sludge. They evolved with each subsequent album and only retained a few elements of their sludge/hardcore roots like the yelled vocals. |
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| Author: | SanPeron [ Tue Aug 29, 2023 4:59 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
Metal_On_The_Ascendant wrote: SanPeron wrote: I am surprised no one named the best sludge band of all time, created by the musicians of the best sludge bands in the world, stuff like Eyehategod, Crowbar, Corrosion of Conformity, etc. That band is of course Down. NOLA is their first and best album. Some would argue that they are a mix between stoner metal and sludge, and that may be true. But sludge and stoner almost always go hand to hand. I also wanted to discuss what we call sludge, because stuff like Acid Bath or Crowbar is pretty different to Neurosis, Isis, Cult of Luna and those post-metal more modern bands. Shoutout to Acid Bath, killer band, one of those bands that became a lot more mythical and famous many years after they disbanded. Neurosis were never strictly sludge. They evolved with each subsequent album and only retained a few elements of their sludge/hardcore roots like the yelled vocals. Yeah, for me they were always what we called post metal, dumb name I know. |
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| Author: | poormouth100 [ Tue Aug 29, 2023 5:01 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
yeah neurosis aren't pure sludge metal, although i'd still maintain that souls at zero and through silver in blood are firmly in the sludge camp and are essential albums for anybody exploring the genre. from times of grace onward they were onto something else though |
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| Author: | rarezuzuh [ Tue Aug 29, 2023 6:42 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
If we're talking about pure sludge nothing does it for me like Iron Monkey's album Our Problem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U4koOjYrAQ |
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| Author: | Z0MBIE [ Wed Aug 30, 2023 12:36 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
Definitely listen to more Crowbar, I've really gotten into the Broken Glass album lately. An album that hasn't been mentioned yet is Boris - Amplifier Worship, which is a great drone/sludge album, just sounds massive. |
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| Author: | Mykman [ Wed Aug 30, 2023 6:51 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
I would not call Cult of luna or Neurosis sludge , they are amazing but not sludge imho, more like progressive. Purest sludge bands are Crowbar , Eyehategod , Down , and maybe Acid bath. If you want to listen some really great one try Graves at sea , all their albums are excellent. |
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| Author: | Gravetemplar [ Wed Aug 30, 2023 7:42 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
Metal_On_The_Ascendant wrote: Just listen to whatever Gravetemplar recommends. Dude really has great taste in metal. Thanks man. Appreciate it. Also I'm sorry but all this talk about Neurosis not being sludge is preposterous. Up until Times of Grace they clearly are, and afterwards they still maintain a lot of the sound. They of course are more than just sludge but denying they evolved from hardcore punk adding doom influence... That is sludge. Same as all the bands that came before them. It's particularly weird that you guys think Neurosis aren't sludge and then mention Down, which are basically a stoner/blues influenced/doom driven band with yes, some sludge to it. How are they pure sludge? |
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| Author: | Paka01 [ Wed Aug 30, 2023 8:13 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
Is Eyehategod worth seeing live? |
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| Author: | Xymosys [ Wed Aug 30, 2023 8:34 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
Only if you're on drugs... |
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| Author: | nakzox [ Wed Aug 30, 2023 9:38 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
Yeah, Neurosis definitely qualifies as sludge in my book. More like a progressive or atmospheric sludge, if you want to get more technical with it, but still sludge. |
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| Author: | Twisted_Psychology [ Wed Aug 30, 2023 11:52 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
Paka01 wrote: Is Eyehategod worth seeing live? EyeHateGod puts on a great show but best suited to a tightly packed toilet of a club. I saw them open for Black Label Society and seeing them in a large venue just felt wrong. |
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| Author: | Defenestrated [ Wed Aug 30, 2023 4:46 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
I like Harvey Milk. They're not on the Archives - not sure how they'd be classified (I guess they have a bit of a quirky indie/post-rock vibe), but they have plenty of sludge(-like) material, heavy in a Neurosis kind of way, nice and achy. |
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| Author: | Cabecao [ Wed Aug 30, 2023 6:22 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
A band that seems to be flying under the radar is Lo!. Their latest release The Gleaners is superb. Angry, heavy, sludgy, and all the other bits. |
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| Author: | Disembodied [ Wed Aug 30, 2023 8:32 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
Sludge-core is a better description. It's not really metal but hardcore punk slowed down (which is the only thing it takes from doom metal). |
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| Author: | SanPeron [ Wed Aug 30, 2023 8:37 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Sludge Metal |
Disembodied wrote: Sludge-core is a better description. It's not really metal but hardcore punk slowed down (which is the only thing it takes from doom metal). It depends on the band, stuff like Eyehategod or Dystopia are pretty hardcorish, but stuff like Down is definitively metal it has a lot of Black Sabbath influence and it has metal riffs all around. |
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