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Sludge metal
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Sludge metal
Sludge metal (also known as sludge doom or simply sludge) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that combines elements of doom metal and hardcore punk. The genre generally includes slow tempos, down-tuned guitars and nihilistic lyrics discussing poverty, drug addiction and pollution.
The sound of sludge metal has its origins in California hardcore punk bands in the early-to-mid-1980s like Black Flag, Flipper and Fang, who began slowing their tempos and embracing the influence of Black Sabbath. This sound was expanded upon by the Melvins towards the end of the decade and the bands they influenced in both the Seattle grunge scene, and in Louisiana with Eyehategod, Crowbar and Acid Bath. In the 1990s and 2000s, the sound of sludge diversified: bands including Neurosis, Isis and Cult of Luna helped to pioneer post-metal, while Baroness and Mastodon fused the genre with progressive metal, while Dystopia did so with crust punk and Grief with anarcho-punk.
Alex Deller of Metal Hammer describes sludge metal as a "mutant cousin to both doom and stoner metal", incorporating the "misery of the former and the prodigious narcotic consumption of the latter while spewing nihilism, self loathing and frenzied punk rock aggression into the vomitous mix." He also described the style as "arguably the biggest, ugliest mutt" of the extreme metal subgenres.
The key characteristics of sludge metal are a slow tempo combined with down-tuned, heavily distorted guitars. However, some bands do make use of tempo changes into faster sections. The key element that differentiates sludge from other doom metal derived styles is its influence from hardcore punk, particularly the genre's use of high aggression and screamed vocals, though the genre can include sung vocals. Many sludge bands also make use of elements of industrial music, southern rock and blues. Bandcamp Daily writer Noah Berlatsky described the genre as "visceral and ugly".
Sludge metal's lyrics explore real-world themes, while often also making light of the darkness of these topics. Drug addiction is a common theme, while discussion of poverty and pollution are also prevalent.
Sludge bands who lean more towards hardcore are sometimes called sludgecore by music historians including Garry Sharpe-Young and David Pearson. New Orleans is the birthplace of the sludgecore movement, with Eyehategod being this style's frontrunner. More recently, sludgecore bands like the Abominable Iron Sloth, Admiral Angry and Black Sheep Wall have emerged.
Since its inception in the late 1970s, the sound of hardcore punk was primarily defined by its high tempos. However, by the early-to-mid-1980s, a crop of bands, particularly California groups Black Flag, Fang and Flipper, began to play slower tempos as a way of antagonizing many in the scene. As early as 1982, Flipper's Album – Generic Flipper made use of dirgey, low tempos and expansive song lengths in the case of "(I Saw You) Shine", to create what, in his book Monolithic Undertow In Search of Sonic Oblivion, writer Harry Sword credited as the "genesis of sludge metal". Furthermore, Los Angeles band Saint Vitus, one of the forefront groups in the still emerging doom metal genre, released their self-titled debut album through SST Records in 1984. The album's title track, merged the band's usual doom metal style with elements of punk to create a mid-tempo hardcore track which writer J. J. Anselmi described as "the first sludge metal song on record". However, it was the three track B-side of Black Flag's My War (1984) and its embrace of Black Sabbath influence, that is generally accredited as beginning the sludge metal genre.
Early on My War's influence took a particular hold on Seattle, Washington's burgeoning grunge scene, inspiring some of the scene's earliest bands like 10 Minute Warning and the U-Men. The Melvins, formed in Montesano, Washington in 1983, were one of the most prominent bands in the scene to embrace the influence of both My War and Album – Generic Flipper, and would go on to be described by publications such as Revolver as the band that "invented sludge". Beginning their career by playing hardcore, the band began playing "slow and heavy riffs" after seeing Black Flag in Seattle in 1984, to form a dirge-like music that inspired much of the subsequent sludge and grunge bands. The grunge scene became sludge's most commercially successful moment, with groups like Soundgarden and Nirvana achieving widespread mainstream success in the early 1990s, playing music that merged the genre with alternative rock.
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Sludge metal
Sludge metal (also known as sludge doom or simply sludge) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that combines elements of doom metal and hardcore punk. The genre generally includes slow tempos, down-tuned guitars and nihilistic lyrics discussing poverty, drug addiction and pollution.
The sound of sludge metal has its origins in California hardcore punk bands in the early-to-mid-1980s like Black Flag, Flipper and Fang, who began slowing their tempos and embracing the influence of Black Sabbath. This sound was expanded upon by the Melvins towards the end of the decade and the bands they influenced in both the Seattle grunge scene, and in Louisiana with Eyehategod, Crowbar and Acid Bath. In the 1990s and 2000s, the sound of sludge diversified: bands including Neurosis, Isis and Cult of Luna helped to pioneer post-metal, while Baroness and Mastodon fused the genre with progressive metal, while Dystopia did so with crust punk and Grief with anarcho-punk.
Alex Deller of Metal Hammer describes sludge metal as a "mutant cousin to both doom and stoner metal", incorporating the "misery of the former and the prodigious narcotic consumption of the latter while spewing nihilism, self loathing and frenzied punk rock aggression into the vomitous mix." He also described the style as "arguably the biggest, ugliest mutt" of the extreme metal subgenres.
The key characteristics of sludge metal are a slow tempo combined with down-tuned, heavily distorted guitars. However, some bands do make use of tempo changes into faster sections. The key element that differentiates sludge from other doom metal derived styles is its influence from hardcore punk, particularly the genre's use of high aggression and screamed vocals, though the genre can include sung vocals. Many sludge bands also make use of elements of industrial music, southern rock and blues. Bandcamp Daily writer Noah Berlatsky described the genre as "visceral and ugly".
Sludge metal's lyrics explore real-world themes, while often also making light of the darkness of these topics. Drug addiction is a common theme, while discussion of poverty and pollution are also prevalent.
Sludge bands who lean more towards hardcore are sometimes called sludgecore by music historians including Garry Sharpe-Young and David Pearson. New Orleans is the birthplace of the sludgecore movement, with Eyehategod being this style's frontrunner. More recently, sludgecore bands like the Abominable Iron Sloth, Admiral Angry and Black Sheep Wall have emerged.
Since its inception in the late 1970s, the sound of hardcore punk was primarily defined by its high tempos. However, by the early-to-mid-1980s, a crop of bands, particularly California groups Black Flag, Fang and Flipper, began to play slower tempos as a way of antagonizing many in the scene. As early as 1982, Flipper's Album – Generic Flipper made use of dirgey, low tempos and expansive song lengths in the case of "(I Saw You) Shine", to create what, in his book Monolithic Undertow In Search of Sonic Oblivion, writer Harry Sword credited as the "genesis of sludge metal". Furthermore, Los Angeles band Saint Vitus, one of the forefront groups in the still emerging doom metal genre, released their self-titled debut album through SST Records in 1984. The album's title track, merged the band's usual doom metal style with elements of punk to create a mid-tempo hardcore track which writer J. J. Anselmi described as "the first sludge metal song on record". However, it was the three track B-side of Black Flag's My War (1984) and its embrace of Black Sabbath influence, that is generally accredited as beginning the sludge metal genre.
Early on My War's influence took a particular hold on Seattle, Washington's burgeoning grunge scene, inspiring some of the scene's earliest bands like 10 Minute Warning and the U-Men. The Melvins, formed in Montesano, Washington in 1983, were one of the most prominent bands in the scene to embrace the influence of both My War and Album – Generic Flipper, and would go on to be described by publications such as Revolver as the band that "invented sludge". Beginning their career by playing hardcore, the band began playing "slow and heavy riffs" after seeing Black Flag in Seattle in 1984, to form a dirge-like music that inspired much of the subsequent sludge and grunge bands. The grunge scene became sludge's most commercially successful moment, with groups like Soundgarden and Nirvana achieving widespread mainstream success in the early 1990s, playing music that merged the genre with alternative rock.