Sludge metal is a subgenre of Metal that melds elements of doom metal, noise rock and hardcore punk; sometimes southern rock. Sludge metal is typically acetic, corrosive, abrasive and highly vitriolic. It combines the slow tempos, heavy rhythms, dark instrumentals and pessimistic atmosphere of Doom Metal with the aggression, shouted vocals/harsh screams and occasional fast tempos of Hardcore Punk.
A typical sludge song places heavy emphasis on guitar feedback, groovy riffs, and angry, pained vocals. It also is not uncommon for songs to engage in occasional quick bursts of speed and technicality attributed to more traditional forms of hardcore. A style/form of sludge often-times dubbed sludgecore. Lyrical themes borrow both from the angry social and political commentary of punk and from the sad and melancholic themes of doom metal. This amalgamates into music that can best be described as frustrated and embittered, often either at society or at oneself or both.
The term "sludge" is a metaphor referring to the slow and dingy atmosphere this blend of metal and punk invokes. While Black Flag and Flipper are often considered to be the first bands to experiment with Doom-esque riffs in punk music, the first bands to truly play sludge include Melvins, Acid Bath, Crowbar, Noothgrush, Grief and Eyehategod.
Sludge metal has a considerable influence stemming from grunge. Bands such as Alice In Chains, early Nirvana, mid Soundgarden and all of early Melvins (who took the style further into what Black Flag conceived with My War) greatly contributed to its development. Alice In Chains' 1995 self-titled album put forth a very depressive, slow, plodding and dynamic, gloomy heavy brand of dark doom metal. Soundgarden's Louder Than Love was specifically scathing, eerily disturbing as well as very heavily distorted/dissonant in nature. Early Nirvana was conspicuously and shamelessly influenced by Melvins. Bleach is basically a sludge record when compared to what Eyehategod conjured 3 years later with In The Name Of Suffering which sonically constitutes a more extreme Bleach drenched in, drowned and riddled with bouts of feedback with accrued fried/distorted southern whiskey Black Sabbath riffing guided by tortured inhuman shrieks for vocals.
Since its founding in the early to mid 1990s, many sludge artists have sought to experiment with influences from both punk music and metal music. This includes Mastodon (Progressive Metal), Soilent Green (Grindcore), Dystopia (Crust Punk), His Hero Is Gone (Crust Punk/D-Beat), Coffinworm (Black Metal), Asunder (Funeral Doom Metal), Burning Witch (Drone Metal), Thorr's Hammer (Death Metal), among many others. A large following of bands combined the harsh qualities of sludge metal with the psychedelic aspects and repetitive riffs of Stoner Metal; the most notable artists in "stoner sludge" are Melvins, Bongzilla, Cough and Boris.
Many bands have also used the vocals and tempos of sludge with textures and stylings of other atmospheric genres like Post-Rock, giving rise to Atmospheric Sludge Metal. Sludge is also considered to be a major influence on modern Powerviolence. Notable sludge metal influenced powerviolence bands being Mind Eraser and Wound Man.
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