Genre story · Metal
Sludge
Doom's crawl, hardcore's aggression: the metal genre that was born when punk bands slowed down.
Sludge metal – also called sludge doom, or simply sludge – is an extreme branch of heavy metal with two parents: the slow, heavy weight of doom metal and the aggression of hardcore punk. Bandcamp Daily calls it a hybrid of doom metal and lo-fi, messy punk.
Slowing down
The story starts in the early 1980s, when hardcore bands such as Black Flag, Fang and Flipper began dragging their tempos down. Black Flag's My War (1984), its second side steeped in Black Sabbath, is the record most often credited with starting it; others point to Flipper's Album – Generic Flipper (1982) or the title track of Saint Vitus' 1984 debut. As Metal Hammer puts it, sludge may look like an offshoot of doom, but it owes as much to hardcore as to Sabbath.
In Washington state, the Melvins – formed in Montesano in 1983 – became the style's pioneers. Revolver went further and called them the band that “invented sludge.”
The 1990s spread it across America. Louisiana built one of the largest scenes, around Eyehategod, Crowbar and Acid Bath; Berkeley's 924 Gilman Street gave rise to Neurosis and Noothgrush; in Boston, former members of the crust punk band Disrupt formed Grief. In the 2000s, Savannah, Georgia carried it forward through Baroness, Kylesa and Black Tusk.
The sound
Sludge moves slowly, on down-tuned, heavily distorted guitars, though many bands lurch into faster sections. What sets it apart from other doom-derived music is hardcore's aggression – above all, screamed vocals. The lyrics return again and again to drug addiction, poverty and pollution, and many bands also borrow from industrial music, southern rock and blues.
Connections
- Sludge is filed as a subgenre of Metal, as an extreme branch of heavy metal.
- From Doom Metal it takes the tempo and the weight: slow, heavy rhythms and a dark, pessimistic atmosphere.
- From Hardcore it takes the attitude – aggression, shouted vocals, the occasional burst of speed – and many of its first bands.
- Post-Metal grew partly out of sludge: Neurosis' turn toward a droning, progressive sound helped pioneer it.
Essential recordings
- 1984Black FlagMy WarThe record most often credited with starting it all.
- 1987MelvinsGluey Porch TreatmentsThe first full-length from the band credited as sludge's pioneers.
- 1993EyehategodTake as Needed for PainA Louisiana record that inspired a multitude of bands.