After pretty intense and not so short sludge and related listening period, I just have to express and organize my thoughts and conclusions drawn during this time. You know, I have always been a style/genre classification nerd so if you're going to read it (or not read it) and write something like "blah, this journal sucks, there is no genres at all just the good and bad / i like and i dislike music and whatever" just pass by with your mouth shut the fuck up, okay? I'd be glad to read any constructive comments rich in content, whether you're agreed or arguing. So, reading from this point means that you accept the statements above and I can go on and start nerdying.
First of all, the term
sludge stands for
sludge doom metal in full spelling, this is the fact I truly keep my belief in.
update: I think this part needs brief explanation. When I say "sludge = sludge doom metal" I mean that sludge can be considered as doom metal's subgenre, but not as hardcore punk's. Yet it is as doom metal as hardcore punk, yeah. It is a "crossover" genre, yeah. Sludge was formed both on hardcore and doom metal scenes, first sludge bands shared the stage with both hardcore and doom metal bands, yeah (and even more often with hardcore bands, yeah). When I say "sludge = sludge doom metal" I mean mostly that there are no sludge without doom within - in the music, lyrics, image and the whole attitude and in 95% that doom attitude prevails and the whole genre kinda separated from hardcore scene by time and nowadays mostly ALL sludge bands belong to the doom scene.
The next, not less important, fact is that SLUDGE can be the description both of the music genre with whole its structure, sound and conception (it is the main and most preferable use of the term) and also of the specific guitar sound first invented by the genre's representative bands and then used by the musicians not playing SLUDGE. These bands are quite often mistaken as SLUDGE bands but they aren't. I think people should call things their own names and say about that sort of bands: "post-hardcore with sludgy guitars" or "metalcore with sludgy feel" and that would be pretty correct and there won't be any mess.
So, what is sludge? The most simple and clear formula has been given to us by the man who just can't say anything wrong about sludge, Mike Williams of EyeHateGod and it is:
Black Sabbath +
Black Flag
Of course, this is not THAT simple, but here you can get the idea of the whole music structure: old school
doom rock/metal, in its heaviest, ugliest and the most dirty form mixed with the old school
hardcore punk rock, in its most extreme point too, and here we have the symbiosis of two extremes: extra-slow and extra-fast ones, combined to create the unique kind of music. Do not forget about the traditional influences on the doom scene:
blues; 60-70's
heavy rock,
stoner rock,
southern rock and some more specific for each band. The proportion of ingredients can vary from band to band, so the sludge is one of the most different styles you could ever hear. The next criterion is that "sludge guitar sound": heavily downtuned, distorted and dirty, you have to hear it once and since then you won't mistake it for something else. Vocals come from hardcore, but they're often much more harsh screamed / shrieked / ululated / howled hysterically. Thus if the music's not groove based, without doom metal riffage, lacks hardcore acceleration parts (even quite slowed down yet well recognizable) and hasn't the specific sludge guitar sound - if it doesn't comply with ANY of the criterions above - it
CAN NOT BE CALLED SLUDGE. Also very big role play the conception and imagery of the genre: men (and sometimes women) who play sludge are typically screwed up tough motherfuckers, misanthropic, nihilistic, drug abused, asocial psychopaths you'd never like to meet on the street at midnight alone; and their lyrics are so. Of course it's a stereotype but every stereotype is somehow based upon some real facts, so just read some bios and infos of sludge bands if you want to know more about these people personally.
The greatest and classic,
QUINTESSENTIAL SLUDGE DOOM METAL bands (with short description and brief characteristics of the sound):
▪
Eyehategod (fast tempos, southern bluesy guitars, as doomy as hardcore) One of the most influential and famous sludge bands ever, with that tasty fat southern guitar work of Jimmy Bower and insane Mike Williams "poetry" and "singing" manner that made them their name and helped to gain the cult status.
▪
Grief (down tempos, more doomy than hardcore) One of the most diffiCULT to listen to; extra-slow, torturous and unbelievably heavy. If you love it, you can be proud. I truly believe that this band is the best and most quintessential in the whole genre, if you'll get into them, you can say that you're into sludge. The KINGS.
▪
Negative Reaction (fast to mid tempos, proportions vary from more hardcore to more doomy) New York based sludge veterans, very decent men who call themselves "Gods Of Sludge", known for their well recognizable vocals, and influences from NYHC (and also for the great music, of course). They have the song named "Sludge", the great one, it must be said.
▪
Buzzov*en (fast tempos, the punk bastards) One of the most underrated bands, almost not known. Used to play in the very punk rock vein; as of music so as of imagery; actually there wasn't any imagery, they just were that hardcore sludge fucks playing it in their own unique style.
▪
Cavity (fast to mid tempos, soiled fat guitars, mostly as doomy as hardcore) Another not famous and underrated sludge monster, this one is from Miami. They play sludge and they do it right how it has to be played.
The unique, most interesting and innovative
SLUDGE DOOM METAL bands (with short genre/style definition)
▪
3D House of Beef (sludge / monolithic industrial metal)
▪
Accept Death (brutal slamming sludge)
▪
Acid Bath (eclectic cocktail containing sludge, stoner, blues, grunge and only God knows what else)
▪
Crowbar (sludge, the most soft and personal)
▪
Dystopia (sludge / crust / grind)
▪
Fistula (sludge heavily mixed with stoner)
▪
Iron Monkey (UK sludge)
▪
Loinen (Finnish sludge / apocalypse in its sound form)
▪
Mugwart (groovy, bluesy sludge)
▪
Thee Plague of Gentlemen (sludge / extreme doom)
▪
Toadliquor (GRIEF school sludge)
...and many more, I'm waiting for your submissions and ideas on this list.
Some more nuances: correlative and close subgenres of doom metal that is separated from sludge but often mistaken (as usually).
EXTREME DOOM METAL
This subgenre is ALMOST EVERYTIME mistaken for sludge. But this is not, haha! This definition can be used for the such bands that play very slow, sludgy, fucked up music with sludgy vocals but lacking the hardcore ingredient in it. It goes for the bands like:
▪
Burning Witch
▪
Graves at Sea
▪
Cough
▪
Versus the Stillborn-Minded
▪
Warhorse
STONER / SLUDGE DOOM METAL
The stoner doom metal bands incorporating more dirty and fucked up sound, the one that belongs to sludge; stoner doom metal with sludgy guitars, vocals mostly always come from sludge too. I haven't heard any band of the kind that has a hardcore parts in their songs. If you did so, please let me know. Before you prove me wrong, I would like to call this subgenre SLUDGY STONER DOOM METAL, because it's not a SLUDGE with STONER guitars, but STONER with SLUDGY guitars for me. The list of good and excellent bands in this style:
▪
Weedeater
▪
Bongzilla
▪
AsbestosDeath and
Sleep's first two records.
SLUDGE / DRONE DOOM METAL
This genre's definition is okay, but first you just have to separate the bands that involves real sludge elements into the drone songs from those who just uses more dirty and sludgy guitar sound (so as always). I'm not very into that type of music though some bands are quite good at playing it.
...and the final touch:
bands known also as
"ATMOSPHERIC SLUDGE" / "ARTCORE" / "POST-METAL" and such
Bands once started out playing sludge and then changed their music mixing it with
post-rock.
shoegaze,
industrial,
ambient and many many other genres and styles and the bands that even never ever played sludge and started already where the previous ones came to. Experimental, innovative bands that move the musical progress further. They deserve the big respect but their music can not be called sludge because the original "sludge" structure was changed (almost always the "doom" part is being kicked out from the cocktail). For some reasons (unknown to me) their fans keep calling them sludge despite the fact that their favourite bands sound nothing like the bands that are labeled "sludge" for about twenty years! This bands' music must be separated as a new full-fledged genre. I believe they deserve that, do you?
P.S. The example of the band that surely can be called "atmospheric sludge" is
swedish Abandon (their
In Reality We Suffer album).
The word sludge is becoming trendy because of the bands like
Cult of Luna,
Isis and so on, well, that's sad but the REAL sludge won't ever become trendy, I'm sure. Tendencies to call everything you like "SLUDGE" start to bother (already bother, you know). Stop doing it. For example,
Khanate has nothing to do with sludge (they have been tagged sludge countless times) yet they're awesome and unique band. Why the hell you tag
Goatsnake sludge? Or any other not sludge band? Because of people like you, the newbies (like I was about a year ago) think that sludge is everything but the REAL SLUDGE. Shame on you.
Bongzilla
