Sludge metal, also called sludge doom or simply sludge, is a type of heavy metal music that mixes elements of doom metal and hardcore punk. This genre usually has slow music speeds, guitars that are tuned very low, and lyrics that talk about negative topics like poverty, drug use, and pollution.

The sound of sludge metal began with California hardcore punk bands in the early-to-mid-1980s, such as Black Flag, Flipper, and Fang. These bands started playing slower music and were influenced by the band Black Sabbath. Later in the 1980s, the band Melvins helped develop this sound further. Their influence spread to bands in the Seattle grunge scene and in Louisiana, including Eyehategod, Crowbar, and Acid Bath. In the 1990s and 2000s, sludge metal changed in many ways: bands like Neurosis, Isis, and Cult of Luna helped create a new style called post-metal. Other bands, such as Baroness and Mastodon, mixed sludge with progressive metal, while Dystopia combined it with crust punk and Grief with anarcho-punk.

Characteristics

Alex Deller of Metal Hammer describes sludge metal as a "mutant cousin to both doom and stoner metal," combining the "sadness of the former and the heavy use of drugs of the latter while mixing nihilism, self-criticism, and wild punk rock energy into a messy mix." He also called the style "arguably the biggest, ugliest mix" of the extreme metal subgenres.

Sludge metal is known for its slow beats and very low, distorted guitar sounds. Some bands also include faster sections. What sets sludge apart from other doom metal styles is its influence from hardcore punk, especially the use of loud, aggressive shouting, though some songs may include sung vocals. Many sludge bands also use sounds from industrial music, southern rock, and blues. Bandcamp Daily writer Noah Berlatsky called the genre "strong and intense."

Sludge metal songs often talk about real-life issues, sometimes showing humor about dark topics. Common themes include drug addiction, poverty, and pollution.

Sludge bands that sound more like hardcore punk are sometimes called sludgecore. Music experts like Garry Sharpe-Young and David Pearson use this term. New Orleans is where the sludgecore movement began, with the band Eyehategod leading the style. Recently, bands like the Abominable Iron Sloth, Admiral Angry, and Black Sheep Wall have also played sludgecore music.

History

Hardcore punk music began in the late 1970s and was known for its fast speed. By the early-to-mid-1980s, some bands, such as Black Flag, Fang, and Flipper from California, started playing slower music to challenge others in the scene. In 1982, Flipper’s album Generic Flipper included songs with very slow tempos and long lengths, like "(I Saw You) Shine." This style was called the "beginning of sludge metal" by writer Harry Sword in his book Monolithic Undertow In Search of Sonic Oblivion. Around the same time, the Los Angeles band Saint Vitus released their first album in 1984. The album’s title track combined their usual doom metal style with punk elements to create a mid-tempo song described by writer J. J. Anselmi as "the first sludge metal song on record." However, the three-track B-side of Black Flag’s My War (1984), which used influences from Black Sabbath, is most often credited with starting the sludge metal genre.

The influence of My War helped shape the grunge scene in Seattle, Washington, inspiring early bands like 10 Minute Warning and the U-Men. The Melvins, formed in Montesano, Washington, in 1983, were among the most important bands to adopt the style of My War and Flipper’s Generic Flipper. After seeing Black Flag in Seattle in 1984, the Melvins began playing slow and heavy music, creating a style that inspired many sludge and grunge bands. The grunge scene became the most commercially successful moment for sludge metal, with bands like Soundgarden and Nirvana blending sludge with alternative rock in the early 1990s.

By the 1990s, Louisiana became a major center for sludge metal, with bands like Acid Bath, Crowbar, and Eyehategod. Eyehategod was one of the first sludge bands in Louisiana, a time when most local bands played fast music. The band intentionally chose to play slower music, influenced by Black Sabbath and Black Flag, to challenge their peers. Over time, Eyehategod became one of the most important bands in the genre. Their 1993 album Take as Needed for Pain inspired many other bands to form or change their styles. Members of Eyehategod later joined other influential New Orleans sludge bands, including Soilent Green, Crowbar, and Down. In a 2009 interview, Down vocalist Phil Anselmo said, "Back in those days, everything in the underground was fast… But when the Melvins came out with their first record, Gluey Porch Treatments, it really broke the mold, especially in New Orleans. People began to appreciate playing slower."

In the late 1980s and 1990s, the 924 Gilman Street punk scene in Berkeley, California, produced a sludge metal scene that included bands like Neurosis and Noothgrush. Neurosis changed from playing hardcore to a slow, heavy, and experimental style of sludge metal, helping to create the post-metal genre. Later, bands like Boston’s Isis and Umeå’s Cult of Luna also influenced post-metal. Around the same time, Orange County, California’s Dystopia released their debut album Human = Garbage, which mixed sludge metal with crust punk and grindcore. Boston’s Grief combined sludge metal with anarcho-punk. In the United Kingdom, bands like Fudge Tunnel and Iron Monkey also adopted the Melvins’ style and the early sound of sludge metal.

Damad formed in 1991 in Savannah, Georgia, and released two albums, Rise and Fall (1997) and Burning Cold (2000), which blended sludge metal with grindcore. Damad’s influence helped Savannah develop a significant sludge metal scene in the 2000s, including bands like Baroness, Black Tusk, and Kylesa. These bands combined punk, metal, and rock, leading writers like J.J. Anselmi to describe a "Savannah sound." Baroness’ progressive style, which also included alternative rock, gained widespread success in the 2010s. Similarly, Mastodon from Atlanta mixed sludge metal with progressive elements. Their first two albums, Remission (2002) and Leviathan (2004), were called two of the most important sludge metal albums by Kerrang!. However, as Mastodon continued, they focused more on progressive metal and less on sludge metal.

Publications

Daniel Bukszpan wrote this book in 2012: The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal. Published by Sterling Publishing Company in New York. ISBN: 978-1402792304.