Sludge rock
| Sludge metal | |
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| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Late 1980s, United States |
| Typical instruments | |
| Regional scenes | |
| Southern United States, Pacific Northwest | |
| Local scenes | |
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Sludge metal (also known as sludgecore or simply sludge) is an extreme genre of music that originated through unifying elements of doom metal alongside hardcore punk. It is also influenced by industrial music and noise rock, such as the work of early Swans, and may reflect both the dissonance and the experimental leanings of these styles. It is typically harsh and abrasive, often featuring shouted or screamed vocals, heavily distorted instruments and sharply contrasting tempos. While the Melvins from Washington laid the groundwork for both sludge metal and grunge in the 1980s, sludge as a distinct genre emerged after 1990 through the work of bands from New Orleans, Louisiana – such as Eyehategod, Crowbar, and Acid Bath, who generally borrowed from Southern rock. Later bands often border on stoner rock or post-metal.
Sludge metal generally combines the slow tempos, heavy rhythms and dark, pessimistic atmosphere of doom metal with the aggression, shouted vocals and occasional fast tempos of hardcore punk. As The New York Times put it, "The shorthand term for the kind of rock descending from early Black Sabbath and late Black Flag is sludge, because it's so slow and dense." According to Metal Hammer, sludge metal "[s]pawned from a messy collision of Black Sabbath’s downcast metal, Black Flag’s tortured hardcore and the sub/dom grind of early Swans, shaken up with lashings of cheap whisky and bad pharmaceuticals". Many sludge bands compose slow-paced songs that contain brief hardcore passages (for example, Eyehategod's "Depress" and "My Name Is God"). Mike Williams, a founder of the sludge style and member of Eyehategod, suggests that "the moniker of sludge apparently has to do with the slowness, the dirtiness, the filth and general feel of decadence the tunes convey". However, some bands emphasize fast tempos throughout their music. The string instruments (electric guitar and bass guitar) are down-tuned and heavily distorted and are often played with large amounts of feedback to produce a thick yet abrasive sound. Additionally, guitar solos are often absent. Drumming is often performed in typical doom metal fashion. Drummers may employ hardcore d-beat or double-kick drumming during faster passages, or through the thick breakdowns (which are characteristic of the sludge sound). Vocals are usually shouted or screamed, and lyrics are generally pessimistic in nature. Suffering, drug abuse, politics and anger towards society are common lyrical themes.
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