Miserably Ever After: The Official Sludge Thread

Listening to Crowbar's 1993 self-titled for the millionth time. Works just as much as it did the first time. One of things I've always loved about Crowbar is how they were one of the foundation layers but sonically were always kind of on an island of their own. Save for Tungsten, I can't really think of any band that sounds quite like Crowbar. Windstein, a riff machine, just has a thing about his songwriting that makes it distinct.

 
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Oblivious Maximus said:
Listening to Crowbar's 1993 self-titled for the millionth time. Works just as much as it did the first time. One of things I've always loved about Crowbar is how they were one of the foundation layers but sonically were always kind of on an island of their own. Save for Tungsten, I can't really think of any band that sounds quite like Crowbar. Windstein, a riff machine, just has a thing about his songwriting that makes it distinct.

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I love how their sound can be totally metalcore too, yet not sound super generic or off putting. I really think its a combination of Windsteins unique vocal delivery with his penchant for Morbid Angel esque 4th chord dynamics.

Crowbar stays consistently good too. Such a fucking awesome band.
 
Before today, I had never listened to Seahag. I'd always see people in cool bands wearing their shirts, just never got around to giving them a listen. Lame move in hindsight. Their debut, and to date only full length, Our Presence Here is in Vain, is quality meat and potatoes sludge. Properly thick sounding while still retaining a rawness. Between Rwake, these cats and Deadbird (who share members with Seahag), Arkansas has one hell of a pedigree.

 
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Speaking of Arkansas sludge metal, Shitfire were a little known but totally killer sludge band representing the region. I used to have their first CD but I sold it years ago and it doesn't seem to be uploaded anywhere unfortunately, except for this music clip.



Fucking nasty riffs man, loved these dudes. Someone should upload the whole album online.
 
Let's discuss Fleshpress. A band I've long held in high regard, they remain one of the most original and forward thinking bands and prove that you can do sludge and be atmospheric and experimental without it collapsing into "post-metal" pretentiousness. Following their releases has made for fascinating, at times trippy but always rewarding listening. Even their earliest material when they were at their most explicitly New Orleans influenced stood out due to the experimental ambient tangents which would only become more prominent on Wörm Dirges.



The sound got even rawer on III: The Art of Losing All where a black metal influence came to the forefront. Excellent vocals on that album.



The sludge, black metal and ambient collided on the mighty Pillars, the bands magnum opus and a benchmark album for the genre.



Acid Mouth Strangulation emits a deranged psychedelia. The soundtrack to an acid horror film.



If it weren't obvious, the band is on their own planet and by the time the brilliant Tearing Skyholes came around, they'd long since defined any attempt to pigeonhole them to just one sound. No other band writes like this. (Song is actually "Floating Paranoia").



The same can be said of Hulluuden muuri, yet another slight tweak to the sound but retaining that singular quality all their recordings have.



And seriously, the band name is Fleshpress. That's metal as fuck.
 
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Oblivious Maximus said:
Let's discuss Fleshpress. A band I've long held in high regard, they remain one of the most original and forward thinking bands and prove that you can do sludge and be atmospheric and experimental without it collapsing into "post-metal" pretentiousness. Following their releases has made for fascinating, at times trippy but always rewarding listening. Even their earliest material when they were at their most explicitly New Orleans influenced stood out due to the experimental ambient tangents which would only become more prominent on Wörm Dirges.



The sound got even rawer on III: The Art of Losing All where a black metal influence came to the forefront. Excellent vocals on that album.



The sludge, black metal and ambient collided on the mighty Pillars, the bands magnum opus and a benchmark album for the genre.



Acid Mouth Strangulation emits a deranged psychedelia. The soundtrack to an acid horror film.



If it weren't obvious, the band is on their own planet and by the time the brilliant Tearing Skyholes came around, they'd long since defined any attempt to pigeonhole them to just one sound. No other band writes like this. (Song is actually "Floating Paranoia").



The same can be said of Hulluuden muuri, yet another slight tweak to the sound but retaining that singular quality all their recordings have.



And seriously, the band name is Fleshpress. That's metal as fuck.
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Awesome post. Just going through all the links briefly really puts me in the mood for a sludge binge. Fleshpress are definitely one of the greatest in the genre both in terms of keeping a traditional sound alive but also consistently evolving the sound in new and more fucked up areas. The perfect balance of old and new.

Some of my favourite Fleshpress material is also pretty underrated so let me share those as an accompaniment to your post:



Timestamp should take you to the right track. This is from their split with Sloth and overall the record fucking rules. Both sides, this was before Sloth devolved into total noise.

Also cool art:

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Utterly dismal 2010 EP that plays out like a journey to Hell and back.

I was going to also share a link from their debut double 7 inch Dilemmantrauma but it seems that all videos from Youtube have been removed and the band didn't add it to their Bandcamp. That sucks, if I could rip my vinyl to a digital format I'd do it myself.
 
Time to fellate another Crowbar album, this time it's Time Heals Nothing. A standout album in one of the most staggeringly consistent discography's, it's an album where the term "sludgecore" would be an appropriate tag as the hardcore influence is strong in a number of the tracks. Crowbar are perhaps the masters when it comes to seamlessly blending doom and hardcore into one singular sound and this album is perhaps the finest example of their dirge/mosh hybrids. Much like Obedience Thru Suffering, the production is reminiscent of the first few Melvins albums, extremely dense, perhaps a bit dry but utterly suffocating in it's heaviness and Kirk's vocals are as impassioned as ever, especially on the devastating title track, "Through a Wall of Tears and "Still I Reach" which should be a mainstay in their setlist.

Due to their aforementioned consistency, anyone new to Crowbar could pick any one of their albums at random and immediately become acquainted with their signature sound, but Time Heals Nothing would be an ideal first listen.

 
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As of right now, Time Heals Nothing is the first Crowbar album I physically own.

I honestly think without this album, Hatebreed wouldnt have the exact sound they have now.
 
Its mostly in Jasta's vocals, but really early Hatebreed stuff was super Crowbar riffs that werent as doomy.



This whole album reminds me of the more Hardcore riffed Crowbar mixed with Sepultura influence.

Btw this is the only Hatebreed album Ive ever really saw potential in. I wish they stayed this hard edged and not try hard.
 
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