A near-impossible subgenre to create popular music with, sludge has created countless underground classics for the burnt-out and hopeless.
From the primordial swamps of Georgia and NOLA to across the pond and beyond, here’s some underrated sludge works to ruin your day.
Knut was one of the great Hydra Head bands of the early 2000s, blending sludge metal with the dissonant mathcore boom of the era. Challenger is an inexplicably unheralded record. It’s entirely on par with definitive works from Botch or Isis, despite never gaining the same level of acclaim. A slept-on classic for sure.
Sludge lords know all about Fudge Tunnel, but Hate Songs in E Minor is still underrated as an essential piece of ‘90s metal. A major piece of Earache Records’ peak period, Fudge Tunnel’s 1991 album blends British classic rock with the rising American sludge and grunge scenes. That fuzzy tone is just perfect.
Phillip Cope is one of the great Georgian sludge merchants, and before he blew minds with Kylesa, he released two killer full-lengths with Damad. Cope’s guitar work is pushed forward by the vicious vocals of Victoria Scalisi, along with the bass and drum work of early Kylesa members Brian Duke and Christian Depken. In a sentence, Burning Cold is a more brutal version of Kylesa’s hypnotic works.
Delving into more recent sludge works, here’s an entry from British nihilists Mastiff. The band’s sophomore album, Plague, is addictive sludge-infused hardcore with some of the most disgusting breakdowns ever recorded. Plague expertly balances slow, swampy sections with pummeling blast beats and grinding pit-starters. Not a dull moment.
Progressive sludge really had us glued to our stereos in the 2010s, thanks in part to the 80-minute sole full-length from Graves at Sea. Filthy one minute, gorgeous and melancholic the next minute, The Curse That Is will make you feel like you’ve been stranded at an abandoned lighthouse.
This is the sound of absolute torment. A classic doom/sludge timepiece from 1993. Just start listening and don’t stop.
Representing the sludge haven of NOLA, Hawg Jaw brought a massive slab of punk into their sludge sound. Completely raw and smoke-infused, Hawg Jaw’s Believe Nothing feels like it should be blasting out of a desolate shack in the marshlands.
Another entry from Georgia, Unpersons’ first 7” is a unique cross section between sludge and post-hardcore. The band goes from sounding like the Germs and Dead Kennedys to Northeast hardcore and Southern sludge without warning. Unpersons would only get weirder and more artsy as they progressed through the decade, but their 2000 demo is their most raw work.
One of the finest NOLA sludge merchants of the 2020s, Woorms is some serious swamp warlock shit. Just evil, ain’t-broke-so-don’t-fucking-fix-it Louisiana purity.
Plop some Norwegians onto the Oregon Trail and riddle them with disease and famine… you’ve got Reptile Master’s sole LP. This record is utter hopelessness formed into insanely heavy doom and sludge. What a haunting trudge.
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