the Top 10 Stoner / Sludge Albums of 2018

It is that time again. This list was started because well doom and sludge are not the same thing. Neither is doom and stoner rock. While stoner rock and sludge are not the same thing, the lines seem to be blurred a little closer and basically this is about how much pot you are smoking. If you are smoking pot hoping for the apocalypse then you are sludge, you also probably like crusty punk. If you are riding around the desert smoking pot while hoping to find more pot to smoke while listening to Thin Lizzy you are stoner rock. But we are lumping them together, just like last year. The score from my reviews to help determine the ranking , but also how many times Last FM told me I listened to each album.An album can have all the critical acclaim in the world but if it does not inspire multiple listens then how good can it actually be ?

This year it leans more heavily on the side of between new blood being spilled and  more well established acts .  Rather than posting media of a track from each band I am leaving a link to the review, which will contain Bandcamp or Full Album Streams. Ok, enough talking about it, the time has come to dig into the top 10 Stoner /sludge albums of 2018.

10- Secret Cutter - "Quantum Eraser"

 Heavy... that is the mission statement here. This Trio is one of the band's whose name I am familiar with, but have never sat down to give a solid listen. Sludge seems to be the focus, though the spastic tormented vocals could come from a grind core band as they are not just the coarse bellow that booms from most sludge.I think they accomplished what they set out to do, If you are into sludge filled grind core with groove then this album is more for you. It grew on me the more I listened.

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/06/secret-cutter-quantum-eraser.html

9- Wolftooth - s/t

 Imagine if Ghost was not pussies but hammered you with dense aggressive chugs. This is a good example of what separates the band's on this list from doom, it's to upbeat and focused on the chug to be doom, though not fast enough to be power metal or thrash, however they are the right speed to rip a bong to. Going back to listen to this album as I made this list reminded me of how good it is.

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/01/wolftooth-st.html

8- Alkymist - "s/t"

 The first song on the band's self titled debut reminds me of a cross between Godflesh and Neurosis.I do think the difference between doom and sludge lies in the sense of mourning , and this album carries a dirtier more apocalyptic chug to it, that is being displayed here. I'm just working off my first impression of the opener so maybe their entire families get killed before the second song and the album takes a more despondent turn. I can also hear some Crowbar influence in the grunt of the vocals.

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/09/alkymist-st.html

7-Uncle Acid and the Dead Beats - "Wasteland"

 When it comes to the retro style of stoner rock these guys feel like the Rob Zombie version of that as things have had a pulp horror feel to them. Their hippy side tends to win out, but this album finds the normally hard rock band leaning into a more Sabbath style of metal. The first two songs have a catchier swagger and chug to them. This is the strongest effort yet from the band.


 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/09/uncle-acid-and-deadbeats-wasteland.html

6-Besvärjelsen : "Vallmo"

 Blending a surreal darkness with doom tinged rock riffs these guys so deftly deal in. It's the more surreal swirl to their sound that helps elevate them from the rest of the retro occult rock. While they might not be as keen of songwriters as Devils Blood was they are going into a more drugged out direction. With some interesting melodic breaks these guys are like subtle weed as in they creep up on you and the songs often seep into your brain.

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/03/besvarjelsen-vallmo.html

5-Sleep- "the Sciences"

 The first album in two decades from Sleep. If you are new to stoner metal and just crawling out from under a mushroom, then you might know guitarist Matt Pike from this other band called High On Fire. Al Cisneros who handles the vocals has also played in OM and this time they have the drummer from Neurosis sitting behind the drums. The vocals come across a little different than I remember. They are lower and not as soaked in effects.It does a good job of picking up where they left off. With these guys older and wiser the results don't come short of them proving themselves capable of sitting along side the like of Kyuss in the smoky halls of stoner metal royalty.

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/04/sleep-sciences.html

4- Atlas Moth- "Coma Noir" 

 These guys have met at the cross roads of varied genres for sometimes. The consensus is these guys are sludge, though they have played black metal projects individually so that influence is there. They blend sung vocals with screamed vocals that are at a higher pitch bringing another comparison to black metal. There is a powerful metallic chug tothe grooves are to refined to be sludge. It almost borders on Myspace metal styled hardcore as the refinement of the riffs in some cases is a refined as say Atreyu. The way the guitars are layered sometimes it's hard to tell if they are using synths or heavily effected guitars.


https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-atlas-moth-coma-noir.html

3- Fister - "No Spirit Within" 

 This album has plenty pf the wretched vocal howls and crunching slabs of low tuned riffs as it also creates a mood that poses the question where does doom begin and sludge end. They often have a woeful feel until things begin to pick up pace. The guitars capture a sonic atmosphere that's dark and impresses me. They go from almost jamming to the guitars becoming a demolishing swathe of pounding distortion. They weave in interesting shifts in dynamics which doesn't go into all the normal places as the band keeps you guessing with their affinity for haunting melody.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/04/fister-no-spirit-within.html

2 Windhand- "Eternal Return"

 While they are still fixated on Sabbath like overdrive, the vocals have more hooks and they are sharper. Her lazy alto floats over the thick riffs. This is a good example of how I don't need the wheel reinvented I just need bands to give it their own spin. They step away from the bong to indulge in smokey country with a blues underbelly. This might be their most balanced album yet and shows a ton of maturity in their refined songwriting.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/09/windhand-eternal-return.html




 


1-Ilsa- "Corpse Fortress"

 This band is refusing to hold back on  on their debut for Relapse Records. The band's 5th full length finds them continuing to hammer skulls in with the sheer density of their blown out sludge. Dirty and squealing with feedback. The vocals are phrased in a way that that give the coarse scathing shouts almost more of  sung feel. The lyrics cut through better with this delivery. They shift back into more of a low end pounding that owes more to doom when it comes to the ominous rumble as the momentum continues to build. The flatulent bass can be heard in the din at times, but it generally hits you as one frequency. This album earned multiple listens I think it is a huge step forward for the band


 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2018/03/ilsa-corpse-fortress.html

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats : " Wasteland"

When it comes to the retro style of stoner rock these guys feel like the Rob Zombie version of that as things have had a pulp horror feel to them. Their hippy side tends to win out, but this album finds the normally hard rock band leaning into a more Sabbath style of metal. The first two songs have a catchier swagger and chug to them, the second one a little more of an attack. Then things change as They get darker when they slow down for the creepier "No Return". They have more of a harmonized guitar attack that takes you back to the NWOBHM , with the upbeat "Blood Runner" calling Iron Maiden. I guess if you are a band that comes anywhere near metal and are from Britain Maiden is hard to ignore. So far this is their most aggressive album to date.

They revert back to the more go-go 60s garage rock I remember these guys by. It's a well enough written song and very energetic it just doesn't have anything that stands out to me so I am glad it's not an entire album of this. I was not expecting the title track to be a strummed psychedelic song, but for what it is , they do the job pretty well falling somewhere between Pink Floyd and T-rex. "Bedouin" is in some ways more upbeat, up it has a bigger more sweeping sound and is an incredibly well written song and probably the best not only of the album, but that I can recall hearing from these guys.

The last song "Exodus" reminds me of a slowed down narcotic version of Black Sabbath's" Hole in the Sky". The previous song is so good it impacts this one and dulls the effect it might have had if placed earlier in the album. I'll give this one a 9. It might be the strongest effort yet from the band. If you are a fan you might even round it up, but I will have to see if I am going to really give it the chance to fully grow on me.

Various Artists : "Kerrang! : Maiden Heaven Volume 2

I used to sing for an Iron Maiden tribute band so the bar is pretty fucking high when it comes to what my expectations are for bands who try to tackle Maiden. The first installment Kerrang! did of this had some pretty mixed results and the lineup on this one could be hit or miss. Stonesour is wise to stay away from the Bruce songs and give Corey Taylor something more easily attainable given his style of singing, by going after "Running Free" one of the least demanding Dianno songs. I expected a little more fire in the guitar attack so not really blown away they do a pretty passable job. I am not really familiar with the British band Reigning Days. I think it is a little odd they chose a song from Maiden's latest album. "Speed of Light" was my least favorite song on that album, but the rock n roll take on the song is well-suited. Escape the Fate was pretty bold to take on "Hallowed Be Thy Name". Their singer can't come close to the power and command Bruce has. He sings in the teenage-sounding emo whine. He fails to hit the note on the phrase "crazy dream" and tries to scream or growl on notes he has no hope of hitting. The palm-muted thing they do leading into the solo is an attempt to give the song a more modern spin that it doesn't need and then the breakdown is almost blasphemy. The guitarists try to overcompensate on the solo and really lack the quality of tone Smith and Murray have.

 Alt-rockers Lonely the Brave go after "Fear of the Dark". The vocals are more of an introspective baritone. I think they should have gotten Ryan Adams to cover this instead. When it is time to crank it up, the band shows more promise. Their singer sounds more like the dude from Quicksand or Bad Religion than Bruce and really strains up top. No one ever said this was going to be an easy feat, but I think these guys give the song an honest shot. Trivium makes another odd choice in "For the Greater Good of God". Heafy does better than I thought he would on the more power ballad-like intro. However, when he tries to go up into his upper register it is poorly blended and sounds like someone at karaoke. Former LostAlone front-man Steven Battelle gives a questionable performance of "The Red and the Black". The chug of his guitar is mixed with almost as little balls as his voice has, so I suppose it is well-matched. Another odd pairing is the pseudo horror punk band Creeper, whose singer sounds like Fish from Marrillion. Their version of "The Evil That Men Do" was somewhat subdued. The screamo "Number of the Beast" that Lower than Atlantis performs, is also questionable. The singer is either screaming or crooning so there is little in the way of balance the solo section is the only part resembling the original. Anaal Nathrakh must feel the pressure of being the only black metal band as their cover of "Powerslave" is a little too blasty. The vocals on the chorus are decent. There is an almost djent-like groove to the pounding that give the song in certain places.

Shredder Jacky Vincent goes for the gold with his new band Cry Venom, who does a fairly decent version of "Aces High" that pays more respect to the original version than the bulk of these bands. Still, they are not as aggressive as Maiden in their frantic attack. You expect Fozzy to bring it on "Sun and Steel". Their performance is not unlike what you might think a band like Iced Earth would do if given the same song. Though their guitar tone is not as punchy as Iced Earth. Muncie Girls does an interesting cover of "The Wicker Man". I'm not really that emotionally invested in the original, so this indie rock take doesn't bother man. Heck who used to be called Baby Godzilla, doesn't try to really tackle "the Trooper". For good reason it's such an iconic song to fail at it is very amplified. They sidestep it for the most part. Instead, the go kinda noisey and screamo. Uncle Acid and the Dead Beats give "Remember Tomorrow" a better run for its money than Metallica. The vocals are heavily affected and the garage psyche works well on it. It sounds like Anathema has heard Ryan Adams's cover of "Wasted Years" as it's very similar. I'll give this one a 7.5, nothing I really need to own, but it was a fun listen the first time around.

Uncle Acid and the Dead Beats : " the Night Creeper"

My only real knowledge of this band going into this was that they came in one the heels of Ghost. So I had it my head they were going to be a more hippy take on occult rock rather than the dense and dirty desert rock that is being churned out here. While they are not reinventing the pentagram, their influences are more varied and blended into the thick fuzz that coats these songs. I would go as far as to say they are doom. There are several moments that musically remind me of Alice Cooper. The vocals are a layered tenor, that are more similar to Coopers more melodic moments, but if filtered through Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult.

Whlie not doom they take on "Murder Nights"  an eerier creep to their post- flower power hard rock this give a darker melodic sound that gives this song an edge over the opener. They continue to flirt with the shadowy side of the 60s on "Downtown". Much like more modern Ozzy the singer's voice is always coated in effects. "Pusher-Man" is not the Steppen-wolf song, though it would make perfect sense for them to cover that. It grooves with  heavier throb to it's pulse. In some of the singer's phrasing I can here some Lennon influence. They indulge in a more mellowed out instrumental interlude on "Yellow Moon".


I like the sinister groove to " Melody Lane" which is the first song that clicked with me within the first few chords. It is one of the first songs where I hear strong metal leanings.The title track has an ominous groove , but the vocals but not so much that I would call it doom. The techno color coat of pyschedlia floats around the heady heaviness, as the vocals cry out with an insane trembling mixing John Lennon with Ozzy. There is dark strut to "Inside" that sounds like Alice Cooper terrorizing the Beatles on Spahn Ranch with a head full of bad acid in them. They take and even darker yet more mellowed approach to the hazy pulse of "Slow Death".The album goes out on a more drug induced whimper with "Black Motorcade" that is almost more of an outro than an actual song. While the album got off to a strong start and impressed me it began to fizzle out toward the end. I'll give it a 7 and hope it grows on me because due to the song I dug I want to like this more so we shall see how it stands the test of time, but right now it feels like King Dude, already fills this dark spot on my iPod.

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