DESOLAT : "People As Idiots & Idiots As Leaders"

 

They must worship Black Flag in Austria, as the first song strikes me as a more metal version of Black Flag; the vocals are howled in a Rollins fashion for sure. But let's face Black Flag is not  Black Flag these days, and the Rollins Band is retired, so someone needs to scratch that itch. There is a good amount of sludge mixed in when it comes to the big riffs. The vocals also switch to a snarl midway into the song, which furthers this comparison. The riffs shift to a darker place I enjoy. "Pig Race to the Apocalypse" sounds like they just left the tape rolling and jammed out of the first song. They switch up the riffs in a more metal-than-punk manner, making me reasonably sure this is a sludge bandd with black Flag influence.

On "This Sadness Makes Me Rage," It feels like the vocals are balancing out the more melodic direction the guitars are going by being more abrasive. The song wanders into Jarboe doing a spoken-word section that sounds like his therapist giving him a pep talk, which works for me and makes it the most interesting song thus far. Both groove and chaos are colliding for "No Depression When Dead" as it devolves into a jazz-like din. There is a similar but more nuanced riff paving the way for "Wannabe VIP," which finds a girl taking over the mic. This is the band's third album so they clearly know what they want to do here.  

The tense, muted riff driving "Good People Keep Their Mouths Shut..."  carries a sinewy Jesus Lizard-ish mood. There is indeed a dash of noise rock in the burly mix of sounds as well. The most punk moment is "the Art of Shit," but even then some sludgy riffs crash in. It is, however, more Stooges than Black Flag, which I appreciate. Even though experimenting with samples gives it a twist, they stay pretty punk on "Cyberdyne Employment Application". This is still tempered with an almost Slayer-like riff. The vocals twist into an Eyehategod-like sneer on the last time; this is not the first time it's happened on this album, but the most prominent. I like what they are doing on this album I will give it a 9.

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Noothgrush : " Man isHis Own Tormentor"

From the early sludge scene ofthe 90s, the band helped to bridge metal into the underground hardcore scene. Members of this band went on to play in bands such as Graves at Sea, Dystopia, Phobia, and Ghoul.  This album comes from their more obscure7" releases, which, unless you found them on a merch table at a punk show, were out of reach even if you tried to order them from an ad in Maximum Rock n Roll. There wasno interst so a being being undergorund was almsotlikethe hunt for an occult tome rather than being able to go on a site like DEAD AIR AT THE PULPIT and request it in the chat.  This makes this album more important for all practical purposes; many of these songs are just seeing the light of day, so I will review it as such.

Right from the start, you can here how this sort of thing took inspiration from Eyehategod is the scathing vocal approach. There isa Mr Rogers sample going into "Dianoga".The guitar lumbers with a doomy bleakness, and the lyrics are inarticulated screams of anguish. It is oppressively heavy and has stood thetest of time. "DPS " has more movement and groove, making it the best of the bunch so far. "Useless' has more punch and purpose, with the vocals being more distinct. 

In the live portion of this album, they play the "Imperial March," which they weave into their own song. Live version ofthe previously mentioned songs I am not going to review again, as I am more concerned with the songwriting of them to begin with. "Sith" stays with the Star Wars theme. It is a noisy, harrowing sludge song that flirts with the darkness of doom. "Erode the Person" starts of with the reluctant thump of a bass. And heads them in a doomy direction. I like the depressive touches the guitars add. Dynamics the songdrones a bit. 

"Junland Waste" works well as it marries the downtrodden density with more motion. Amid the rumble, the guitar has a lingering life to it. Their cover of Celtic Frost's "Procreation of the Wicked" feels like they learned the main riff, then defaulted to more death metal vocals. "Friends of Mine" has the best production value and lingers with a deliberate stomp that lurches out from the shadows. I have always said that sludge is what happens when punks try to play doom, and I think this proves my point. I will give this album a 9.

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SHRINEBURNER : "Hymns of Despair"

 

The vocals howl as just an angry human layer, leaving the guitar playing as the most interesting thing about what is going on with the first song from this Chicago-based sludge band. The mournful clean guitar sections that are picked off give it more of its own identity, whereas the heavier sections are more conforming to the genre status quo It gets the job done, but over the course of this album, they are going to need to prove they have more sonic color to display to bring a greater range of dynamics. They bring more drive to the charge of "Bodies Dragged to Sunlight".

 The new Neurosis album is a blessing and a cure for the subgenre. It does bring the genre into the spotlight, but it also raises the bar so high that simply chugging a wall of sound along as you bark just does not cut it anymore. People are prone to say that music is not a competition, but it is. There are only so many hours in a day to listen to it, so if you have two hous to spend, which album are you going to choose? The only thing they're doing differently on this track that differs from the first song is less nuanced guitar playing and more aggression; it might as well be the same vocal track.

"Slow Death Chant" has a more memorable riff leading the way as it weaves around the pound of the drums with an angular slither.. The vocals also have more purpose, making this the album's best song thus far. It does not remake the wheel but uses what they have wisely. There are guitar melodies in the fuzzed-out rumble of chugged guitars which add something to the mix.. The 13-minute "An Ocean of Broken Hope" finds the first minute droning as fat as it could have been trimmed before the song really starts. This more melodic nuance is something the previous songs could have used as well.

 If this is your first time reading this blog you might think "Oh he just doesn't like heavy music as he wants all this melody." well you might want to click through and see what a fan of genres like grindcore and crust I am, so heavy is not the problem I expect the same level of songwriting na matter the genre it just needs to happene in the appropriate context. The vocals have more purpose in their roar, though at four minutes into the song I cannot conceive how they are going to occupy the next nine minutes. They jam out on this verse riff for some time and slowly build it. At the right minute mark, it ebbs down a bit to a more post-rock vibe, though not as minimalist. A burly bass line leads them into a more harrowing build. This does get tempered with sonic nuance that adds more hook. 

The title track closes the album. It opens with a strum of a cleaner guitar tone; it carries a bit of a jangle as a calm before the storm as they kick into the chug. Their drummer is more dynamic than most drummers of the genre. It has almost a Tool-like groove jsut without the meticously palm muted picking. The vocals come roaring out of reverb.. It works off a powerful throb, but not the most dynamic moment moment but it is effective.  This album sounds good, but they are pretty basic when it comes to sludge, so I will give this an 8.5, as fans of the genre will dig this album. 

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Stoned Jesus : "Songs to Moon"

The Ukrainian band's 7th full length finds them leaning further into sludge with an atmospheric crunch that sits somewhere between the Melvins and Mastodon on the opening track of this album. There is ample post-grunge to the riffs as the vocals layer a more introspective melodic sense after the more burly bark the song started with. It feels like most sludge albums are going to get overshadowed by Neurosis this year, so it's a good thing these guys have a more rock side to fall back on and seperate them from keeping up with those Joneses.

"ZYX" has a more indie rock sound, and it is actually the most intersting of the first three songs. There is a cool groove, subdued vocals that provide a contrast, and nuanced guitar playing, so here's hoping they continue to explore this new direction. They jam a bit at the end of the song. There is more ofa progressive slant to this album. Keyboards play a larger role. Midway into the album, it is even more apparent that they have crossed over into prog. If it worked for Mastodon, these guys took notes. This leads to cleaner guitar tones becoming more abundant as a shift away from the fuzzed guitar tones that were a staple of where they came from. 'Jackal" is the first song where I pick up on any lyrical hints they live somewhere that is being obliterated. The song builds back up into a more dramatic, sweeping build of rocking out. 

The strummed 'Window in My Room' feels like a lost alt -rock ballad from the 90s. It ambles along with almost Nick Drake-like folk energy. The album closes with "One More Empty Day". The Nick Drake-like mood of the previous song carries over into this one. The album takes a turn from how it started, with the last two songs leaning into the softer side. Overall, it works I will give this album a 9 as I like some of the newer direction they head, even if the last two songs did not register for me; they are balanced out by superior moments.

6.6

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Blood Mother : "s/t"

Rick Giordano of Lion's Daughter has, in his words, "Killed the Daughter so the Mother might live". Many of the elements are carried over, though this feels less sludge and more black metal as the opening track builds into more of a blasting buzz that simmers to the surface. The second song, " BoneCanter," is back to the more apocalyptic sludge regions they are familiar with. The bass line adds heft with its overdriven tone.

"Trail of the Screaming Dead' splits the difference between the sound of the first two songs and combines them into something with more motion. This album, so far, is massive-sounding and carries a cinematic darkness with it. The vocals carry a sludgey bellow. It is, however, the moments of atmosphere that counterbalance the momentum to a song like "the Wound of Heaven' that make it intersting. The sung vocals to "Lost in Thunder however, are the true counterpoint that was needed to make what he is doing here stand out. 

The last song "Pulled Apart" works off all the elements that have been in play on this album to create some that is dark, dynamic and moves with a hypnotic throb, yet when you think about the timing of an album like this, it's not great considering Neurosis put out a new album this year and I expect anyone who listens to this sort of thing would be preoccupied with that album. I like the dark atmosphere it invokes to the weighty pound, I will give it a 9. 

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Sun Don't Shine : "From Birth to Death"

This band is one half of Type O Negative and one half of Crowbar. So as expected, it's a 90s -post-grunge collision with sludge. Kenny Hickey handles the vocals as the stoner swagger moves with monolithic grooves. It's even more impressive than you can imagine.  The second song reminds me of Type O more than the first. This can be heard in the flavor of despair haunting the chorus. Kirk lends his voice in places to serve as a burly counterpoint to Hickey's tenor. 

There is more doom in "Coming Down."  They rumble out of it with the more swampy shuffle of "All You Wasted". There are some more melodic guitar sections buried in this blues-tinged dirge. Halfway into the album, my favorite song is "When It's Time to Leave," as it goes in a darker and thoughtfully melodic diretion. Hickey's voice feels like it is in its sweet spot here. They are amore overtly metal on "The Promise Song," which carries a late 90s post-grunge swagger to it. 

It does not sound like they were smoking as much weed as when they recorded "October Rust." I suppose some of the more psychedelic moments must have been thanks to Josh, though there is a slight trippy shimmer amid the thunder of "Black to Red". They drop back into darker, doomy riffs with "What You Are," which highlights their peak sound. Perhaps this might just be the sound I prefer, as I am obviously a bigger Type O Negative fan than Crowbar. "In the End" reminds me of solo Ozzy. It is more of a power ballad. I will give this album a 9.5. To their credit, it is not steeped in nostalgia but reminds me of a great time for music in the mid to late 90s when it came to this kind of post-grunge metal. Fans of both bands will appreciate it, as well as anyone looking for an awesome doomy album with stellar attention to detail when it comes to songwriting. 

Below is an interview I did with Type O / Suns Don't Shine  Drummer Johnny Kelly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBWoOWEqFPI&t=114s

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Lair of the Minotaur : " I Hail I"

These bruisers are back with more hardcore grit to their attack. The vocals come across as being less growled and more of a burly command. The grooves are as dense as you might want them. There is almost a sludge weight. The aggression is not a full-speed-ahead charge but a massive grind of distraction chugged with malicious intent.  Things are more melodic on "Enthroned in Violence," which brings the Melvins to mind a little. "Fucked Inside Out" finds the brutality moving more smoothly than expected. 

Sure, "Deepest Hell" moves in a rapid-fire, punishing manner that reminds me more of their older work; the growth they showed me on the first four songs spoiled me and raised my expectations."Saturnus Reigns" is more hammering but slowed down enough to take it all in. It continues to groove like a sludged-out version of hardcore. 

"Prowler Twin Sister"  chugs with headbanging authority, but things continue to move in the same direction. The vocals are more barked in some places.  I knew they were going to do a cover of Ethel Cain's "Family Tree."  The original is more of an atmospheric intro that she does sing over, and the lyrics are pretty muh the only thing that is the same. Not sure where the inspiration for that riff even came from. 'Vulture Worship' sounds cool, but is more of an interlude. Things slow down to a more ominous sludge mood on the last song. I will give this one a 9 and see how it grows on me it is a excellent return to form, while still showing growth andd heavy as all hell. 

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The Melvins with Napalm Death : "Savage Imperial Death March"

 

This collaboration between the two bands finds these elder statesmen of Grind Core and Sludge blending what they do in a way that makes sense. The first song, "Tossing Coins into the Fountain of Fuck", sounds like the Melvins are in control of the instrumental arrangements and have Barney Greenway roaring over them. Some impressive riffing kicks off the nine-minute "Somekind of Antichrist." Buzz Osborne's vocals lead into this, with a call-and-response featuring Greenway's more savage snarl. Three and a half minutes, things ebb down to allow for atmosphere.  This ambient weirdness consumes the rest of the song. 

More electronic elements than you might expect from this pairing comprise the two minutes of "Awful Handwriting," which is more like an interlude than a song. The dark and stormy metal intentions that you might expect from them are the backbone of "Nine Days of Rain". The sludgey mood of "Rip the God" finds Osbourne's sung vocals dripping with melodic unease. It is hard to detect Napalm Death's contributions on this one until Barney's vocals come in later. 

The pace picks for "Stealing Horses" which finds them splitting the difference with a more punk flavored riff that still holds the Melvins angular ugliness. There is a fair amount of chaos injected into this. "Comparison is the Thief of Joy" finds a weird synth groove in the midst of a dreamy atmosphere. They rear the metallic head back up with a mean riff driving "Death Hour" that finds Buzz and Barney, layering their varied vocal approaches over this. Once again, the weird wave of experimental ambient noises takes over to wash the song away from going in a more metallic direction. This seems to be the theme of this partnership which is almost too odd for its own good, but works like old Pink Floyd in this regard. I will give it a 9.5 and see how it grows on me. Out on Ipecac Records April 10th. 

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Fistula : "Galaxies of Disappointment"

The joking is over on the opening track to Fistula's new album. They go for the throat with the momentum of death metal behind them. The barrage is a powerful sonic force that goes for heft over some of the songwriting smarts they have shown in the past, but it works for what it is. They continue to flex their raw sonic power with"the Unhappy Man," which carries more deliberate sludge weight behind it. "Expire" moves with a similar sludge weight; in fact, it might even trudge a bit more. They do bring samples in andd create a surreal breakdown which is closer to what I want from them. 

The scowling vocals have become more intense and, with that, not as articulate, which is a shame as their clever lyrics were one of the highlights of who they are as a band. The title track moves at a more doomy pace. While its pound is powerful, it does drone a bit. The tempo and groove of 'Something Real" work better. The guitar solo of sorts brings a more chaotic element to the eightly lumber that tramples your ears. 

Things get more raging and feral on "You Take," which finds the vocals even more harrowing in their wild howl. The last song, "Fools Choie" works on another dense raw rumble that is more of a doom tempo, though it does gain some momentum.  I will give this one a 9, as it's powerfully heavy, the song writing doesn't impress me as muh as they did with "Longing for Infection" which set the bar for these guys as it was next level shit. 

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Neurosis : "An Undying Love For a Burning World"

 

With the official start of World War 3 underway today, how could Neurosis not reconvene to drop a new album? Aaron Turner is replacing Scott Kelly. It's pretty seamless considering this. There is a hint of rock n' roll, but both Isis and Sumac are heavily influenced by Neurosis, so it seems like a natural fit and flows very organically. It's back to the dissonant sludge heaviness with an angular crunch moving the riffs. "First Red Rays" is very dark and ominous; at times, it feels as if they are looking back toward "Souls at Zero."  A low growl prevades, leading you into the desolate sonic space. 

They come on strong and don't simmer in a great deal of atmosphere until "Blind", this one moves with the kind of bong-laden apocalyptic sludge groove you expect from them, with and empahsis on the bong more than the aggression of when they were once crust punks. It veers off into more surreal places dynamically. Exeuted differently here to some extent, it is familiar enough to sit firmly in their wheelhouse.  Some what post-rock by definition, and certainly bearing some influence of Swans, yet firmly their own sound. 

There is more of a post-punk feel stirring from inside the density of "Seething and Scattered". There is a great deal of vocal trade-off that Turner blends well. They expand and recoil as a Neurosis song should. "Untethered" is sonically expansive without being overtly heavy. There is an organic, jammy feel to this. "In the Waiting Hours" is alot to take in but delivers what you want form a Neurosis song as it is pummelling when it needs to be but still takes you on a journey."The last song finds the arrangement sprawling out until it dissolves into ambiance. It winds its way around into dark folk sitting against a noisy undercoating. Things get trippy ten minutes into this. They wander off into a more tribal drone. I will give this one a 10 as I think it opens a new chapter that holds up well against their legacy, even in the absence of Kelly. 

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Lungburner : "Dogma"

 

This industrial-strength death metal band comes from Atlanta. They hammer into things with some thoughtful melodic layering of the guitars. The vocals are a little more of an afterthought as they are buried in the mix. The mix is weird on this album and plays as both a weakness and a strength. It leaves space for an atmospheric feel, but since it buries the vocals makes it less song-focused and more about their sound.

"The Sin of Defiance" leaves some room open for melody from the guitars to set the mood. This is more effective than when they are just hammering you, as it shows they care about the songs by creating dynamics. This is something it is easy to take for granted in the larger world of metal, though something I place great emphasis on here.  This is a guitar band, as they are first and foremost when it comes to where the spotlight falls. The vocals are a rather one-dimensional growl, so no big loss that they fall into the guitars. To their credit, they are articulate enough to discern a lyric here and there. 

"The Fall" basks in its own ambiance until they are ready to lay the smack down in a sludged-out manner.  "Apostasy" is more deliberate. The electronic sounds and samples seem to bookend the meat of the music and are not as large a factor as I expected them to be, with some just regular metal riffs dominating a song like "Misery." This could be your average death metal band with an ear for sludgey sounds. I think more variance from the vocals could be useful for them to consider in the future. 

The last song just kinda of feels like your average death doom band with a little more of a stomp to the riff. works for what it is , but is not blowing me away either or demanding me to headbang, perhaps it might if you like your death doom on the dense and dirty side. I really liked how the guitar melodies were layered on the first few songs so it raised my expectations. I will give this one an 8.5, as the melodies the guitar does employ show they care enough about songwriting to put them at the head of the pack when it comes to bands rising from the underground of the Atlanta Metal scene to the world stage, where they we be appreciated by metal heads with more bong-laden eardrums. Being released on Terminus Hate City.

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Void of Light : "Asymmetries"

 

Scottish sludgesters Void of Light try to label themselves as being on the more post side of things, but the vocals betray them. The band's debut full-length finds the vocals being howled with a throaty anger that overpowers some of the more ambient underpinings. But it works well for them, creating a layered approach not unlike what latter-day Neurosis used to do, but with some more overt metal riffing. With three guitars involved, there are more layers than most bands can summon. I have always stood by the fact that sludge is what happens when punks try to play metal, and this album is not proving me wrong. For an almost 11-minute opening track, they just sprawl things out , so one might surmise that punks who started smoking weed more than they drank is what fueled this genre of music. 

Only two of the five songs are not 10-minutes long. With that said, "Silver Mask" is 9 minutes long. It is also driven by a pretty mean chug. Moving with more locomotion than doom, the momentum breeds tension, and they have the riffs ready for the payoff. Cleanly sung vocals fly up in the background, but the coarse bark is the narrative at the forefront. The softer vocals shift position midway through the song when it descends into a more melancholy atmosphere. "Ends" is a more aggressive shift to an in-your-face hardcore assault. Which tracks, as there is a great deal of crossover in the early sludge scene with hardcore bands.  Miway into the song, things ebb down into a more melodic brooding, before hurling into a more blackened section. 

"Still Night Skies" is darker, with the heavier sections being pretty catchy, though the song rides a stormy tension. The song touches on a great deal of different dynamic places over the course of its ten minutes, which I appreciate, as they at least use the time wisely if they are going to sprawl things out. The last song almost has a more Tool-like hypnotic slither that captures you with its serpentine groove. The vocals take on a more baritone croon midway through the song.This touches on the more progressive side of the band.I will give this one a 9.5, and see how it grows on me while it is a bit on the longwinded side when it comes to the songwriting style , there is enough going on to remain engaging, fans of sludge metal should make this a priority. Out April 3rd on Ripcord Records.

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Epimetheus : "Perseus 9"

 

This band from Bristol combines post-punk with sludge. It goes from a brooding tension to a powerful rumble to take things home, which works very well on the opening track. It gives the needed dynamic contrast without following the formula. The riff to the second song reminds me of "Filth Pig" which makes sense considering the styles they are bridging here, though they are more organic and jam out from this in a more Melvins-like manner.  

"Drift Beyond" finds the focus shifting to an angrier rumble that they try to balance out with atmospheric vocals in the background. With a song at almsot ten minutes, they can take their time building up into "Held No More", you can hear influences they lurk below the surface with the art rock years of Pink Floyd bubbling to the forefront. It's halfway into the song before they dig back into heavier dynamics. The title track has a more droning stoner grunge feel that takes you back to the post- hard-core of the 90s in some ways. 

"Calling" find them still scratching at that 90's post-grunge tch but with a more metallic rumble. The last song builds things into more of a pounding 90s-tinged sludge stomp. It's a tried and true formula that even bands like Clutch have dusted off. Overall, I like where these guys are pulling from and the moody dynamic nature of what they do so I will give this album a 9.

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November is Doom- The Top 10 Sludge Albums of 2025

The world might not have come to an end this year, but the Doomsday Clock keeps ticking closer to that fateful day, as Sludge should. After I sort through the top 10 albums in each genre, I use those lists to compile the top 10 albums of 2025. The very fact that these bands made it on the list speaks to how great these albums are, so it's not a slight that the number 8 album is above the 9th; there is something that gives it an edge that makes me want to listen to it more. After all, we can try to look cool and pick the hippest bands for a list, but at the end of the day, what makes an album the best is that it makes you want more, and you look forward to listening to it again. You can find your next favorite on this list, and I have included links to reviews of these albums if you want to check out the audio on these guys. Anyway, here are the top 10 Sludge albums of 2025

10-Faetooth- "Labyrinthine" 

This Los Angeles-based band plays a darkly melodic and sludge-influenced brand of gloomy hard rock. More metallic in their intentions than Chelsea Wolfe, but they employ an ethereal, melancholic sound with many layers. I like the melancoly pciture it paints. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/11/november-is-doom-faetooth-labyrinthine.html

 

9-In the Company of Serpents-'A Crack in Everything.' 

The Denver band is always very organic, and this album holds a similar warmth, perhaps a more jammed-out feel when it comes to the songwriting. Great guitar playing embodies these songs, so if you are into guitars, this album is for you. The vocals are a throaty bellow that rides the groove, but are more of an obligatory standard; when the vocals employ more purpose, they take on more of a Tom Waits feel. More aggressive than stoner rock putting them here, 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/07/in-company-of-serpents-crack-in.html
 

 

8-Negative 13-"Recover What You Can." 

A demonstration of what happens when punks try to play Doom. There is some rock n roll syncopation in play at times, a crust punk ambiance that haunts the songs. Sonically interesting in a manner not unlike, say, Amebix. The vocals are a gruff bark but still hold purpose and do not diminish the songwriting. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/01/negative-13-recover-what-you-can.html

7-False Gods- "Lost in Darkness and Distance." 

Both of their previous albums impressed us here, as this band continues to blend hardcore with sludge in an emotionally visceral manner. However, the hard-core side of the equation is not as prevalent as the band's more metal leanings this time around. The songwriting has continued to mature, the opener tracker is higher energy with a darker tension running through it that brings earlier Neurosis to mind, but it is catchier than bombastic in how it hits.

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/false-gods-lost-in-darkness-and-distance.html

 

 

6-Fister- "Graceless" 

One of my favorite extreme sludge bands is back. They focus on crushing violence this time around with the mammoth crunch that opens this album. The vocals hacked up from the pits of their charred lungs with convincing aggression. The lumber of the riff trudging with weighty chugs is impressive by anyone's standards. They expand their atmospheric side and overall dynamic range on this album. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/09/fister-graceless.html

 

5-Katla- "Scandinavian Pain." 

The grit and the grime of this band have more in common with sludge than doom. There is a hint of black metal, but they are of the same venomous ilk as, say, Fistula. Not expecting this sort of thing to crawl out of Denmark, but here we are. Their overdriven lumber is a great deal of fun. They have a nasty attitude, which is where a lot of their charm comes from

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/03/katla-scandinavian-pain.html

 

4-Mares of Thrace- "Loss" 

The fourth album from this Canadian band. They play a fairly caustic version of sludge that snarls with a more brooding, angular desperation than Eyehategod. They are more introspective and not as entrenched in punk, as there are moody melodic sections. The theme of this album is the stages of grief.  An intense yet thoughtful album. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/05/mares-of-thrace-loss.html
 

 

  

3-CROP- "SSRI" 

This Kentucky band is on the heavier side of grunge that intersects with sludge. The vocals are the kind of pained screaming Kurt Cobain threw himself into on "Bleach".There are more melodic sections even on the jarring opening track; they are just delivered in a more sludged-out noise rock fashion. They did an excellent job of setting their misery to music. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/08/crop-ssri.html

2-Kazea- "I, Ancestral." 

This unique trio from Sweden quickly held my The vocals are somewhat Pink Floyd-like in their breathy execution, and the album ranges from a more.  experimental, neo-folk strum to the stomp you expect from sludge,

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/03/kazea-i-ancestral.html

 

1-Rwake -"The Return of the Magik." 

The Arkansas-based band is back after 13 years. A more melodic expanse of sound brings elements of Southern rock to the forefront of the opening track as guitar solos cascade around it. Brittany Fugate's scathing vocals provide a counterpoint to the lower, ominous vocal tones of Chris Terry. They bring a menacing thunder with metallic riffing, as well as contrast it with really tasteful guitar work. They ripped the hardest when it came to sludge this year. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2025/02/rwake-return-of-magik.html

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November is Doom- Hexjakt : "Blessing of the Damned"

Here is another Scandinavian doom band, this time from Sweden. They are on the more traditional slide of doom with a sludge-driven guitar sound giving them a great deal of heft in the overdriven wall of fuzz they hit you with as the vocals bellow over this. Some call-and-response vocals are bouncing back and forth to show they are putting a little thought into the actual songwriting rather than just riding an immense guitar tone. It feels more forboding than dark in the mood created here. They continue to bulldoze you with the mammoth guitar sound on "Black Circle." The throaty husk of the vocals creates a uniformity of sound as the riff follows a more syncopated groove to break it up a little. They also break things down into a more atmospheric jam that they wander out into.

'Void Throne" carries your typical sludge lumber that has been employed by bands since the late 90s. or longer, depending on who you are referring to in this extension of doom. There is more effort put into the vocals of "Wyrd" though the riff falls along the predictable crunch of the genre, with the guitar solo offering the most melody. 'The Act of Dying' stomps around with enough conviction, but does not really hook me in. This band might have very little in the way of Black Sabbath influence, but they do a cover of Dio's "Don't Talk to Strangers" that sounds very little like the original. 

"Monolith" shuffle by with enough conviction to stir the more stoner-minded into modest displays of headbanging, but it is a collection of riffs rather than a song that I get invested in. There is a more woeful intention behind the last song. At thirteen minutes they had room to form melody and dynamics, which they do rather than jsut drone, though howled vocals begin to get a little old at this point in the album. I will give this album an 8, it carries a big sound and works well for what they are going for. 

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November is Doom- Primitive Man : "Observance"

 

Here is a band that proves my theory regarding sludge being the result of what happens when punks try to make doom. This is not our first rodeo with this band, and the rumble created here, which is thrown against a wall of feedback back, is what you expect them to hit you with. The rasp of the vocals echoing out feels like a more tormented version of death metal, and the atmospheric choices that paint this song are a wise investment to keep it from being more than your eardrums being pulverised. 

The second song opens with a minute and a half of noise that sounds like they caught the studio on fire. Then the drums come in to take things in a more doom-focused direction. They drone on for a bit before bringing down a harsh, deliberate pounding that accompanies the low growl of the vocals, which are just another punishing texture. At the five-minute mark, I begin to wonder what they could do for the next six minutes. The answer to this is lingering in the aftermath of the pounding fury. The guitar ambiance is plenty harrowing, and they create sounds that provide a fitting enough soundtrack to the real-time stream of the end of the world we are watching these days. This does contract dynamically into doom-tinted moments of heavy-handed chord dropping like a comet. This evolves into a swathe of angry atmosphere where the roar of the vocals rumbles on more abstractly.

The lumbering stomp of "Transactional" carries on the sonic aftermath of what unfolded in the previous song. The downtrodden trudge of crunching chords continues to drone on. Four minutes in, it begins to gain a throbbing momentum. Eight minutes in it starts soaring off into more of a shoegazing thing. It crashes back down into the kind of dense sludge that is the album's blood. They come back angrier and more in your face with the feedback barbed "Natural Law". Midway into the song, it finds its groove to become one of the album's most effective moments. They also begin to adhere to a formula that finds them jamming things out into a more post-rock place that stays anchored in heaviness thanks to the growl of the vocals. 

"Social Contract" opens with some Throbbing Gristle-like clanging. This drones on for four minutes before payoff. This is not the first time they have dabbled in industrial, though I prefer their previous efforts in this regard. There is some dark dissoance to this song that works well. This album finds the heavier moments sometimes crossing over into death metal levels of aggression. The last song picks up right where the previous song leaves off, with crushing death metal-flavored sludge that is full of venomous loathing. The song slowly begins to deconstruction into a sonically heavier guitar passage, more than a metallic riff-style playing. I will give this album a 7.5, as it focuses on scathing sounds and drifting into post-rock moods with them, rather than memorable songs; some of this is due to the vocals being used as a frequency rather than more purposefully. Being released on Relapse Records. 

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November is Doom 2025

 

I have been doing this doom-dedicated month for a few years,  it makes sense, as we head into the gloom of the year. First and foremost, when it comes to bands I am looking to cover this month, I am not seeking out bands that worship Black Sabbath.. In fact, I am reviewing every single Black Sabbath album this month to see how they have held up over time, so I don't need any tribute bands to write about. My favorite sub-genre is Funeral Doom, so we will have our fair share of that, but also sludge, stoner rock, darker psych, death doom, and more. More is the variation of traditional forms of doom. 

However, despite the twists and turns the genre might make, there may be doom-adjacent artist or two, we are going to be very clear about what is doom and what is not. It is not just about playing slowly. Sludge most commonly makes this mistake as it is often slow to pass through a metal filter. Sludge is about aggression, which is more tormented than hateful. Doom is about sorrow, loss a foreboding fear of what is to come, not unlike horror movies in this regard. While darkness is the driving force behind black metal, it should also be a pervading theme of doom. There are a few bands, one of whom I review this month, who confuse power metal for doom, and that does not work for me. 

The month will end with me revealing the best lists for doom, sludge, and stoner metal. One reason I keep doing this every November is it gives me the time to catch up on bands that might have flown under my radar the rest of the year, or catchy bands who have released their album late in the year. I think releasing an album after October is pointless. There used to be a trend of holding out until November so it could be sold for Xmas, but how often are physical pressings of music given as gifts these days? Not much and not enough to have release schedules delayed. Anyway, here comes a parade of sonic despair for the month.   

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Abraham : idsungwüssä"

 Abraham was a sludge band from Switzerland. Their new album finds less overt metal and more of a blustery noise rock chaos possessing things. There i a metallic aggression lurking in the outburst of "The Fate of Man, Lies in the stars" that builds up into. The vocals are coarse below that claw its way out of the dense mix of guitars clanging. I have always adhered to the fact that sludge is what happens when crust punks try to play doom, and this seems to be evident on "I am the Vessel and the Vessel is Me." They are going into a darker, more experimental direction, which works for what it is, but is a left turn for the band. 

By the time I get to the third song, I am noticing a writhing unease haunting the sonics of this album that feels more like Blut Aus Nord; the patter of the drummer's cymbal work also hints at more black metal influence seeping into what they do. The vocals shift to a more sung approach midway through the song. "Naked in a Naked Sky" finds post-rock colliding with them, reverting to a more Nuerosis-like sound.  "Suurwhut" finds them to continue simmering in this more spacious contemplation, which works better than the denser chaos that marked the first few songs. The gruff grumble of the vocals is a little too similar to what they did in the previous song. They also maintain a similar mood on the song after this one as everything begins to run together. 

"0600.4ou" finds the vocals taking a more prominent role to set the mood. It builds marginally in a sonic sense, mainly putting emphasis on the hypnotic mood. They bring things to a conclusion with the 11-minute "Home"; it also works off a more hypnotic drone as it casts an ominous shadow with its brand of sullen post-rock.  When the vocals come in, it's clear they are haunted by the Neurosis influence. I will give this album an 8; they take things in an interesting and darker direction, which I enjoy. Dropping on Pelagic Records. 

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Fister : " Graceless"

 

One of my favorite extreme sludge bands is back. They focus on crushing violence this time around with the mammoth crunch that opens this album. The vocals hacked up from the pits of their charred lungs with convincing aggression. The lumber of the riff trudging with weighty chugs is impressive by anyone's standards. The second song oozes from the opening track and finds more atmosphere seeping in to make things darker, which of course is going to win me over. Synths even find their way into things, though they are just another layer in the thick wall of creepy ambiance washing over the down-tuned chords. The agonized quality of the vocals is harrowing. 

"Nightmare Visitation" opens with the hesitant strum of chords, before sprawling out for 11 minutes. At a minute and a half into the song, the drums commit to a beat. The scowl of the vocals follows shortly after this. It is the closest to post-rock that I have heard them touch upon.  There is an impressive ebb and flow that is more melodic than what you expect from these guys. They are pulling some impressive sounds from these guitars. In the last few minutes of the song, it takes on a more jammy feel. Yes, even when it comes to these guys, I think there is fat that can be trimmed here.

The title track carries a stark echoing atmosphere, the snarl of the vocals provides a grounding contrast to, the aching melody rings out. Though it does build in the more expected metal manner. "Bone Breaker" hammers down with more malice. A chilling tremolo-picked guitar line comes in to sweep the song down a darker corridor. The last song makes me think of my rule that sludge is just what happens when punks try to play Black Sabbath; this is a more aggressive version of that theory. I will give this a 9 and see how it grows on me, but as of right now, I am digging it and you will too if you like your sludge on the more devastating side. 

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Slomatics : "Atomicult"

 I reviewed this Belfast-based band's last album and gave it an 8, for some reason, the vocals needed some tweaking in post-production. Not hearing the same issues, though I don't remember listening to the last album, so perhaps that is also an issue. They are rumbling into this album with a weighty sludge lumber. The vocals sit back in more of the atmospheric backdrop of the song, just soaring over the guitar. I do remember that I liked the fact that the vocals were not trying to be Ozzy, and that is still in play here. 

There is a more spaced-out feel to what the trio is doing here. The vocals do something similar on the second song, though they are a little more melodic. At times it is hard to tell what the bass is and where the guitar begins amid the rumble, but it works for what they are doing., There is a little more syncopation to "Auto-Skull." There have not been any guitar solos are jamming until they reach the synth line in the middle of this song that offers a slightly more progressive touch. 'Relics' is a faint ballad that is overtaken by its own ambiance, but I can appreciate the Pink Floyd influence.

In contrast to the previous song, "Night Grief" possesses a very purposeful stomp. "Physical Witch" Finds sytn sounds blending into the bass to create an interesting throb that hypnotizes you. This is more effective than the more typical doom that is dished out on "Chrome Sisters".  They get even gloomier for "Biclops", though they also add a little more atmosphere to balance it out.  They close out the album with a heavier droning crunch. Fans of doom-laden sludge will enjoy it as it offers the kind of pounding they are looking for.  I will give this one a 9, as it gets the job done while improving upon what they did on the last album, and caters to fans of space-rock tinged doom. 

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