November is Doom- the Top 10 Sludge Albums of 2021

It's that time of year again. We continued to need sludge as we marched further towards an apocalyptic future, here are the best of the current crop. When I am done sorting through the top 10 albums of all the respective genres, I will then compile the top 10 albums of the year. I know many of you are ready for another year to be over with. Hate to break it to you but nothing is getting better next year. As far as 2020 goes for sludge there are only2 newish bands on this year's list. The very fact 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 album, there is something that just 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, you look forward to listening to it again. Sure, you can bitch and complain about your favorite band not being on the list. However, I listen to five new albums a day so yes, I heard your favorite album and was not impressed. No, I do not care what you think about it. I do hope you can find your next favorite on this list and have included links to reviews of these albums if you want to check out audio on these guys. Anyways here are the top 10 Sludge albums of 2021

10-Eyehategod- " a History of Nomadic Behavior" 

More punk flavored than their earlier work. The vocals are spit out in a more coherent fashion rather than anguished screams. Lots of fun, while it might not go down as their best album, it does serve as a reminder of their role in metal history. 

 Abysmal Hymns: Eyehategod : a History of Nomadic Behavior"

9-Bossk - " Migration" 

This band might not no longer settle for just being a sludge band, thought displays enough power here to show they belong on this as well as expanded what you can do as one, fans of the bands will welcome this return. 

Abysmal Hymns: Bossk : " Migration" 

 8- Domkraft : "Seeds"

Most bands try to sound like they are from Sweden, these guys are from Sweden and do not sound like, they might as well be tripping in a van in the desert. This album does best when it leans into a steamier grunge place, but fans will still love it. 

Abysmal Hymns: Domkraft : "Seeds"

7-Year of No Light -" Consolamentum" 

This French sludge project delves deeply into post rock. The fact that it can hold my attention as an instrumental says something as a pretty solid testament to this entire album since instrumental music is not normally what I listen to and tends to fall along the lines of what I appreciate, yet this album won me over.

Abysmal Hymns: Year of No Light : " Consolamentum"

 

6-LLNN- "Unmaker" 

These angry Danes are ready to challenge Ruin for heaviest album of the year. Though it is more melodic than their last album "Deads". A much more musical affair than the sheer punishment of the grooves they dealt out back in 2018. Much more matured in terms of songwriting.  

Abysmal Hymns: LLNN : "Unmaker"

5-Dridge- "Curing"

While they also trade in death rock and noise rock sludge is the back bone of this album. It comes with a dirty depressive post-apocalyptic anger. Not the first time these elements have been combined, but this is done is a grittier manner than we have heard since Atriarch, 

 Abysmal Hymns: Gotober- Dridge : "Curing"

 

4-Withered - Verloren "

Sludge is the next step in this Atlanta band's evolution. In steeping away from death metal, they opened themselves up for melodic excursions that play to the listener's favor. Along with yet another lineup change, the darkness here is more expressive than it has been in the past.  They tap into the sweet spot of being just as heavy sonically as it is metal. 

Abysmal Hymns: Death is June -Withered : "Verloren"

3-Sunnatta- "Burning in Heaven, Melting on Earth"  

This Polish band might have the honors of creating the most diverse and dynamic album on this list. Thye know how to make droning work, and they never drone without a destination.   If you wondered what it might sound like if Wovenhand jammed with Pink Floyd then they answer that with their brand of e trippy hazy hypnotic stoner sludge. 

Abysmal Hymns: Sunnata : "Burning in Heaven, Melting on Earth"

 

2- Glassing- "Twin Dream" 

At first you think ...ok this is a sludge album with a great deal of post rock atmosphere, not an uncommon sub-genre these days. As this album unfolds your ears are bathed in a great deal of powerful heaviness that hits you outside the sonic scope of sludge. Angular twists and turns as well as sections that pound at you like an angry hard- core band, or I suppose screamo since that tends to blend its sonic texture more in this direction. This album could have taken the number one spot, if not for the power of the two forces that snatched that one from them. 

Abysmal Hymns: November is Doom - Glassing - " Twin Dream"

1-Converge & Chelsea Wolfe - " Blood Moon "

I like these two artists almost equally it brings out Converge's best side as I prefer their dark creepy melodic stuff over when they are just a total punk rock freak out the album leans in more of a sludge direction though by the highly experimental definition of that sub-genre, Wolfe's solo work had those elements previously, so this is not a surprise. They work together in a masterful way to create heavy music that is still beautiful in different ways. 

Abysmal Hymns: November is Doom - Converge & Chelsea Wolfe :"Blood Moon"

Death is June -Withered : "Verloren"

 

As this Atlanta band grew from wanting to be a black metal band into a death metal band they have improved with each album. 'Grief Relic' being my favorite to date. This album finds the band crawling out from under another line up change with a new guitarist and bass player. Both of whom, main man Thompson knows from the Atlanta metal scene. The first song has more of a sludge feel to it. The darkness is more expressive. Clean singing also stirs from some of this density.  It sits back in the mix so is not like they suddenly have become Killswitch Engage. Considering their hometown, the fact that their is Mastodon influence in this regard is not a surprise .  The second song finds them returning to a more stormy blitz of chaos buzzing in it's rfffage that recalls more of the band's earlier sound. Midway the songs shifts into a darker and sonically dense riff that I prefer over the more manic attack. The newer members have certainly brought more of a "Through Silver and Blood " era Neurosis influence with them.

Meeting in a murky intersection of death metal and sludge "Dissolve" feels like a compromise between where they were headed on the last album and where they are now.  There are more melodic excursions into atmosphere on this album which plays to the listener's favor.  The initial attack of "Casting in Wait"  is like a more feral explosion of sludge before being caught in a more sonic deluge.  If you wanted the more straight-ahead aggression of death metal the previous album hit you with, there might not be as much of that, but some of the riffs to this song should scratch that itch.  "Passing Through" is a collage of ambient noise that serves as an interlude into "...the Long Hurt", this song also plays into more of a chaotic feral snarl of sludge. The vocal trade off with this one feels like the vocals are just a layer rather than adding to the narrative. 

The title track is a Swans like instrumental. Acoustic guitars play over and under belly of ambient noise. The last song finds them stomping back into a more sonically atmospheric take on death metal that has enough of an angular groove to pleasing for those in the mood to head bang. As the album progresses there is more of an organic feel to it despite the more reverb layered noise inflections to color the corners of the songs. More sung vocals emerge.  Overall, this album is going to need to grow on me more than "Grief Relic" did. I will give it a 9 for now and sit with it for a while, if you are open to this band taking a left turn into sludge from the last album then it might connect with you sooner.  Still, it sounds great and the accomplished what they set out to. 

    

Pulchra Morte : "Divina Autem et Aniles"

By the end of the year I will be sick of the death doom feel, despite it just being more of label for marketing purposes. These guys a pretty much just a death metal. Though not the kind of death metal that blasts you in the face. Comprised of former members of  the bands Withered , Harkonin, and Ex Mortis, they have a more technical winding to their riffs than anything doom. The vocals are a low death growl that is fairly articulated. Guitar melodies creep out over the steady flow of double bass. "Black Ritual" finds the guitars more melodic than this brand of death metal typically is and flowing out of a more classic metal gallop. It's on "Soul Stench" where the melodic qualities shift and broaden their range. I would not refer to them as melo-death, as they are all about the super harmonized Dark Tranquility thing that borders on Myspace metal. Female vocals chime in for a few bars, to get more of a My Dying Bride, feel though less melancholy and more uptempo.

There are a few interludes , but the album is generally focused and doesn't get carried away with atmosphere. The vocals seem very intentional and not just an after thought as does the addition of strings that seems to increase the deeper into the album you get . They continue to return to heavy, but not aggressive as most death. The focus is on the songs rather than beating you into submission. The focused approach to  song writing keeps the songs from only venturing over the minute mark a couple of times. More sung vocals surface , but are more buried in the mix on "Thrown to the Wolves". When they lean into the groove it creates more of an Entombed like feel.  "Reflection of a Dying Sun" seems to just play off of the same formula the rest of this album was spun from , just without the x-factor that kept those songs sounding fresh.

They use some doomy intervals in "Shadows From the Cross", but it's still just death metal. Being deliberate and being doom are two different things , mainly based upon the mood it invokes. Once I recognized the Entombed influence hiding under the surface then I can't stop hearing it. Not that they are a Entombed cover band, but if you don't like Entombed chances are you might not be into these guys. The main difference being they are a little more melodic than Entombed, and Entombed is more pissed off than these guys. Anger is typically the prime driving force behind death metal and these guys don't sound angry to me. "When Legends Die" proves that if you care about the songs enough you can get away without being angry. The songs are catchy enough for me to round this up to a 9 as it's an easy enough listen for me to just leave this album playing.

Arcadea : s/t

While it might lack the more overt heavy metal trappings of Mastodon, Drummer Brann Dailor's new project is aggressive in it's brand of synth driven prog rock. I have run into Brann at enough shows of the Genesis tribute band The Music Box, to not be surprised with the direction he has gone here. He enlisted the help for Atlanta locals to round out this odd power trio with members from Zruuda and Withered. There is a weird Kraftwerk like robotic pulse to this album, but songs like "Gas Giant" have enough of a human element to the vocals work for me. "Gas Giant" moves at a much more frantic pace. Surprisingly the acrobatic drumming is not as pronounced in the mix as it is on Mastodon albums. The vocals also sit back as the synths battle it out for the dominant role in the song.  If you can't stand keyboards then this is not going to be the album for you and you might as well stop now. Unlike most prog these songs are very compactly written though they do cram many twists and turns into the three minute span of  "Rings of Saturn".

Things get weirder and mellower on "Neptune Moons", but the female vocals are not the greatest. They launch themselves further into the space age on this song.There is a darker and more aggressive turn on "Infinite End". This song is trippy enough so fans of some psychedelic might also connect to this one. I lock the vocals better on this song than what I have heard at this juncture in the album. There is more of a rock touch to the more driving drums of "Electromagnetic". "Motion of Planets" finds them back in more aggressive territory, almost to the point that it sounds like metal being played with synths instead of guitars, this also brings more industrial qualities to mind. The going gets weirder with the angular blips and bleeps of "the Pull of Invisible Strings". Brann's drumming is the main element that gives this songs a sense of cohesion.

There is a more sci-fi sound to "Through the Eye of Pieces". The vocals have robot effects draped over them. I do like the groove created when the drums kick in. The vocals split into layers with an more stripped down vocal sitting on top of the  robot one. The album closes with the more grandiose side synth wave flavor prog. The first verse is sung in a lower register than the bulk of the vocals on this album. One thing that set this apart from Mastodon are the keyboard solos that hold the places for where a guitar solo would normally be if this was a Mastodon album. I really like the vocal melody that chimes in at the two and half minute mark before they spiral off into a jam,

I will round this one up to a 9, though I am still unsure how compelled to have this in my iPod for daily listening. I do like what is being done hear some of the grooves and moods are fun even if it's more upbeat than what I normally listen to. Don't think it overshadows the newest Mastodon album nor was that the intent when this was made.

Withered : "Grief Relic"

After  six years this Atlanta based band is back for their Seasons of Mist debut. Their return roars up from the depths with a cavernous blasting. Very dense and heavy, the intensity it hits you with from the onset begs a question we ask most bands that are this heavy after the opening song plows us over ...O.k what else can you do? Write Songs? "A Realm of Suffering" answers with a very similar roar. New addition Colin Marston's bass playing adds another sonic texture to this. Known for his technical death/black metal projects, he serves the songs more than one might expect. They add a layer of sonic dissonance midway into the song, to help give it an identity apart from the first song. This is very ugly and sonic death metal. There is more of a classic death metal sound on "Withdraw" which digs into the grime filled groove. The guitars are well layered thanks to Ethan from Primitive Man who has also joined their ranks, as the band now only holds tow of it's original members.

They flirt with some blackened elements on "Feeble Grasp", but return to the brand of death metal they are best at. The riffs morph back and forth on this one some of Beau's most impressive drumming. I had heard other drummers sing his praises, but never heard anything to really convince me until this song. There is one riff that takes you back to the early days of Mastodon where sludge met death metal. This is not surprising considering that Mike Thompson got his start with Troy Sanders in a band called Social Infestation. They take the song out on a dark and noisy note. I had already heard "Husk" going into this so it will be interesting to see how it feels in context of the album. I remember not being to taken by the initial listen though thought it sounded better than what I had previously heard from the band. They come out of a more chaotic beginning into a solid death metal groove. The vocals work best in the lower growls, the higher rasped screams seem a little forced when meshing with the overall vibe. They return to a more straight forward grinding death metal on "Downward". You can hear some punk under lying their sound at the onset, which is not surprising considering the bulk of Atlanta metal bands started out in the punk scene. The first guitar solo isn't a shred fest but more of a melody.

The ugliness continues on "Distort, Engulf" as the band proves they are  as nasty any death metal going today. This song is more straight forward than the previous songs in it's single minded attack. They close the album with a touch of atmosphere going into "To Glimpse Godliness". These guys don't need to drone into the ten minute mark to prove their point. They storm back into the heavy with authority. When the song drops down into the slower throb it reaches it's most powerful moment. This is a vast improvement for a band who previously  failed to win me over. Gone are any allusions to black metal as they have embraced their role as harbingers of some ugly death metal. I'll round this up to an 8.5.
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Goatwhore@ the Earl 7/12/15

Being a Sunday this show had really early six thirty  doors and I'm sure we didn't show until nine, and my fiance hadn't eaten so grabbing a burger at the front bar took priority over Black Tongue. In some ways the Earl is one of the city's better venues, in other's it's still shitty, at sound for Goatwhore’s set was generally more decent than not. They came onto the stage with a lot of energy with " Poisonous Existence in Reawakening”. This show saw Rob Coleman from Warmaster / Hod on bass and he really gets the black metal side of what they do and brings that a little more to the forefront. The band pulled from everything from their newest album” Constricting Rage of the Merciless” to  "Graveyards and Dead Angels" off of their first album "the Eclipse of Ages Into Black" which of course given the time of its release had a noticeable Acid Bath moment

One of the things that became more apparent to me with this show is that fact that when it comes to the use of harsh vocals these guys do it right. All to often growled or screamed vocals come across as an obligatory after thought. With Goatwhore they have differing patterns that work around the riffs and when Sammy chimes in, his voice carries a more evil rasp, that touches on tones Louis voice hits in a different way, giving the band death metal lows and a few different black metal rasps from a more commanding anger to a wretched curdling of the vocal chords from Sammy. The other thing that caught my ear was after having interviewed Louis last year and having him reference Celtic Frost repeatedly, I picked up on some of their more “Morbid Tales” like riffing which became more apparent than on some of the more thrash flavored stuff off say “Blood For the Master”.

This was a much different crowd than the last time I caught Goatwhore for the Summer Slaughter tour last year. The reason being that demographics of the Atlanta metal scene when it comes to taste is pretty split geographically. the city kids thinking they are too cool for school and only being into metal with punk roots, since most started off as punk rockers who got into metal when it started getting bigger in town ten years ago. Where suburban kids who to be more willing to frequent the venue called the Masquerade that will book a wider span of metal from Kamelot to Whitechapel to Cannibal Corpse, thus on the Whitechapel side which...sure might suck, but city kids will also turn their noses up at otherwise good bands like Katatonia who no punk associations and more melody.  What can be said of last year’s crowd is they seemed to be more appreciative of the performance, I don't remember him saying anything at the Masquerade show to imply that there were people there for reasons other than the music, which even with a 15 dollar cover could be said of the Earl.

Atlanta metal scene tends to pat itself on the back for nothing it was the last night of their tour so Louis was all about celebrating only to get the typically blase' response, he repeatedly had to remind the crowd the bar wasn't going anywhere and put their hands together for the other bands, the birthday's merch guy who doubles as Exhumed's chainsaw wielding mascot and the drummer from of Black Breath. He took it all in stride for the most part telling some fat kid he was going to bite his finger off if he kept shooting birds and people to be part of put their iPhones away and stop Facebooking or text dick pics and to have fun and became aware it was nothing personal after giving a shout out to the local band Withered, who only got a limp patter of applause, to which Louis asked the member in attendance” What happened you are giving away blow and whiskey? Every band knows that’s the only way to get fans.”

Fun prevailed by the end of the set as members of the road mates for this tour Black Tongue and Theories, came out on stage and danced in Goatwhore panties during the last song, which Louis told the crowd that they were going to leave everything else behind and get the most enjoyment out of the final four minutes, which was accomplished even with the products of today’s ADD society in attendance. Goatwhore proved that they are not only a finely tuned metal machine, but also the best American Black Metal, band despite the other flavors they bring to the table, as all hipster and post- rock pretense is stripped away to have it shoved in your face at the rawest level. They are a band you must check off your metal bucket list if you have not caught them yet.