Your way in
Sludge metal 1989
Doom plus filthy hardcore: feedback, screamed vocals and a guitar tone like Louisiana mud.
- Heaviness
- 10
- Speed
- 3
- Melody
- 4
- Where from
- New Orleans, USA
- Tempo
- 50-90 bpm
- Song length
- 5-9 min
- Written about
- Addiction, The American South, Self-destruction, Contempt
- Vocals
- Growled or shrieked
Why this one
| You said | Sludge metal | Match | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| A growl or a shriek When someone is singing, what should come out? | harsh | 100% | ×3 |
| As heavy as it gets How much weight do you want behind it? | 10 out of 10 | 100% | ×2 |
| Slow. Let it take its time. What pace? | 3 out of 10 | 80% | ×2 |
| The beginnings Does it matter when it was made? | 1989 | 20% | ×1 |
| Normal How long should a song be? | up to 9 min | 63% | ×1 |
| Weighted mean | 83% | ||
Ranked over all 150 genres in the encyclopedia, on the 5 answers you gave, weighted vocals 3, heaviness 2, pace 2, era 1, length 1 out of 9. Sludge metal leads the next by 1 point. Where two genres score the same the broader one wins, because a genre with subgenres under it is somewhere to carry on from and a leaf is a full stop.
Five records, in this order
- 1Start one step outside
Saint Vitus, Saint Vitus 1984
Saint Vitus - Born Too Late. The title says exactly how the band felt.
- 2The one to put on first
Eyehategod, Take as Needed for Pain 1993
Eyehategod - Take as Needed for Pain. The feedback between tracks is part of the album.
- 3Then
- 4Then
- 5Then
The first is the entry point for Doom metal, one step outside, so the second record has something to be heard against. After it come Sludge metal's essential records in the order the encyclopedia lists them. Every one of these has a page here with links out to somewhere it can be played.
If that is not it
-
Death-doom 81%
Guttural vocals at funeral tempo. Bands from Yorkshire invented the combination and then invented gothic metal too.
4 steps from Sludge metal, meeting it only at Heavy metal.
The way into Death-doom -
Beatdown / metallic hardcore 77%
Hardcore reduced to breakdowns and slow groove, with barked vocals and lyrics about loyalty and endurance.
4 steps from Sludge metal, meeting it only at Heavy metal.
The way into Beatdown / metallic hardcore
Not simply the second and third of the ranking: those are almost always near neighbours of the first, which is three names for one suggestion. An alternate has to sit at least 4 steps through the tree from the headline and from the other alternate, which is the same floor the "sounds like this, but isn't" panel uses.
What your answers ruled out
- A growl or a shriek put 78 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Alternative rock, Blues rock, Doom metal. Worth 3 of 9.
- As heavy as it gets put 13 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Rock and roll, Folk rock, Country rock. Worth 2 of 9.
- Slow. Let it take its time. put 22 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Hardcore punk, Black metal, Death metal. Worth 2 of 9.
- The beginnings put 67 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Folk metal, Metalcore, Nu metal. Worth 1 of 9.
- Normal put 13 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Progressive rock, Krautrock, Acid rock. Worth 1 of 9.
Counted as genres scoring 20% or less on that answer alone. A recommendation that only shows what it chose is hiding half of what it did.