The Post-Sludge Metal Thread
This week's top ten list has taken the form of my Top Ten Post-Sludge Metal Releases Of All Time. Check it out & feel free to post your own:
1. Rosetta – “The Galilean Satellites” (2005)
2. Neurosis – “Souls At Zero” (1992)
3. Isis – “Panopticon” (2004)
4. Neurosis – “Times Of Grace” (1999)
5. Neurosis – “A Sun That Never Sets” (2001)
6. Cult Of Luna – “Somewhere Along The Highway” (2006)
7. Neurosis – “The Eye Of Every Storm” (2004)
8. Isis – “Oceanic” (2002)
9. Neurosis – “Through Silver In Blood” (1996)
10. Cult Of Luna – “Vertikal” (2013)
I haven't fully developed my interest in post-sludge though I look forward to continuing that part of my journey (another reason why sludge metal is the only Fallen genre I still have with me), so I'll start with a top 5:
1. Rosetta – The Galilean Satellites (2005)
2. The Ocean – Pelagial (2013)
3. Isis – Panopticon (2004)
4. Neurosis – The Eye Of Every Storm (2004)
5. Cult Of Luna – Somewhere Along The Highway (2006)
Here are 7 bands (including the ones above) that form my Post-Sludge Elemental Star:
Fire = Isis
Water = The Ocean
Earth = Rosetta
Air = Battle of Mice
Spirit = Jesu
Sun = Neurosis
Moon = Cult of Luna
I've never noticed anything "post" about Mastodon or much "sludge" in Solstafir to be fair Andi.
That is true, Daniel, but Mastodon is the closest I've been to sludge without post, and vice versa for Solstafir. I might explore some more post-sludge bands to not only try to find enough to extend my list to top 10, but also see if a couple of them can fill in the "Sun" and "Air" in the elemental star...
My Post-Sludge Elemental Star Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/59Sf6o9TJg2z7sjVzQkMcp
Adjusted my list after Ben has added the Isis live releases yesterday:
01. Rosetta – “The Galilean Satellites” (2005)
02. Neurosis – “Souls At Zero” (1992)
03. Isis – “Panopticon” (2004)
04. Neurosis – “Times Of Grace” (1999)
05. Neurosis – “A Sun That Never Sets” (2001)
06. Cult Of Luna – “Somewhere Along The Highway” (2006)
07. Neurosis – “The Eye Of Every Storm” (2004)
08. Isis – “Oceanic” (2002)
09. Isis - "Live II 03.19.03" (2004)
10. Neurosis – “Through Silver In Blood” (1996)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/140
Cult Of Luna - "Salvation" (2004)
The Swedish post-sludge masters' third album is a masterpiece of light & shade with the instrumentation presented in waves of slow-building tension & release. Front man Klas Rydberg's relentless screams are definitely the band's weak point as he's very much a one-trick pony but I simply can't help but give in to the mastery of the musicians around him who all execute their contributions with undeniable class & efficiency. The more subdued moments are the highlights in my opinion (my favourite being gorgeous post-rocker "Crossing Over") & you'll struggle with a release like this one if you're lacking in the patience department as it requires time & attention to reveal it's many qualities. But if you're willing to go along for the ride then you'll find Cult of Luna to have a rare talent for sneaking up on you, utilizing repetition & subtle changes over long periods to create atmosphere before reaching some truly invigorating crescendos. "Salvation" may not be Cult of Luna's finest work but it certainly compares very favorably to wonderful albums like "Somewhere Along The Highway" or "Vertikal". I also regard it as a pretty definitive example of the Post-Metal/Sludge Metal combo with the two elements playing equally important roles in the final product. It's a wonderful release from a band that I have an enormous amount of time for.
For fans of Isis, Neurosis & The Ocean.
4.5/5
Converge - "I Can Tell You About Pain" E.P. (2017)
This short two-track single from the Massachusetts-based metalcore kings' ninth album "The Dusk in Us" is an absolute belter, mainly due to the inclusion of the seven-&-a-half minute post-sludge epic "Eve" which is some of the band's best material. The two-&-a-half minute title track is a short burst of mathy hardcore that's pretty fun to bop along to but it's certainly overshadowed by the beast of a B-side with its tribal drumming & tense atmosphere.
For fans of Isis, Trenches & The Dillinger Escape Plan.
4.5/5
Cult of Luna - "The Long Road Home" (2022)
Yet another stunning highlight from a band that is now the clear leader of the post-sludge metal movement. "The Long Road Home" is an album that creeps up on you slowly, gradually attaching itself to your heart-strings & ever so gently increasing the tension until Cult of Luna have you strung up so tight that you feel you'll likely burst at any moment. The album starts off in fairly predictable fashion & (as Sonny spoke of in his review) you're very unlikely to be surprised by what you receive with a new Cult of Luna record however I simply cannot deny that the class & sophistication that this band possesses places them up above their peers when I experience the stunning attention to detail & compositional complexity they invariably produce. Things only start to really get going with the glorious atmospherics of earie third track "Beyond I" but they rarely subside from that point onwards. As usual with me, it's the least popular tracks that I rate the highest with short post-rock piece "Full Moon" & closing ambient number "Beyond II" stealing the show from wonderful post-sludge epics like "An Offering to the Wild" or "Blood Upon Stone". "The Long Road Home" is perfectly suited to it's title as it's a lengthy record at 69 minutes but will continue to open up with each listen, offering increasingly greater rewards for the active listener's investment. "Somewhere Along The Highway" may still be Cult of Luna's crowning achievement however "The Long Road Home" isn't all that far behind their best work & I'd even go so far as to say that it has a slight advantage over their classic 2004 third album "Salvation" for me these days. Essential listening for post-metal fans.
4.5/5
P.S. I see that this release is currently tagged with both the Atmospheric Sludge Metal & Post-Metal (conventional) subgenres in our database but I'd encourage members of The Infinite to consider down-voting Post-Metal as this release so clearly sits in the sludge end of the Post-Metal spectrum which makes the Post-Metal (conventional) tag redundant.
P.S. I see that this release is currently tagged with both the Atmospheric Sludge Metal & Post-Metal (conventional) subgenres in our database but I'd encourage members of The Infinite to consider down-voting Post-Metal as this release so clearly sits in the sludge end of the Post-Metal spectrum which makes the Post-Metal (conventional) tag redundant.
I've just done that, Daniel. I also noticed The Infinite missing from the release's clan lineup, can that be fixed please?
It's just been fixed Andi but you'll need to resubmit your genre votes.
That's OK. Thanks Daniel!
Boris - "Amplifier Worship" (1998)
As many of you are probably already aware, I’ve enjoyed a long & fruitful relationship with adventurous Japanese trio Boris & regard three or four of their 2000’s releases to be genuine classics. Their back catalogue is so extensive that I’ve still got a lot to explore if I’m even to come close to understanding the full scope & breadth of their musical influence though. In saying that, I probably should have ventured towards their 1998 debut album “Amplifier Worship long before now given the general consensus that it’s somewhat of a pinnacle of drone/sludge metal as that idea is clearly so closely aligned with my personal taste profile. Even the album title just reeks of appeal for someone like myself so I’ve gone into this massive 64 minute journey with a great deal of positivity & hope.
As is usually the case with Boris records, the genre tagging for “Amplifier Worship” simply doesn’t do it justice & isn’t exactly the best representation of what you should expect to hear as there are a number of elements at play. There is definitely some Earth-inspired drone metal on offer here in the first half of opener “Huge” & the entirety of the epic 16 minute closer “Vomitself” however I don’t think that’s enough to make it a primary genre given that there are other components that are more prevalent with a Melvins style sludge metal sound being one of them. In fact, I’ve never heard Boris sound so sludgy before & I’ve gotta say that I really enjoy the filthy hardcore aggression that raises its head a few times here, particularly in the savage guitar attack & screaming vocal delivery which is as angry as you’ll hear from this band. You’ll find plenty of sludge across the first four of the five tracks but you’ll inevitably also uncover a shit-tonne of post-rock in epic excursions like “Ganbou-Ki”, “Hama” & “Kuruimizu”, enough to warrant “Amplifier Worship” being labelled as a post-sludge metal release in my opinion actually. There’s a deeply psychedelic feel to some of this material too though, so much so that I’ve found myself reaching to krautrock artists like Can for comparison on occasion which can’t be a bad thing.
The overall consistency of the tracklisting is excellent. It’s almost a completely flat line to tell you the truth with each successive track being found to be just as strong as the last. There’s definitely a lack of that knock-out blow that Boris have proven themselves to be so capable of over the years though with none of the five songs scaling the heights that we now know Boris to be capable of when they’re at the top of their game. This isn’t a major criticism mind you as “Amplifier Worship” is unlikely to disappoint many fans but it does prevent it from competing with Boris’ more complete works like “Boris At Last -Feedbacker-“, “Rock Dream”, Akuma no Uta” or “Pink”. I do slightly favour it over releases like “flood” or the first couple of “Heavy Rocks” albums though which isn’t something to be sneezed at. There’s something to be said for an approach that takes the album title quite literally. As a guitarist myself, I revel & thrive in the warm yet crushingly heavy sound of many high quality quad boxes reverberating at extreme volumes & Boris have mastered the art of creating organised pieces out of seemingly unstructured jams. They’re a very rare beast in today’s market & I’m sure will continue to offer me a lot of joy as I continue to unlock more of their massive discography for a good while yet.
4/5
Please be advised that I have just completed the long & arduous process of removing the Atmospheric Sludge Metal subgenre from our database. The thinking was that it's really a combination of two different subgenres that reside in different clans which creates a logistical problem for us as a subgenre can only reside in one clan. Ben & I felt it made more sense to tag post-sludge metal releases with both the sludge metal & post-metal subgenres instead which is in line with how we do it for most other similar situations e.g. post-black metal, progressive metalcore, industrial death metal, etc. Any releases where you feel there isn't enough of either of those two subgenres can be actioned through the Hall of Judgement.