The Southern Metal Thread
Ben & I have been tossing up over what to do about the whole "Southern Metal" thing for a long time now but our mutual ignorance around what the genre is & aspires to be has led to us making no move at all up until now. It certainly hasn't helps that Southern Metal sounds very much like something that neither of us will have much interest in. In order to finally get us to an outcome though, I've decided to commit the rest of my month to exploring the Southern Metal genre with an aim to answer a few key questions:
1. Is Southern Metal really a thing?
2. Does it have it's own consistently identifiable sound that differentiates it from other subgenres or is it more of a descriptor to throw on top of another subgenre?
3. Are there releases that are deserving of a sole Southern Metal genre tag? (i.e. unaccompanied by other primary genres)
4. Is Southern Metal really a subgenre of a pre-existing genre?
5. Does Southern Metal belong in The Fallen as it's description would lead us to believe?
6. Are there releases that belong to the Southern Metal genre that DON'T sit comfortably under The Fallen?
7. If so, how might we handle them in a way that makes sense from an holistic point of view?
The answers to each of these questions will hopefully give us enough information to make an informed decision on whether or not we bite the bullet & create a Southern Metal genre at the Academy or not. Wish me luck (& I suspect a bit of patience too) as I take in one release from each of the biggest Southern Metal players over the next couple of weeks & share my thoughts with you along the way. Feel free to add in your own two cents to give us some added ammunition too.
Despite being responsible for programming Southern Metal as part of the Fallen playlist, I too have reservations about whether it is a thing and if it is, whether it is utilised correctly. I assumed it was a sludgy take on stoner metal with a bit of southern (US) flavour thrown in for good measure. When I see bands like Black Label Society and Alabama Thunderpussy so tagged, I seriously doubt if anyone really knows what it is! Most of the bands on the rym southern metal chart have zero sludge in their respective genre Venn diagram and some don't even have a metal genre other than southern metal. I always thought the sludge aspect was important as the likes of Eyehategod and Acid Bath are seen as influential to the whole southern metal thing. I suspect that, rather like NWOBHM, it is a scene rather than a genre, but I look forward to your ongoing reporting Daniel.
1. Yes. Southern metal is a thing, with bands like Down, Corrosion of Conformity, Black Label Society, and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster.
2. It's Southern rock influences are much more prominent than other genres, so it's definitely identifiable and different.
3. Many of Maylene and the Sons of Disaster's releases for sure.
4. It's a descendant of Southern rock, but it stands out as its own genre.
5. I've mentioned this before, but Southern metal should have its own clan, The South. It has nothing to do with the traditional doom metal, gothic metal, and drone metal of the clan, and there are currently so many genres in that clan (5 genres). And because of Southern metal's relation with sludge metal and stoner metal, I think those two genres can be taken out of The Fallen and reside in The South as well.
6. Black Label Society and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster do NOT belong in The Fallen. Black Label Society is comfortable in its place in The Guardians for their heavy metal sound mixed with Southern metal that would get them in hypothetically The South.
7. That, of course, is where The South clan comes in.
So those are my answers based on my Southern metal knowledge (which isn't much, by the way), and I hope to have given you enough info, Daniel. Good luck and take it easy!
1. Yes. Southern metal is a thing, with bands like Down, Corrosion of Conformity, Black Label Society, and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster.
2. It's Southern rock influences are much more prominent than other genres, so it's definitely identifiable and different.
3. Many of Maylene and the Sons of Disaster's releases for sure.
4. It's a descendant of Southern rock, but it stands out as its own genre.
5. I've mentioned this before, but Southern metal should have its own clan, The South. It has nothing to do with the traditional doom metal, gothic metal, and drone metal of the clan, and there are currently so many genres in that clan (5 genres). And because of Southern metal's relation with sludge metal and stoner metal, I think those two genres can be taken out of The Fallen and reside in The South as well.
6. Black Label Society and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster do NOT belong in The Fallen. Black Label Society is comfortable in its place in The Guardians for their heavy metal sound mixed with Southern metal that would get them in hypothetically The South.
7. That, of course, is where The South clan comes in.
So those are my answers based on my Southern metal knowledge (which isn't much, by the way), and I hope to have given you enough info, Daniel. Good luck and take it easy!
Stoner and Sludge absolutely belong.in the Fallen Andi as their relationship to doom metal is fairly intrinsic. To create a new clan for what amounts to a single spurious sub genre sounds a bit much in itself, but.to then shoehorn two further genres that are perfectly well positioned would be ridiculous.
Yeah, I agree with you Sonny. Stoner & Sludge are not all that far away from being Doom subgenres & those three genres represent the very basis of The Fallen in all honesty.
My brief experiences with Southern Metal previously have seen me developing an inkling that there is a Southern Metal sound that people are referring to but it's only a very small deviation from the Stoner Metal model, is rarely represented in more than a few tunes per album & has nothing whatsoever to do with Sludge Metal. It's always seemed more like a descriptor than a genre to me. Time will tell as to whether that's true though as I've really only heard a few Southern Metal-tagged releases in full up until now.
Down - "Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow..." (2002)
I was previously well across the 1995 debut album "NOLA" from New Orleans supergroup Down & consider myself to be quite a fan but had never ventured further into the band's discography up until now. Given my familiarity with "NOLA" I felt it best to start fresh with the much anticipated sophomore record from Southern Metal's most celebrated act, a release that finally popped up a surprisingly long seven years later. Much like "NOLA", "Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow..." is very much a mixed bag of different sounds & subgenres & I once again found myself being most interested in Down's more stripped back, psychedelic & metal-free material where front man Phil Anselmo gets to showcase his not insignificant vocal talents with a little more freedom. The quality is generally a bit up & down across the fifteen tracks which leaves the album falling well short of the bar set by its highly regarded predecessor but it was still an enjoyable enough listen.
As for the Southern Metal topic, this first leg of my experiment hasn't done much to alter my pre-existing opinions. Here's how I genre-tagged the tracklisting:
01. Lysergik Funeral Procession Stoner Metal
02. There's Something on My Side Stoner Metal
03. The Man That Follows Hell Southern Metal
04. Stained Glass Cross Southern Rock
05. Ghosts Along the Mississippi Stoner Metal
06. Learn From This Mistake Blues Rock
07. Beautifully Depressed Southern Metal
08. Where I'm Going Country Blues
09. Doobinterlude Psychedelic Rock
10. New Orleans Is a Dying Whore Sludge Metal
11. The Seed Stoner Metal
12. Lies, I Don't Know What They Say But... Blues Rock
13. Flambeaux's Jamming With St. Aug Experimental Rock
14. Dog Tired Stoner Metal
15. Landing on the Mountains of Meggido Psychedelic Rock
As you can see, there are only a couple of tracks that push the Southern Metal sound above all other subgenres but even then the difference from your classic Stoner Metal model isn't significant enough to require its own genre in my opinion. It's really the inclusion of a whole slew of bluesy, Southern inspired non-metal tracks that dictate the requirement for the Southern Metal tag rather than the album having an overall style that's dominated by the Southern Metal sound in all honesty. If we made the subgenre available on Metal Academy then I'd probably tag this album with both Stoner Metal & Southern Metal for that very reason but I don't see anything here that convinces me of the necessity for that additional tag at this stage. If we did go down that path though I'd suggest that it would be a subgenre of Stoner Metal on the evidence of this experience.
3.5/5
Here are the couple of tracks from the album that I feel best showcase the Southern Metal sound:
Corrosion of Conformity - "Deliverance" (1994)
I was fairly well versed in Corrosion of Conformity's earlier material before going into their influential fourth album "Deliverance" which is widely regarded as the birth of the Southern Metal sound. I quite liked the crossover thrash of their 1985 sophomore album "Animosity" back in my tape trading days although I found the 1986 "Technocracy" E.P. to be pretty flat. 1991's third album "Blind" was all over underground metal radio at the time so I couldn't help but gain an affection for it's catchy sludge/heavy metal anthems & I even saw Corrosion of Conformity play live back in 2014 although I admittedly found them to be a little underwhelming after being thoroughly trampled by opening local act Lo! who were sensational. Let's just say that I was optimistic about the chances of "Deliverance" being able to win me over & was curious to see where the links to Southern Metal might have started.
As with the first two Down records, "Deliverance" offers a real mixed bag of sounds & subgenres. There's once again been a conscious effort to expand outside of the metal spectrum & I don't doubt that those efforts have seen people being more inclined to reach for the Southern Metal tag. But, unlike "Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow...", "Deliverance" champions that true Southern Metal sound much more often than your more conventional Stoner Metal one & I've ended up being converted to the idea that this is indeed a Southern Metal record with no requirement for additional primary subgenres. The vocals of Pepper Keenan sound an awful lot like a Southern take on James Hetfield/Nick Holmes & play a big role in the Southern links. As do the guitar solos which have clearly been styled around the Lynard Skynard model. You do get a taste of a whole bunch of other metal/rock subgenres across the fourteen tracks but I have to admit that Southern Metal is the most common theme here so I'm gonna run with it. I still can't say that it's deserving of being a primary genre as it's still much too close to the Stoner Metal model but I'm definitely starting to be convinced that it's deserving of a differentiator.
Overall I found "Deliverance" to be pretty entertaining. I prefer "Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow..." but it's not far behind. Both albums contain a few tracks that don't do much for me & I generally find myself more attracted to the sludgier/doomier tracks & the deeper, stripped back non-metal material. The genuine Southern Metal & Stoner songs just don't appeal to my taste as much.
01. Heaven's Not Overflowing Stoner Rock
02. Albatross Southern Metal
03. Clean My Wounds Alternative Metal
04. Without Wings Chamber Folk
05. Broken Man Sludge Metal
06. Señor Limpio Southern Metal
07. Mano de Mono Gothic Country
08. Seven Days Southern Metal
09. #2121313 Art Rock
10. My Grain Southern Metal
11. Deliverance Southern Metal
12. Shake Like You Heavy Metal
13. Shelter Country
14. Pearls Before Swine Doom Metal
3.5/5
Here's a classic example of the Southern metal sound & arguably the track that started the whole movement:
Black Label Society - "Mafia" (2005)
Now this brings me to the final member of the big three Southern Metal bands in the Zakk Wylde-fronted Black Label Society, a band that I've had very limited exposure to over the years with the exception of seeing them perform live at Soundwave 2012 in Sydney which was essentially one long (admittedly very impressive) super-shredding Zakk guitar solo. I came in very interested to check out BLS's sound given that they are the first artist in the experiment that doesn't also command additional The Fallen primary genre-tags along with the Southern Metal one so I wanted to see whether they'd cause us any problems & I have to say that "Mafia" (Black Label Society's most well-known release) certainly throws a cat amongst the pigeons in that regard. You see, "Mafia" wasn't at all what I expected, at least not in relation to this deep-dive exercise. There is absolutely none of the Southern Metal sound I've previously identified on the two Down & Corrosion of Conformity albums here. In fact, I'll be fucked if I can hear any Southern Rock influence on this album whatsoever! It's pretty much a traditional Heavy Metal record with a few Groove Metal & Hard Rock moments thrown in here & there. The only reason I can see for the link to Southern Metal is the inclusion of a few crappy Country tracks which don't really have much to do with my understanding of Southern Rock. If the Southern Metal sound is supposedly linked to Stoner Metal & Sludge Metal then there's no sign of either of those genres here. You do often see Southern Metal being linked to Groove Metal on some online sites but this begs the question as to whether the whole Southern Metal tag is being incorrectly used as more of a tool for grouping bands that come from a particular region. In saying that though, Black Label Society are from Los Angeles & Zakk is from New Jersey so I'd suggest that it's more about his image than anything else.
So let's actually take a deeper look at the music that actually IS here then, shall we? Most of the material isn't too far removed from the traditional Heavy Metal of Zakk's work with Ozzy Osbourne & highlights his chunky, super-charged metal riffs & signature artificial harmonic squeals. His lead work is obviously the highlight of the album but that was always going to be the case. His vocals are interesting as he sounds distinctly like he's trying to combine Guns 'n' Roses' Axl Rose & Alice In Chains' "Layne Stayley, complete with AIC vocal harmonies. In fact, there's a noticeable AIC influence across the album even though I wouldn't say that any of the tracks fall into the Grunge/Alternative Metal bucket. There are a couple of tracks that champion more of a Pantera/Hellyeah style Groove Metal riff structure too & the guitar tone in general leans more towards that genre than it does to the classic Heavy Metal one. The three ballads all fall into a poppy Country Rock space that's really very cheesy & ending the album with two of those was clearly a very poor idea (even if the God-awful final track is labelled as a bonus track I tend to think that it needs to be regarded as an album track given that the vast majority of versions of the album include it). In fact, the record really does peter out after a very promising start.
When I look at "Mafia" overall I can see that about a third of the fifteen tracks really float my boat with their thick, bottom-heavy, riff-based metal assault, particularly the clear album highlight in Heavy Metal monster "Death March". Another third is comprised of some pretty decent & respectable metal tunes that probably don't possess the hooks to dig their teeth in too far. And then the last third is comprised of material that I regard as obvious filler, most of which could easily have been left off the album given it's length. When looked at holistically it's the weakest of the three Southern Metal releases we've looked at so far but not by a significant margin. It's still a good listen even if it has fuck-all to do with Southern Metal as far as I can see. Perhaps this album is an anomaly in the BLS back-catalogue in that respect & the others are far more closely aligned with the Southern Rock influence I was expecting? I dunno but it certainly makes the rest of this experiment pretty interesting given that "Mafia" definitely doesn't belong in The Fallen.
Here's how I genre-tagged the individual tracks:
01. Fire It Up Heavy Metal
02. What's in You Groove Metal
03. Suicide Messiah Heavy Metal
04. Forever Down Heavy Metal
05. In This River Country
06. You Must Be Blind Heavy Metal
07. Death March Heavy Metal
08. Dr. Octavia Hard Rock
09. Say What You Will Heavy Metal
10. Too Tough to Die Heavy Metal
11. Electric Hellfire Hard Rock
12. Spread Your Wing Heavy Metal
13. Been a Long Time Groove Metal
14. Dirt on the Grave Country Rock
15. I Never Dreamed Country Rock
3.5/5
Pride & Glory - "Pride & Glory" (1994)
Zakk Wylde's one-off side-project with Black Label Society bass player James LoMenzo & future Whitesnake/Foreigner drummer Brain Tichy really does nothing to clear things up for me. It's obviously the most Southern inspired release of the four so far however it's also not a metal record with none of the fourteen individual tracks qualifying for metal status in my opinion. Instead it sits somewhere between Hard Rock & Southern Rock with far too much blues in their sound for the few heavier tracks to breach the confines of Hard Rock. There are definitely a few metal riffs thrown in here & there but every time that happens the songs are brought back into more commercial territory by some classic Hard Rock choruses or vocal hooks. In saying that though, I definitely prefer "Pride & Glory" to the Black Label Society record & would suggest that it just shaves the Corrosion of Conformity one too. Zakk's voice sounds great in this bluesier Southern style & often reminds me of my all-time favourite singer in Soundgarden's Chris Cornell. Check out the stunning album highlight that is Piano Rock ballad "Fadin' Away" for example with it's wonderful vocal harmonies & sentimental string arrangements. The album gets off to a very strong start with the A side being very impressive indeed. Unfortunately, much like a couple of the other releases I've explored during this expose so far, the B side contains a few light-weight & disposable Country & Southern Rock songs to ensure that I wouldn't be tempted to reach for my higher scores. Still... there's a lot of class in the majority of "Pride & Glory" so I can see why it's generally fairly highly regarded. If we were to include it on the Academy database I'd be recommending that it sits under Non-Metal though so it hasn't really helped me much in this process. In fact, I'm starting to wonder whether the Southern Metal tag was developed to cover the sound of a couple of bands (Down & Corrosion of Conformity) but was then completely misused by the market to describe anything that had even the slightest connection with a bluesier Southern sound instead of what it was originally intended to describe. There's also a strong chance that people have used it more from a locational point of view than anything musical. Hopefully I can come to an answer on that over the next week & a half.
Here's how I genre-tagged it:
01. Losin' Your Mind Southern/Hard Rock
02. Horse Called War Hard Rock
03. Shine On Southern/Hard Rock
04. Lovin' Woman Southern Rock
05. Harvester of Pain Southern/Hard Rock
06. The Chosen One Hard Rock
07. Sweet Jesus Southern Rock
08. Troubled Wine Southern/Hard Rock
09. Machine Gun Man Southern Rock
10. Cry Me a River Country
11. Toe'n the Line Hard Rock
12. Found a Friend Blues Rock
13. Fadin' Away Piano Rock
14. Hate Your Guts Country
3.5/5
I'd wager that some of the lesser known bands achieve a purer southern metal sound, but even those are few and far between. I think the Polish band Death Denied fit the bill, but they're obviously not something to base your decision on.
Thanks for the tip. I'll add them to the list.
Rebel Meets Rebel - "Rebel Meets Rebel" (2006)
Ok, so here we have another release that throws a major spanner in my previous position on the whole Southern metal thing & it comes in the form of a one-off collaboration album between Dimebag Darrel, Rex Brown & Vinny Paul from Pantera & old country singer David Allan Coe (who was in his 60's when the record was recorded). The album was always intended on being something that Dimebag described as a "country metal" record & that might not be all that far off the truth but it was also a pretty crap idea if the outcome is anything to go by & I don't think it would have been spared from being crucified if not for Dimebag's tragic death (in fact it may not have been released at all if not for the obvious cash-in factor). You see, the two elements really aren't very well combined here & Coe sounds positively awful at times. In fact, I often found myself reaching for comparisons with the ill-fated Metallica & Lou Reed collaboration which can't be a good thing now, can it? You'll easily be able to pick out a few classic Pantera groove metal riffs spread across the tracklisting along along with a significant amount of traditional heavy metal, a couple of hard rock numbers & some bits & piece of blues rock, Southern rock, speed metal & country but don't think you'll miss the Southern Metal component with this album as it's standing out front for all to see. It's just that it hasn't got the slightest bit to do with stoner or sludge metal which pretty much pooh-poohs my thoughts on Southern Metal being a subgenre of Stoner Metal in the Metal Academy database as this release doesn't belong anywhere near The Fallen. It should probably be in The Guardians & there's also an argument for it being in The Pit although I don't think it's consistently thrashy enough for that personally. Interestingly I find the three country tracks to be by far the best material on display which is definitely an indication of just how mismatched the vocals are with the metal instrumentation & I ultimately found "Rebel Meets Rebel" to be a chore to sit through.
Here are my genre-taggings:
01. Nothin' to Lose Speed Metal
02. Rebel Meets Rebel Southern/Heavy Metal
03. Cowboys Do More Dope Southern/Groove metal
04. Panfilo Flamenco/Country
05. Heart Worn Highway Southern/Heavy Metal
06. One Nite Stands Blues Rock/Hard Rock
07. Arizona Rivers Psychedelic Country
08. Get Outta My Life Southern/Groove Metal
09. Cherokee Cry Hard/Southern Rock
10. Time Southern/Heavy Metal
11. No Compromise Southern/Groove Metal
12. N.Y.C. Streets Country Rock
2.5/5
He Is Legend - "Suck Out The Poison" (2006)
OK, so who the fuck decided to cause my whole experiment to implode by including this particular record under the Southern Metal banner then?? It's tagged with dual genres on RYM under Hard Rock (17-0) & Southern Metal (6-0) yet I'll be fucked if it's anything like either of those. This is a Melodic Metalcore record with Post-Hardcore & Alternative Metal influences. There are a few riffs that would be similar to Stoner Metal if they had a more appropriate guitar tone as well as one or two Southern Rock inspired guitar licks but so the fuck what?? To claim the entire record as being Southern Metal on that basis is absolutely absurd & I get the distinct feeling that the tagging is based more around He Is Legend's home of residence being North Carolina than it does anything to do with sound or style. And don't even get me started on Hard Rock. There's not a second of it on here. "Suck Out The Poison" is not a bad record as far as Melodic Metalcore goes to be fair. It's just a touch inconsistent.
3.5/5
Alabama Thunderpussy - "Open Fire" (2007)
I was really expecting this one to be a no-brainer when it came to Southern Metal qualification however it ended up being anything but. You see, while "Open Fire" might possess an undeniable stoner metal attitude, there's really no sign of the required Southern Rock influence here. In fact, the music compiled within "Open Fire" is a more of a combination of your more traditional heavy metal riffs & song structures with a stoner metal production job & aesthetic. You definitely get your fair share of stoner groove but those moments are comfortably out-weighed by fast-paced Judas Priest riffage, Saxon-esque hard rock crunch & Iron Maiden style guitar harmonies. I honestly think that the Southern Metal tag is only being associated with this record because Alabama Thunderpussy hail from Virginia. The only other thing I can think of would be if people are hearing the guitar harmonies & thinking they're influenced by someone like Lynard Skynard instead of Iron Maiden who would appear to be the clear source of inspiration to an old Maiden tragic like myself. It's actually a really consistent album though. The band are tight as fuck & have a wonderful hard rock guitar crunch. Exhorder front man Kyle Thomas is real highlight & sounds so much like WASP singer Blackie Lawless with his super-masculine & totally bad-ass delivery. The thrashing title track even draws upon classic Slayer in a similar way to High On Fire's more intense moments which can't be a bad thing either. Unfortunately "Open Fire" just needs a few genuine highlight tracks to command future revisits but it's a solid little stoner/heavy metal record nonetheless. It's just not a genuine Southern Metal release in my opinion.
3.5/5
Maylene & the Sons of Disaster - "Maylene & the Sons of Disaster" (2005)
Given that this debut album is tagged as both Metalcore & Southern Metal on RYM, I was pretty skeptical about its chances of being a genuine Southern Metal release & was more or less expecting a similar outcome to the one I got with the He Is Legend record. But you know what? Those tags are actually very accurate because this is a pretty unique sounding release. The basis of their sound is certainly Metalcore but there are stoner metal riffs included on most tracks as well as a clear Southern feel to the screamed vocals & slide guitar parts that are layered over the top at times. Unfortunately all of that doesn't make the album appeal to me any more though. The metalcore breakdowns are lacking in ambition while the Stoner riffs are a bit too groovy for my taste too. I do really enjoy the harsh vocals & they're probably the best thing about the record but I could certainly have done without the poppy clean vocal sections which remind me of commercial pop punk. Interestingly the clear highlight of the album is the stunning Southern Rock closer "Just Wanted to Make Mother Proud" which was an unexpected yet quite wonderful way to end the tracklisting. Overall though? Nup, this one's not for me even though it undoubtedly offers a fresh & original sound & does fit the mold for a Southern Metal release.
3/5
Glorior Belli - "Meet Us At The Southern Sign" (2009)
I was really looking forward to revisiting "Meet Us At The Southern Sign" as I've been a long-time fan of this record but don't recall ever thinking it was worthy of another tag outside of your standard Black Metal one. After giving it a few listens, I can't say that my feelings have changed all that much either. Sure, there's a noticeable Americana feel to a few tracks due to the use of string bends as a part of the riff structures & a few short & rootsy interludes but there's no way that Glorior Belli ever step all that far outside the scope of the modern Black Metal model. To say that this album qualifies as Southern Metal is simply not true & it would sound completely out of place if it was to be placed in The Fallen. I mean there's absolutely no hint at a Stoner Metal or Sludge Metal sound here & I wouldn't even say that the influences I mentioned earlier have anything to do with Southern Rock either so it seems completely misguided in my opinion. In saying that though, this is a fantastic fucking Black Metal record with wonderfully grim vocals & classy compositional work. The atmosphere is top notch, the production job is appropriate & the incorporation of the outside influences I mentioned earlier is done so fluently that there's no reason to reach too far outside of the Black Metal spectrum for additional genre tags. The only complaint I have is around the execution of the blast beats which isn't exactly at the elite level but this is by far the best release I've encountered in this month's Southern Metal experiment.
4.5/5
Fireball Ministry - "Their Rock Is Not Our Rock" (2005)
The third full-length from this Los Angeles outfit is a pretty enjoyable if fairly light-weight combination of Stoner Rock & Stoner Metal with the Southern Metal link being way too ambitious for my liking. There is a mild Southerm tinge to Fireball Ministry's sound however it's not in any way any more extreme than your average Stoner artist so I see no reason to highlight it when the band's sound falls so obviously into the more well-known genres. The album starts out pretty well with all of the five tracks on the A side possessing enough catchy hooks to draw me in but things start to go "south" (see what I did there?) a little in the back end with songs like "Two Tears", "Under The Thunder" & "Rising From The Deep" failing to hit the mark due to some flat & lethargic choruses. The use of cheesy halftime cowbell brings things right back into the more accessible rock spectrum on several occasions too. Thankfully closing number "Save The Saved" sees Fireball Ministry finishing with a bang & is the album highlight. The vocals of front man Rev. James A. Rota II alternate between that standard trucker hat-wearing growl & Ozzy Osbourne worship while the wall-of-sound Stoner guitar tone is thick & heavy. Overall it was a fairly intimidating but generally pleasant piece of Stoner Rock/Metal that won't change your life but won't see you reaching for the dial either. It's the type of record that lives & dies on it's vocal hooks so each song will either stick or it won't. Once again though... I don't see the need for the Southern Metal tag.
3.5/5
Acid King/The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight - "Free.../The Father, The Son & The Holy Smoke" split album (2001)
This one is a split collaboration album from female-fronted San Francisco stoner/doom outfit Acid King (featuring French drummer Guy Pinhas who has also been involved with Fireball Ministry, Goatsnake & The Obsessed) & New Orleans psychedelic Southern rock/metal project The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight (featuring guitarist Jimmy Bower who has played with just about everyone including Corrosion of Conformity, Crowbar, Down, Eyehategod & Superjoint Ritual). The two bands sound completely different so the tracklisting doesn't exactly flow from one to the next. I fucking loved the Acid King material which can also be found as an isolated E.P. that was released in 2014. Their sound is super-dense & heavy as fuck with Lori S's vocals sounding very much like Hole front woman Courtney Love at times. When they get their doom on Acid King seriously crush & I'd highly recommend them to fans of Electric Wizard & Sleep. The two tracks from The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight are a very different proposition with "Buzzard Hill (My Backyard)" being a genuine Southern Metal groove-fest & the epic eleven minute closer "Veiled" starting off in Southern/stoner metal territory before veering off into a spectacular drawn-out psychedelic rock excursion of the highest calibre for the last seven minutes which was the highlight of the whole release for me personally. I can't say that The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight's groovy Southern/Stoner Metal stylings do much for me but when they decide to strip things back & get all trippy on me I find myself in a musical Heaven that I rarely encounter.
Overall, I'd suggest that labelling this split release as Southern Metal is disingenuous as there's really only one & a half tracks that fall into that category. It's more accurate to tag it with the overarching Stoner Metal banner with Doom Metal & Southern Metal secondaries in my opinion. I really enjoyed this record though. It's been one of the finds of the month for me, mainly for the Acid King stuff which is some of the best Stoner/Doom I've ever encountered to be honest. I'm gonna go with 4.5/5 for Acid King & 3.5/5 for The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight.
4/5
Here's an example of the Southern Metal sound:
Floodgate - "Penalty" (1996)
This sole album from New Orleans four-piece Floodgate sees Exhorder/Alabama Thunderpussy/Trouble frontman Kyle Thomas leading us on an excursion that travels directly along the boundary that separates Stoner Metal & Alternative Metal. In fact, it sounds very much like Down meets Alice In Chains/Soundgarden which is a pretty appealing reference point on paper. I'd even go so far as to say that the psychedelic acoustic number "Whole" is a combination of Black Sabbath's "Planet Caravan" & Nirvana's "Something In The Way" which can't be a bad thing now, can it? The reality though is that "Penalty" is a touch inconsistent with a couple of flatter tracks included across the eleven songs but Thomas' masculine, powerful tone gives the highlight tracks the clout they need to stick in your brain. I do prefer the more grungy material to the groovier stoner riffs but that's just personal preference. As far as Southern Metal goes, there's one clear example in "Till My Soil" (which reminds me very much Corrosion of Conformity's "Albatross" & is the clear weak point of the album for me personally which is once again down to taste) but that's about it really. I can only think the associations with the genre are purely locational. Anyway... "Penalty" is worth a few spins for fans of both stoner & the more metal side of grunge.
3.5/5
This is what it sounds like when Floodgate DO put their Southern Metal pants on:
Hank III - "Hillbilly Joker" (2011)
If there was one release I was sure I would find Southern Metal on it was this one from legendary outlaw country star Hank Williams, III (who is also a member of Phil Anselmo side projects Arson Asylum & Superjoint Ritual just quietly). Hank's apparently recorded several metal-related releases over the years but a few of them (including this one) were released without his permission following his sudden exodus from Curb Records. What we get with "Hillbilly Joker" is a mixture of Cowpunk (a country/punk hybrid) & Alternative Metal with a strong Southern theme throughout. I wouldn't say there's anything remotely like the Stoner Metal-dominated branch of Southern Metal I highlighted earlier in this little experiment included here but it's very hard to think of a world that has Southern Metal as a genre tag but doesn't have this record sitting underneath it because the redneck element is just so (intentionally) extreme. About 60% of the tracklisting is metal-based & if you want to know what to expect then I'd suggest that you imagine a psychotic Mike Patton/Faith No More alternative metal sound crossed with an even more drug-fucked Ministry. There's plenty of energy (presumably due to the copious amounts of speed being taken by the musicians if the lyrics are even remotely true) & some of the material is really pretty fucking heavy too, especially highlight tracks like "Pistol Packin'" & "I'm Drunk Again". Sure, there are a few duds on offer (Hint: they all fall into the Cowpunk space unsurprisingly) but I actually quite enjoyed the experience for something different. Hank certainly has his own sound & I can't say I've heard anything quite like him to be honest.
3.5/5
Try this one on for a dose of Southern Metal (minus the stoner/sludge angle):
OK, so I've now gone through thirteen of the most popular Southern Metal tagged bands/releases over the last two weeks which has been an interesting & enlightening experience. I now feel that I'm in a really good position to be able to answer the questions I was asking myself at the start of the experiment & make an informed decision of how (or whether) we handle the Southern metal genre. Here are my thoughts:
1. Is Southern Metal really a thing? Yes but it's not that straight forward. If you take the RYM definition word for word then it needs to be stoner/sludge based & the two major exponents in Down & Corrosion of Conformity are good examples of that. However the tag also seems to be used to draw together bands that have nothing whatsoever to do with stoner/sludge, instead using disparate genres like heavy metal, alternative metal & metalcore as the basis of their sounds. We even get bands being tagged with it who have such a minor Southern slant to their sound that it's hardly worth mentioning & also some that are lumped into it purely for locational or image reasons. My honest opinion is that the genre was originally derived to describe COC's sound on "Deliverance" but has been consistently blown way out proportion & used in ways that the author never intended since that time.
2. Does it have it's own consistently identifiable sound that differentiates it from other subgenres or is it more of a descriptor to throw on top of another subgenre? Even though there are a few examples of a defined sound, Southern Metal is more of a descriptor in all honesty. There's no consistency in the way these releases sound & extremely few use that true Southern metal sound for more than a couple of tracks with the rest of the tracklistings residing within your more traditional space.
3. Are there releases that are deserving of a sole Southern Metal genre tag? (i.e. unaccompanied by other primary genres) The only one I found that fits this criteria is Corrosion of Conformity's "Deliverance" but it could just as easily sit under Stoner Metal & no one would give it a second thought as their particular brand of Southern Metal is built off a Stoner Metal backbone.
4. Is Southern Metal really a subgenre of a pre-existing genre? If I focused my answer purely on the sound that the term was originally penned to describe then Southern Metal would have to be a subgenre of Stoner Metal (if it existed at all) but there's too many discrepancies in the way it's used to tie it to the Stoner genre with any confidence.
5. Does Southern Metal belong in The Fallen as it's description would lead us to believe? If you isolate the Down/Corrosion of Conformity sound then that certainly sits within The Fallen but those two were the only legitimate Southern Metal releases I identified where that was the case with a wide array of alternate clans being preferable for the other few releases I highlighted. Therefore the answer has to be no.
6. Are there releases that belong to the Southern Metal genre that DON'T sit comfortably under The Fallen? Yes, definitely. Take the Rebel Meets Rebel, Maylene & the Sons of Disaster & Hank III releases as prime examples.
7. If so, how might we handle them in a way that makes sense from an holistic point of view? We simply couldn't. We'd have to decide that only releases associated with The Fallen subgenres could be labelled as Southern Metal which defeats the purpose.
Overall result: I don't think Southern Metal is a well defined enough genre to warrant inclusion as a Metal Academy genre/subgenre. Most releases only include the influence on a few tracks & some don't have any reference to Southern Rock at all. As far as I can see it's better of being a descriptor like "Technical", "Neoclassical", "Melodic" or "Symphonic". For that reason Ben & I have decided not to add Southern Metal to our database for the time being. If anyone feels strongly that this is the wrong decision then please feel free to reach out because we're a democrasy rather than a dictatorship here at the Academy.
For the record, here's where I think each of the thirteen releases should sit:
1. Down - "Down II: A Bustle In Your Hedgerow..." (2002) : Should sit in The Fallen under Stoner Metal.
2, Corrosion of Conformity - "Deliverance" (1994) : Should sit in The Fallen under Stoner Metal.
3. Black Label Society - "Mafia" (2005) : Should sit in The Guardians under Heavy Metal.
4. Pride & Glory - "Pride & Glory" (1994) : Should sit under Non-Metal.
5. Rebel Meets Rebel - "Rebel Meets Rebel" (2006) : Should sit in The Guardians under Heavy Metal.
6. He Is Legend - "Suck Out The Poison" (2006) : Should sit in The Revolution under Melodic Metalcore.
7. Alabama Thunderpussy - "Open Fire" (2007) : Should sit under both The Fallen & The Guardians under Stoner Metal & Heavy Metal respectively.
8. Maylene & the Sons of Disaster - "Maylene & the Sons of Disaster" (2005) : Should sit in The Revolution under Metalcore.
9. Glorior Belli - "Meet Us At The Southern Sign" (2009) : Should sit in The North under Black Metal.
10. Fireball Ministry - "Their Rock Is Not Our Rock" (2005) : Should sit in The Fallen under Stoner Metal.
11. Acid King/The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight - "Free.../The Father, The Son & The Holy Smoke" split album (2001) : Should sit in The Fallen under Stoner Metal.
12. Floodgate - "Penalty" (1996) : Should sit in The Fallen & The Gateway under Stoner metal & Alternative Metal respectively.
13. Hank III - "Hillbilly Joker" (2011) : Should sit in The Gateway under Alternative Metal.
Even though we decided not to add Southern Metal to Metal Academy, I decided to create a Top Ten Southern Metal Releases of All Time list for anyone that's interested in checking out what the movement's all about.
Note: I've included some releases that I don't consider to be genuine Southern Metal but that are generally regarded as being included within the genre. I didn't include the Pride & Glory record I investigated because we decided not to add it to the site.
01. Glorior Belli - "Meet Us At The Southern Sign" (2009)
02. Down - "NOLA" (1995)
03. Down - "Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow…" (2002)
04. Alabama Thunderpussy - "Open Fire" (2007)
05. Corrosion of Conformity - "Deliverance" (1994)
06. Floodgate - "Penalty" (1996)
07. He Is Legend - "Suck Out The Poison" (2006)
08. Hank Williams, III - "Hillbilly Joker" (2011)
09. Fireball Ministry - "Their Rock Is Not Our Rock" (2005)
10. Black Label Society - "Mafia" (2005)