The Sludge Metal Thread

Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean - "Let Us Not Speak of Them but Look and Pass On" EP (2026)

Anonymous Massachusetts four-piece Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean are back with a 28 minute EP of their trademark, noise-drenched, sludge metal that, characteristically slams into you like a sledgehammer to the forehead. I don't know if I was in the wrong frame of mind for it during my initial listen-through because it just kind of washed over me and felt draining to listen to the first time, with a really heavy noise influence that gave it a cloying uniformity I really wasn't in the mood for. Subsequent listens have left me feeling more positive although, in truth, it seldom approaches the level of awesomeness I attributed to their 2023 "Obsession Destruction" LP. Things kick off in fine style with the longest and, for my money, best of the four tracks, the 9-minute "An Abundance of Mercy". This is a hulking slab of reverb-drenched sludge metal with a memorable and doomy main riff that crushes like a runaway steamroller and caustic vocals that could double as paint stripper. A couple of noise and feedback-soaked breakdowns fill out the track and provide a counterpoint to that comparatively melodic main riff.

"Upheaval" is the EP's shortest and most vitriolic-sounding track with a fairly quick tempo and a marked noise component that pushed a bit too far in that direction for my particular taste and may well have been the source of my initial reticence towards the EP as a whole. I am on much more comfortable ground with the remaining two tracks, "An Adornment of Light" and "Execution" with their doomier and resultingly more crushing atmospheres. I must make mention of the drumming as it is of particular note, driving and pummelling, even on the slower, doomier sections with the nameless skinsman's performance on "Execution" being an especial standout.

Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean are evidently emerging from under the shadow of their main influence, Louisisana's Thou, and are forging their own identity with an even more abrasive and noisy style of sludge designed not so much to get under the listener's skin, but rather to strip that skin away completely.

4/5

Grief - "Dismal" compilation (1992)

Boston's Grief are one of my favourite exponents of filthy sludge metal, particularly their 1994 debut album "Come to Grief" which I regard as being a genuinely classic metal record. I've also really enjoyed their 1992 "Dismal" E.P. this year which has led me to check out this compilation release which draws that release together with their 1992 self-titled E.P. & their two tracks from the 1993 split single with Californian sludgers Dystopia (both of which I was previously unfamiliar). Needless to say that this collection makes for a formidable listening experience too with all three releases offering some very solid & ultra-heavy material. If I had to pick, I'd suggest that the tracks taken from the split release are the most consistently impressive but this is a very consistent record without any real blemishes so there's not much in it. I simply love this cold & oppressive, doom-laden sludge sound & if that sounds like you then I'd urge you to check this compilation out at some point.

For fans of Noothgrush, Eyehategod & Dystopia.

4/5

Oh... & I almost forgot... this record is an excellent release in its own right too:

Grief - "Grief" E.P. (1992)

4/5