![]() ![]() That they put the brakes on their constantly evolving metal presence earlier this year is a definite bummer, but in releasing Spiral Shadow they left their impact with one hell of a psych-sludge odyssey.Every song has at least one unforgettable hook, genius riffs come thick and fast and Colin Richardson’s production was an authentic game-changer. “Dust” is a doom-folk dirge worthy of Crazy Horse, “Back and Forth” is practically a punk song in its speed, and then there’s “Don’t Look Back,” which is maybe the most inspirational thing you’ll find across these 10 albums. Leadoff track “Tired Climb” is a surprisingly catchy burst of acid crunch while “Cheating Synergy” finds guitarist Laura Pleasants fingertapping her way to glory. The band’s arguable best album (though there’s room for other nominations) is Spiral Shadow, which featured not just some of their heaviest sounds but their strongest songwriting. Their sweet spot occurred somewhere in the middle, however, when their meaty riffs were paired with spiraling psychedelic elements and the urgency of post-hardcore. ![]() In the years leading up to Kylesa’s recent hiatus, their style drifted well beyond the crusty riffs that marked their earliest, gnarliest material. But make no mistake-there is only one Neurosis. Listen carefully and you’ll hear a heavy influence on albums by Isis or Mastodon, or well, just about any metal album of the last 20 years to some degree. Which isn’t to say it’s not fun to listen to you have to clear out 70 minutes or so of your day to get to one proper listen of the album, but therein is one of metal’s most innovative masterpieces, a testament to searching beyond the template of doom and thrash and incorporating post-punk, dark ambient, a percussive tribal element and other dark and harrowing elements. Through Silver in Blood is more magma than sludge-it moves slowly and with lethal intensity, the Oakland metal outfit reaching their creative peak by turning each set of riffs into a grandiose dirge of seemingly immortal menace. Neurosis’ landmark fifth album took an already heavy sound and made it into something more expansive and soul-devouring than a mere fuzzbox aesthetic. ![]() It’s a smorgasbord of sludge, which just happens to pretty convincingly pass for a grunge album. Opening track “Hooch” is all slow-motion power chord chug, while “Honey Bucket” invites in some rollicking Motörhead gallop and “Lizzy” shows off the band’s bluesy side. They’re versatile enough to share a stage with either Mudhoney or Mastodon, and Houdini is proof of that, its pummeling, powerful chug showcasing both the band’s relentless heaviness and their knack for tuneful songwriting. But The Melvins, Seattle’s heaviest band, are one of the most important bands in all of sludge history-and they just happened to benefit from all the attention afforded the burgeoning grunge scene in their backyard. You could arguably make the case that Nirvana’s Bleach crosses over into some sludge territory, though it’s fairly decisively not a metal album. “Sludge” and “grunge” are pretty much synonymous, at least outside the context of music, so it’d only make sense that there be some crossover between the two worlds. ![]()
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