Doom/Stoner/Sludge

 Although I have been listening to metal for a large portion of my life, there are still areas of this massive and fascinating genre that I have overlooked; not due to ignorance, but mainly because the sub-genres that appealed to me when i first started listening to heavy music have kept me entertained for so many years.

An area of heavy metal that I have been developing a growing appreciation for is doom, sludge, and stoner. Ok... so that's three different sub-genres if you want to start nit-picking, but you know what I mean. Slow shit. Real slow.

Orange Goblin was one of the first stoner rock bands that i encountered, which was several years ago. I loved the riffs, and hearing a new style of production instantly grabbed my attention. It contrasted with the modern music production techniques that I had become so used to hearing on my Pantera, Children Of Bodom, and Machine Head CD's. I think that my naive mind told me that unless it was fast, it wasn't heavy. So i dismissed the band as something that wasn't to my liking. Oh how wrong I was...

Here I am, several years later, eager to expand my knowledge of stoner metal, while simultaneously hating myself for not developing this intrigue when i first discovered OG. It is safe to say that I am still only scratching the surface (with help from friends who's music taste is more or less strictly doom & sludge).

Healing Through Fire was the Orange Goblin album that I first came across. Having recently revisited this album, i can only repeat what I said before about my self-hate for not completely falling in love with this band from day 1. The opening of Hounds Ditch is reminiscent of Downs' Temptations Wings (a band that I have been crazy about for many moons), and hearing it again triggered a memory of the thoughts that went through my mind when i first listened to this song years ago; "these guys are ripping off Down!". Upon revisiting the album, my thoughts were much less dismissive, and i thoroughly enjoyed every track. Ben Wards vocals are both melodic and powerful, and complement every aspect of the bands sound. Below are a couple of songs from this album that were instantly recognizable to me, even after years of not listening to them.




 Now, for those of you reading this that have a deeper understanding for all things sludgey, which is probably most of you (shit, I feel like my nan probably knows more about it than me right now), you're probably thinking "Orange Goblin ain't slow! You don't know shit!". It may not be the slowest of bands but it's served well as bridging the gap between my speed metal/thrash tendencies, to the slower-than-slow bands that I recently seem to have been continuously discovering.

 Electric Wizard is a band that I have been aware of for quite some time now, but similarly to my relationship with OG, I hadn't given myself a chance to listen to their music properly. I recently purchased their album "Dopethrone" and stuck it on my MP3 player for a long commute that I had to take on Londons glorious public transport system (*sigh*). Train arrived, found myself seat, headphones on, pressed play. Next thing I know, I've arrived at my destination with little to no memory of how the hell I got there. I'd completely zoned out, and it was only when I realised I had arrived at the place I was traveling to that I'd had the album on repeat. The bass tone on the Dopethrone is incredible, and as a bassist myself, I made a mental note to do some research into how to achieve this sound. Fortunately, there is a wealth of bass forums discussing how to get the sound I desire. I found this thread on TalkBass.com particularly helpful -
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f36/ultimate-stoner-doom-sludge-psychedelic-effects-thread-547972/





One of my more recent discoveries has been a band called Pilgrim, who are signed to Metal Blade Records. I came across them while searching the internet for some recommended recent metal releases, eager to update my iTunes music library (including my personal brain music library). Their album entitled Misery Wizard which came out at the end of last month sounded appealing, so I checked out some of the recordings on youtube before deciding that I wanted to contribute to this band by purchasing some of their songs. Their riffs are catchy, the production is tight, and i love the vocals. Although not as bass guitar heavy as some of the other bands i have come across in this genre, I found myself really enjoying every note. I highly recommend this album! Here is one of my favourite tracks from Misery Wizard -






Now, onto a band that I was introduced to by a friend, and how grateful I am to that person!

BONGRIPPER.

 Satan Worshipping Doom is one hell of a doom metal EP. The four tracks (respectively titled Hail, Satan, Worship, and Doom) showcase a real heavy side to slow music. THIS is the sort of shit I wish I stumbled across years ago when I was so set in my ways about heavy music having to be fast!

 My favourite track on the EP (Satan) starts off sounding brilliantly black metal. It starts with atmospheric tension-building chords, which are eventually accompanied by a natural sounding blast beat (not the over-triggered type of blast we are all used to hearing on modern death metal recordings). Then, the groove. Then, another fist-pounding groove. Then a perfectly placed tempo change. Seriously, this track is full of progression, movement, and riff evolution. Just listen to it, you won't regret it.
 Oh and i fucking love the artwork for this masterpiece as well!

 

I'm going to leave it there for now, and I plan on doing another post similar to this at some point. Hopefully by then I will have done more than just scratched the surface!