Brainoil – Brainoil
Like fellow Oakland outfit Noothgrush, Brainoil is/was a Bay Area sludge band that only issued one album, disappeared, then more recently reunited with new…
sludge
Snailking – Storm
You know you’ve been listening to this shit for a while when you start seeing bands named after some of your favourite albums. Y’know,…
Sorxe – Surrounded by Shadows
Though I haven’t heard of them before, Sorxe is part of the same Arizona sludge scene as the likes of TOAD, Godhunter and North…
Cardinal Wyrm – Black Hole Gods
There have been enough notable sludge/doom outfits from down by the Bay Area—Sleep, Noothgrush, Neurosis, to name but a few—that when a newer outfit…
Mars Red Sky – Stranded in Arcadia
I must be Facebook friends with someone in this French outfit, cuz I remember getting a request to “like” ’em a little while back,…
Mortals – Cursed to See the Future
Much of the time I tend to shy away from bands that are getting a lot of buzz. At least at first. Not because…
The Cutthroats 9 – Dissent
This Bay Area trio, The Cutthroats 9, features howling madman frontman Chris Spencer of Unsane fame and released its debut on Man’s Ruin, waaaaay…
Beastwars – Beastwars
Being that this was an independently-issued release outta New Zealand, of all places, I must admit I missed Beastwars’ debut the first time around….
Corrosion of Conformity – IX
Since the original/core members of Corrosion of Conformity decided to carry on sans Pepper Keenan they’ve been on a tear. 2012 saw their “comeback”…
Graves at Sea/Sourvein Split
The split EP is as essential to sludge metal as cough syrup and Southern Comfort. And for these two long-dormant acts—particularly the former—this concoction…