Welcome everybody to a little lesson on the history of Sludge & Stoner Metal. I'm Guib and today I have the immense pleasure to serve as your humble teacher.

Please take a seat and travel with me through time as we explore the very best of those two, often blurred, genres. The goal here is simple, I want to get you familiarized with the styles. I want you to understand where they come from through albums on a timeline and while we're at it get a sweet selection of great releases that you might not know and that, hopefully, will get you hooked to explore even more!

But this is a classroom and in my classroom there are a few rules. We want to keep this clean, clear and prevent having a 500+ albums mess. So here are the rules we'll follow throughout this lesson.

- - - - - The Rules - - - - -

1. We will settle for a maximum of 4 albums per year and they will be listed from oldest to newest. Makes it simple to navigate. Those releases will represent what I consider to be hallmarks of the genres for that year. Essentials if you want, yes? Of course, I'll sprinkle a bit of my personality here and there so you will find some unorthodox choices and some less known albums from time to time. It would be boring otherwise... and also why not?

2. We will begin the journey with Melvins' "Gluey Porch Treatments" released in 1987. Why? Because it is arguably the first album to be widely considered as Sludge.

3. The list will mostly feature studio albums. So no Demos & bare minimum when it comes to EPs if any at all. Thank you.

4. I am not going to include releases by Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer, Hawkwind, etc... I fully understand and recognize the influence older bands had on Stoner Rock, but this is not the list for them.

5. Lastly, not really a rule but more of a note. Considering that we're talking about Sludge & Stoner, it is inevitable that Doom, Post, Progressive, Grunge & Hardcore acts will be featured in this list. Those genres simply go together naturally and are often mixed so do not be alarmed!

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That is it, I hope you will all discover something to enjoy through my little history lesson. Also, do not hesitate to comment below if you agree or disagree with some of my picks. After all, this is a classroom and debate is invited as it can be fun and educative. As long everything's done respectfully, of course.

Enjoy & Have Fun... Class dismissed!

NOTE: I will now add my picks for best album of the year using this format (best of xxxx) in the chosen album's description.

- Guib -

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Guib's best Sludge/Stoner Album Picks

Best Of 2023:
Urne - A Feast On Sorrow

Best Of 2024 So Far:
O Zorn! - Vermillion Haze

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Last Update: April 27th, 2024

1.Melvins - Gluey Porch Treatments

2.Soundgarden - Ultramega OK

3.Oxbow - Fuckfest

4.Melvins - Ozma

5.Soundgarden - Louder Than Love

      View entire list ››

Merry Christmas, my fellow metalheads!

Inspired by Qualeen's list, I meticulously kept track of how often I listened to every album this year. I present to you my top 50 most frequently listened-to albums of the year 2022, ordered by number of full listens.

In other words, here are the albums that I've been most obsessively addicted to over the past year!

1.Slayer - Show No Mercy

2.Mercyful Fate - Melissa

3.Nile - Annihilation Of The Wicked

4.Gojira - The Way Of All Flesh

5.Autopsy - Severed Survival

      View entire list ››

These are albums that I'm currently enjoying. They may be classics that I'm revisiting or new gems I've recently discovered. (Ordered alphabetically)

- A star (⭐️) denotes a new discovery that I find exceptionally special!
- A flame (🔥) denotes an album that I've heard before, enjoyed, and am revisiting this month!

1.Aosoth - IV: An Arrow In Heart

2.Deathspell Omega - Paracletus

3.Giant Squid - The Ichthyologist

4.Gojira - The Way Of All Flesh

5.High On Fire - The Art Of Self Defense

      View entire list ››

1.Neurosis - Through Silver In Blood

2.Kylesa - Static Tensions

3.Dvne - Etemen Ænka

4.Neurosis - Times Of Grace

5.High On Fire - Death Is This Communion

      View entire list ››

Here is a revamped list of my favorite metal songs!
It was hard to limit it to 50 albums, and even harder to rank them, but I believe it’s a good insight into my current taste in metal!

The old version of my “300+ Greatest Metal Songs of All Time” is archived and can be found through this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a8UTyLlQ5ReSjfJM1ww70oCVHuvtZq_-rcVtIylP9sk/edit?usp=sharing

1.Kypck - Черно

2.Vektor - Terminal Redux

3.Nile - Annihilation Of The Wicked

4.Judas Priest - Defenders Of The Faith

5.Electric Wizard - Dopethrone

      View entire list ››

I always admired people who do really cool lists. But since I don't know anything, I can't really make a good one. So here's the babby-boy of lists, just to get my juices flowing.
Will be updated and expanded upon as I have time and see fit. The goal is to get my top 50 maybe, but there's a long road ahead of that.

1.Neurosis - Souls At Zero

2.A Forest Of Stars - Grave Mounds And Grave Mistakes

3.Neurosis - Times Of Grace

4.Terra Tenebrosa - The Tunnels

5.Amigo The Devil - Everything Is Fine

      View entire list ››

Back when I joined the site in 2011, I did a customary top 100 album list. Every year since then, when I've looked back at it it's become increasingly unrecognisable from my own tastes. Seeing bands I once listened to daily vanish from my playlists, new bands emerge as favourites, and bands even come and go in my reckonings during that time period (Iced Earth, Alcest, even Pain Of Salvation and more certainly peaked in my listening habits around 2011-12 to slowly vanish into obscurity). Now that it's just gone 5 years since I did that list, I thought I might do an updated list just to see how much my tastes have shifted. Whilst compiling the list, I pretty much worked on gut instinct, which was weird as I found myself almost disregarding albums I know I like whilst promoting albums I'm honestly undecided on - it almost seemed to veer away from album quality at times to embracing a subconscious effect the albums have had. Anyway, here it is, plus some honorable mentions that I was surprised missed out.

1.Dream Theater - Images And Words

2.Sylosis - Monolith

3.Sylosis - Edge Of The Earth

4.Agalloch - The Mantle

5.Protest The Hero - Kezia

      View entire list ››

This is my personal favourite top 50 albums of all time, this list can change because i can enter new things and my tastes may differ over time.

IS NOT UPDATED!

1.Cult Of Luna - Somewhere Along The Highway

2.Ulver - Perdition City

3.Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain

4.Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime

5.Bolt Thrower - Those Once Loyal

      View entire list ››

A list of albums considered by me to be totally worth checking out, even if you are not into whichever genre they belong to. No particular order, maybe except for the first three

1.Neurosis - Through Silver In Blood

2.Tool - Lateralus

3.Gorguts - Obscura

4.Neurosis - Souls At Zero

5.In The Woods... - Omnio

      View entire list ››

The choice of the albums was made according to aesthetic criteria, taking into account only the musical merits of the recordings. Neither the popularity among the fans nor the commercial success (or unsuccess) of the albums were taken into account in the selection.

1.Anacrusis - Screams And Whispers

2.Megadeth - Rust In Peace

3.Death - The Sound Of Perseverance

4.Pantera - Cowboys From Hell

5.Death - Symbolic

      View entire list ››