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 16th, 2024

1.Melvins - Gluey Porch Treatments

2.Soundgarden - Ultramega OK

3.Oxbow - Fuckfest

4.Melvins - Ozma

5.Soundgarden - Louder Than Love

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TOP 50 of 2014.

The great return of Empyrium!

Album rate 8 & above

Album count: 144
Average rating: 7.04

1.Empyrium - The Turn Of The Tides

2.Mors Principium Est - Dawn Of The 5th Era

3.Fen - Carrion Skies

4.Anathema - Distant Satellites

5.Moanaa - Descent

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1.Mastodon - Crack The Skye

2.Mastodon - Leviathan

3.Mastodon - Blood Mountain

4.Mastodon - The Hunter

5.Mastodon - Remission

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Mind map:

Blue = win
Undead = win
Hell = win
Blue = win
Nature ft. Water = win
Color eyegasm = win
Grim reaper = win
Boys being boys = win
Badly done CGI = win
Blue = win
Blue = win
Orthodox stuff = win
Black and white = win, sometimes

Last updated on 29 July 2023.

1.Emperor - Reverence

2.Wintersun - Wintersun

3.The Ruins Of Beverast - Rain Upon The Impure

4.Dissection - Live Legacy

5.Ozzy Osbourne - Diary Of A Madman

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A collection of totally family-friendly jams fitting the spooky season. One song per band!

1.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

2.Slayer - South Of Heaven

3.Morbid Angel - Altars Of Madness

4.Metallica - Ride The Lightning

5.King Diamond - Abigail

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My personal hard rock/heavy metal album of the year that I own.
Truthfully, for several years, I just gave up trying to figure out what was in 2nd place (and sometimes, even in 1st).
Some years have so many options....

1.Black Sabbath - Paranoid

2.Black Sabbath - Master Of Reality

3.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath Vol. 4

4.Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

5.Blue Öyster Cult - Secret Treaties

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1.Alice In Chains - The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here

2.Audrey Horne - Audrey Horne

3.Avenged Sevenfold - Nightmare

4.Baroness - Yellow & Green

5.Bring Me The Horizon - Amo

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I began this decade in my final year of high school, in the early phases of my metal journey (Mastodon, Machine Head, Dream Theater, Pantera and Avenged Sevenfold were still recent discoveries). One Masters degree and one PhD later, I'm now a tax-paying Londonian, and have ploughed through what must be comfortably over 2000 new releases during the previous ten years. To commemorate the end of a turbulent decade, I've put together a list of the albums that have stuck with me throughout this decade - I wouldn't consider this to be a 'best albums' list, as there have been some truly ingenious works released in more avant-garde territories, but ultimately these are the albums that have ended up dominating my listening habits, or otherwise making a sufficient impression to make this list.

1.Sylosis - Monolith

2.Sylosis - Edge Of The Earth

3.Amorphis - Under The Red Cloud

4.Be'lakor - Of Breath And Bone

5.Cult Of Luna - Vertikal

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1.Behemoth - The Satanist

2.Rhapsody Of Fire - From Chaos To Eternity

3.Mors Principium Est - Dawn Of The 5th Era

4.Insomnium - Shadows Of The Dying Sun

5.Wintersun - Time I

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Music is not taken into account here.
Enjoy!

1.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

2.Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine

3.Korn - Korn

4.Tool - Lateralus

5.Mägo De Oz - Gaia II - La Voz Dormida

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The things I liked in 2014

1.Disforia - The Age Of Ether

2.Accept - Blind Rage

3.Arion - Last Of Us

4.Exodus - Blood In, Blood Out

5.Machine Head - Bloodstone & Diamonds

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My personal favorite studio albums of 2014

1.Ghost Brigade - IV - One With The Storm

2.Epica - The Quantum Enigma

3.Primordial - Where Greater Men Have Fallen

4.Sólstafir - Ótta

5.Shylmagoghnar - Emergence

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1.Soen - Tellurian

2.Opeth - Pale Communion

3.Rishloo - Living As Ghosts With Buildings As Teeth

4.Mastodon - Once More 'Round The Sun

5.Behemoth - The Satanist

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Progressive metal has some of the most creative musicians in metal, but the tendency for progressive bands to make extremely long, technical songs with no sense of structure can be turnoff to some people, and often these bands take themselves too seriously, making them unenjoyable for people who like their metal to have some good rock n' roll fun. These bands frequently avoid such prog cliches, they are completely capable of writing a pop song without sacrificing complexity if they choose to, and weave a range of influences in creative and even fun ways.

1.Devin Townsend - Accelerated Evolution

2.Porcupine Tree - In Absentia

3.Toehider - What Kind Of Creature Am I?

4.Coheed and Cambria - Volume 4

5.Mastodon - Once More 'Round The Sun

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1.The Black Keys - Turn Blue

2.Opeth - Pale Communion

3.Lunatic Soul - Walking On A Flashlight Beam

4.U2 - Songs Of Innocence

5.Wolves Like Us - Black Soul Choir

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