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.Atramentus - Stygian

2.Carnosus - Visions Of Infinihility

3.Giant Squid - Metridium Fields

4.Immortal - Sons Of Northern Darkness

5.Indian - The Unquiet Sky

      View entire list ››

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: May 3rd, 2024

1.Melvins - Gluey Porch Treatments

2.Soundgarden - Ultramega OK

3.Oxbow - Fuckfest

4.Melvins - Ozma

5.Soundgarden - Louder Than Love

      View entire list ››

One Decade Doom (2010/2019)

this is a free impression, but it comes from ten years breathing, walking, sleeping in Doom Land.

some bands released excellent works however i think they not reach the following main list...

40 Watt Sun, Ahab, Akelei, Amederia, Amily, Angellore, Arrant Saudade, As Autumn Calls, Aut Mori, Ava Inferi, Bell Witch, Candlemass, Catalepsia, Cathedral, Cebren-Khal, Collapse Of Light, Crimson Sky, Crimson Swan, Dark Embrace, Daylight Dies, Decemberance, Décembre Noir, Despondent Chants, Doomed, Dying Serenade, Ea, Embrace Of Silence, Endlesshade, Eternal Candle, Evadne, Exgenesis, Fading Bliss, Forest Of Shadows, Fvneral Fvkk, Fungoid Stream, Hamferð, Hanging Garden, HellLight, Hooded Menace, Il Vuoto, Illimitable Dolor, Imber Luminis, Inverloch, Isole, Ixion, Katatonia, Lethian Dreams, Loneshore, Loss, Luna, Mar De Grises, Mesmur, Messa, Mistralth, Mourning Lenore, Mourning Sun, My Dying Bride, Novembers Doom, Novembre, Nox Aurea, Oceanwake, October Tide, Officium Triste, Omit, On Thorns I Lay, Ophis, Ortega, Öxxö Xööx, Plateau Sigma, Process Of Guilt, Promethean Misery, Procession, Quercus, Ragayna, Red Moon Architect, Remembrance, Rise Of Avernus, Roaring Empyrean, Saturnus, Self-Hatred, Shape Of Despair, Skepticism, Soijl, Soliloquium, Solstorm, Sorrowful, Sorrowful Land, Suffering Dusks, Sunn O))), The 11th Hour, The Morningside, The Prophecy, The Sombre, Torpor, Torrens Conscientium, Twilight's Embrace, Tyranny, Unfaded Illusion, Uswa, Vanha, Varaha, Vin De Mia Trix, Völur, Vulturium Memoriae, Weight Of Emptiness, Within The Fall, Wine From Tears, Without Dreams, Woccon, Worm Ouroboros, Worship.

1.

2.

3.The Foreshadowing - Oionos

4.Shattered Hope - Absence

5.Helevorn - Forthcoming Displeasures

      View entire list ››

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

      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 ››

2008 might've been my first proper taste of metal, with the acquisition of albums from the likes of Metallica, Megadeth, Black Sabbath and that most grandiose of gateway bands, DragonForce. 2009 might've seen me expanding my palette, with Iron Maiden, Alice In Chains, Avenged Sevenfold, and more entering my world, and Guns N' Roses triumphantly re-entering it. But 2010 was when I delved into more 'intense' stuff with Machine Head, In Flames, and most notably of all, Sylosis, and saw my relationship with metal shift from ever-increasing interest into full-blown love affair. To commemorate this 5-year anniversary, and because I love making lists, I decided to do a retrospective of the best albums and songs that have been released during this time period, and give brief tributes to them. Yay music!

1.Sylosis - Edge Of The Earth

2.Sylosis - Monolith

3.Protest The Hero - Volition

4.Orphaned Land - The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR

5.Be'lakor - Of Breath And Bone

      View entire list ››

1.Haken - The Mountain

2.The Ocean - Pelagial

3.New Keepers Of The Water Towers - The Cosmic Child

4.Persefone - Spiritual Migration

5.Leprous - Coal

      View entire list ››

1.Haken - The Mountain

2.The Ocean - Pelagial

3.Witherscape - The Inheritance

4.Obscure Sphinx - Void Mother

5.Persefone - Spiritual Migration

      View entire list ››

1.Haken - The Mountain

2.The Ocean - Pelagial

3.Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories)

4.Deafheaven - Sunbather

5.Leprous - Coal

      View entire list ››

Because I can't stop listening to music, but neither can I sacrifice my lovely descriptions, so same fare as before, but deleted descriptions for those covered in the first list.

1.Protest The Hero - Volition

2.Persefone - Spiritual Migration

3.Amorphis - Circle

4.Nero Di Marte - Nero Di Marte

5.Monolithe - Monolithe IV

      View entire list ››

These are the albums I've enjoyed so far this year to which I've given an approximate rating and organised in a rough order of preference. As the year progresses I'll add some descriptions to them as well. EP's are also included.

Recent additions: Armory, Russian Circles, Ulver, Tad Morose, SubRosa, Almah, Blood Bright Star, Autumnblaze, Ayreon, Chthonic, Darkestrah, God Is An Astronaut, Képzelt Város, Lodz, Månegarm, Obscure Sphinx, Caligula's Horse, Sky Architect, Keldian, Monster Magnet

1.Vulture Industries - The Tower

2.The Moth Gatherer - A Bright Celestial Light

3.Walrus - Walrus

4.Clutch - Earth Rocker

5.Oranssi Pazuzu - Valonielu

      View entire list ››

My personal favourite Albums of 2013 so far. I'll try my best to keep this as updated as possible as the year goes on.

1.Tribulation - The Formulas Of Death

2.Carpe Noctem - In Terra Profugus

3.Bølzer - Aura (EP)

4.Eye Of Solitude - Canto III

5.Riverside - Shrine Of New Generation Slaves

      View entire list ››

Track of the year: Prayer for Ascetic Misery- Ævangelist
Runners-up: Dyodyo Asema- Gnaw Their Tongues & Alkerdeel / Hereditaria- Lords of Bukkake /In Silence - The Prophecy/ Overcome- Hacride/ Atlas Stone- Haken/ s1- Blindead
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Great Lists to check out: R'Vannith, MechanisT, musclassia, teaster, Alex Fenger, !J.O.O.E.!, Nefarious, coolingsrock, 3rdWorld, any list by mz, Moose, etc.

1.Ævangelist - Omen Ex Simulacra

2.Cult Of Occult - Hic Est Domus Diaboli

3.Lords of Bukkake - Desagravio

4.Eloa Vadaath - Dead End Proclama

5.Haken - The Mountain

      View entire list ››

1.Persefone - Spiritual Migration

2.Amorphis - Circle

3.Nero Di Marte - Nero Di Marte

4.Riverside - Shrine Of New Generation Slaves

5.The Ocean - Pelagial

      View entire list ››