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

      View entire list ››

1.Three Days Grace - One-X

2.Celtic Frost - Monotheist

3.Darkthrone - A Blaze In The Northern Sky

4.Morbid Angel - Altars Of Madness

5.Suicide Silence - The Cleansing

      View entire list ››

My glorious ranking of the year of our Lord 2017

Top 50 rated 8 and above

Album count: 132
Average rating: 7.1

1.Enslaved - E

2.Mors Principium Est - Embers Of A Dying World

3.Pallbearer - Heartless

4.Myrkur - Mareridt

5.Ulver - The Assassination Of Julius Caesar

      View entire list ››

I started listening to metal music when I was a teenager, somewhere around the end of the 90's. After all these years, I thought it was high time to compose my personal top list of metal albums. What you see here is the absolute best of the best ... according to my taste.

To compile this list I have put all albums that I have given a 10/10 here on MS. Then I have put all these albums in a Ranking Engine (https://www.pubmeeple.com/ranking-engine) where they were put head to head and I had to choose which I liked more. The list below is what came out of this exercise.

1.Opeth - Deliverance

2.Opeth - Blackwater Park

3.Edge Of Sanity - Crimson

4.Edge Of Sanity - Purgatory Afterglow

5.Cobalt - Eater Of Birds

      View entire list ››

Input:
10 years
20 decade lists
749 bands
973 albums

Output:
200 top albums from 2010-2019


FAQ

How are the points calculated?
Simple math.

Ranked top lists:
1st place = 150 pts.
2nd place = 149 pts.
...
100th place = 51 pts.
...
150th place = 1 pt.

Alphabetically sorted lists:
Each place = 100 pts.

Why just a Top 200?
Because 200 list entries are more than enough.

Is it by pure coincidence that the first four positions are occupied by bands with the initial letter "E"?
Yes.

Will your list be updated on a regular basis?
No.

Why is my favorite power metal abum not featured?
I don't know. Let's ask the list owners:

AgentOrange94 - Top 10 Albums Of The 10's
andreosokin - Top 25 Albums Of 2010s
ChapuLviz - Top 100 Grind List (2010-2019)
Chobo_jokeR - JokeR's Top Hunnid From 2010 - 2019
Desha - Me(tal) In The 2010s
Draugen - Top 100 of the 2010s
embracing - My Completely Subjective Top 10 Of The 2010-2019 Decade
Enemy of Reality (RIP) - 100 Album Guide To The Decade 2010-19
FullyOttoMatic - 50 Favorite Metal (And Metal-Adjacent) Albums Of The 2010's
Iron Men - A Decade Of Aggression
Kuroboshi - Top 100 Albums Of 2010-2019
Maco - 2010-2019 Top 100
musclassia - 150 Albums To Become An Adult To: 2010-2019
mz - Best Of 2010-2020 By Mz
Neachy - Neachy's Select: Top 100 Albums Of The 10s
nikarg - Old Nick's Top-101 Of The '10s
nonZero - My Top 50 Albums of the 2010s (deleted)
RaduP - You Know It's Technically 2011-2020, Right?
VIG (RIP) - VIG's Top 100 Of The 2010s
Zap - I Too Listened To Some Metal In The 2010's

1.Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini

2.Esoteric - Paragon Of Dissonance

3.Emptiness - Nothing But The Whole

4.Esoteric - A Pyrrhic Existence

5.Tribulation - The Formulas Of Death

      View entire list ››

- From my collection & wishlist (last update)

- One album per band

- Bands & Albums I consider have a strong Doom flavour

- Ranked from best to worst imo

- Everything I know of is there

Let's the Doom begins

1.Candlemass - Epicus Doomicus Metallicus

2.Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

3.Empyrium - Songs Of Moors And Misty Fields

4.My Dying Bride - The Angel And The Dark River

5.Shape Of Despair - Monotony Fields

      View entire list ››

Descriptions will probably be added/edited a few times as I always write this stuff pretty quickly and sometimes can't find the right words to describe somehting so abstract as music. A lot of my taste just boils down to "sounds interesting" or "catchy". So yeah. Most of this will have overlaps with other lists I made because I have very narrow taste.

1.Gnaw Their Tongues - L'Arrivée De La Terne Mort Triomphante

2.

3.Murmuüre - Murmuüre

4.

5.The Meads Of Asphodel - The Murder Of Jesus The Jew

      View entire list ››

To explain the title, there is no year 0, regardless of what Ghost may tell you. Thus, the first decade was years 1-10, instead of 0-9. So then it would be 11-20, and so on. But I know that would imply that Paranoid is a 60s album, which we cannot have.

So now that all the cool kids are doing it, here is my top 100 albums of the "decade", most of it might be a bit too mainsteam, most of it you'll find on others' lists, and so on. Restricted to one album per artist/band (including collabs), ordered alphabetically.

1.Abyssal - Antikatastaseis

2.Agalloch - The Serpent & The Sphere

3.Akhlys - The Dreaming I

4.Alcest - Écailles De Lune

5.Altar Of Plagues - Teethed Glory & Injury

      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 ››

1.Converge - The Dusk In Us

2.Sólstafir - Berdreyminn

3.Pharmakon - Contact

4.Oktoplut - Le démon normal

5.Artificial Brain - Infrared Horizon

      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 ››

A list of the albums I listened to that came out in 2017.

Two rules were followed for the selection and ranking of these albums:
1. I listened to these albums at least 2 times in order to give them a fair chance.
2. When it's a tie between certain albums, I usually pick the one I listened to the most during the year.

1.Eruption - Cloaks Of Oblivion

2.Sorcerer - The Crowning Of The Fire King

3.Ascendant - A Thousand Echoes

4.Enrichment - Reanimate

5.Night - Raft Of The World

      View entire list ››

1.Ne Obliviscaris - Urn

2.Kreator - Gods Of Violence

3.Voyager - Ghost Mile

4.Kardashev - The Almanac

5.Pain Of Salvation - In The Passing Light Of Day

      View entire list ››

Still not full complete list. Some new ones will be added, and others changing spots. It's just there as of now to keep track.
Been many goodies this year at least for me and i might still be caught surprised.

1.Sunless - Urraca

2.Rebirth Of Nefast - Tabernaculum

3.Artificial Brain - Infrared Horizon

4.Tchornobog - Tchornobog

5.Dodecahedron - Kwintessens

      View entire list ››

1.Akercocke - Renaissance In Extremis

2.Leprous - Malina

3.Decapitated - Anticult

4.Archspire - Relentless Mutation

5.Wolves In The Throne Room - Thrice Woven

      View entire list ››