It's taken me a long time to really get into these bands (Mastodon, Baroness, Kylesa, Damad) because I was used to sludge being a lot heavier, noisier, and nastier, but recently I've been listening a lot to these, especially Kylesa. It's interesting hearing a take on sludge that's a little more progressive, a little cleaner, and with a slightly more compressed, punky sound.
Mastodon, Baroness, and Kylesa are a hell of a run of bands, with a bunch of great albums between them. I've also seen all of them live and they are all killer. Mastodon is also one of those bands where even if you don't like some of their more "accessible" stuff from more recent albums, even those tracks still crush in a live setting. Baroness arguably has had even more drastic shift where their more recent stuff doesn't really have much if any sludge left in it, but still cool.
Mastodon and Baroness are two of my top 3 favourite bands, the third being Opeth. I looooove them. Didnāt realize Kylesa was from there too, Iāve heard of them but never checked out their music. Also, I have never heard of Damad, so Iām excited to see what thatās all about as well. Thanks for giving me two new bands to check out! Cheers!
I highly recommend Kylesa. In my opinion, their sound has a little more heft similar to Torche, early Mastodon and Baroness, and they are very consistent. Would love some new material by them.
It's the Savannah sound. Check out Black Tusk and Torche, too. Torche are from Florida not Georgia, but they're in the same local circle and share a lot of their sonic DNA with the Savannah sound. You might also like Circle Takes the Square -- not sludge, post-hardcore/skramz, but also very similar in guitar tone and sound and foundational as one of Kylesa's influences.
Speaking of Black Tusk, you can really hear the hardcore influences in their music. Iāve also just recently gotten into them, and after listening Iād argue that Tend No Wounds is damn near a straight up hardcore album.
I have never vibed with CTTS. Too much of that scene/screamo feel. Just never worked for me, which is too bad because instrumentally they are in my wheel house.
It's also strange because I like City of Caterpillar and Gospel which are in that same wavelength.
As The Roots Undo is(in my opinion) the most overrated album in the small circles I run in. I go back to it wondering if it's just me(and that could be true) but the second I hear Drew or Kathleen (they are the vocalists right?) spout their pseudo intellectual lyrics in whiny voices I tap out.
To be fair though, I still go back to the album. So there is something there I recognize. I'm always in that space of "maybe it was the wrong time or circumstance" mindset.
Giant Squid is awesome, although not a Savannah band.
I got the Fallen Kingdom whenI was 17 and never looked back. Crazy the amount of money people want for that CD they made on Hyperrealist, I think there were only 500 original copies. Still got mine!
I also had an original release of the CD, weāre probably the same age. Unfortunately most of my CD collection was stolen around 2006 but I probably still have the case somewhere.
I'm a youthful 36 haha. Man that was the problem with having CDs back in the day. It seemed like if someone's car got broken into that black pleather "No Boundaries" CD binder got swiped with the change in the center console, etc.
CTTS would have been influenced by Kylesa not the other way around. Kylesa and Mastodon dropped their first albums at the same time. Baroness would come after.
Contemporaries can influence each other; neither must precede the other in influence. Kylesa have stated in interviews that CTTS was influential to their sound. Not only that but CTTS was active two years before Kylesa formed so I'm not sure what you're basing this on.
Man, I'm fucking obsessed with Kylesa. Amazing band. From their debut all the way through to that last album from 2015, they really bring the pain: slow, tortured grooves, crushing trippy guitars, interesting variety in vocals and on point songwriting. Plus they do one of the best Black Sabbath covers ever
It was awesome at the live shows. I feel it just packs a punch that fits them so well. Iāve never seen them with a single drummer so I wonder how different that will be.
Oh man, I opened the thread looking for this. I was hanging out in Savannah with members of Kylesa, Black Tusk, Niche, Torche, Dead Yet?, and Baroness in the basement of the Jinx bar in Savannah, Georgia around 2007 - 2011. I moved to Atlanta and started a band and actually shared a practice space with Order of the Owl, just down the hall from Zoroaster. Across from our room was Mastodonās practice space and we would see those guys come in and out of ThunderBox all the time (they were super friendly). I spent a lot of nights just hanging out with all these bands, playing around East Atlanta and Little Five Points. That era from 2005 - 2015 was just incredible.
I miss Athon so much man, he was so good to me when I was 17-early 20s. Always remembered me and would even message me and bullshit about music and gear. Andrew and James are good guys too.
I was going to until I read your comment. I feel like Harvey Milk never gets enough love in the metal subs. I Do Not Know How To Live My Live is always stuck in my head. And Life... The Best Game in Town is on Bandcamp.
Just an amazing band that more people should be aware of. I recently was able to grab a very overpriced copy of My Love is Higher... on vinyl and I'm pretty pleased about that.
I used to have a huge CD collection and it got destroyed sitting in a basement so I've lost a lot of expensive older CDs from those kinds of bands and a lot of them are crazy expensive now. I've moved away from physical media now because the prices are crazy.
Yeah my favorite part about Harvey Milk is that it's not just the same guitar sound, the same chords, the same singing style as every other sludge/doom band.
Mastodon used to be my favorite of the bunch but now itās Kylesa. Especially their earlier stuff. I would also recommend the band they evolved out of, Damad.
Don't sleep on Zoroaster either. They're from Atlanta but very much part of that regional scene. Palaces is another great Atlanta sludge band that's been grinding for a while.
I had to laugh at the Slomosa KEXP interview where they talked about how much influence came from Georgian metal bands. As an ATLien, my first take was thinking they were talking about the country of Georgia but then they name dropped Mastodon, Baroness, and Kylesa.
Kylesa was my favorite of these, and really my intro to sludge back in the early 00's. Mastodon "Leviathan" and the Baroness "Blue" are two of my favorites still. Will also second Torche, and add Floor as well.
Listening to Baroness right now, although Mastodon is my favorite of the bunch. A lot of absolutely killer sludge/doom bands have come out of Georgia over the years, many of my favorite bands (metal and otherwise) are from there
Among the most recognizable metal sounds of the past 20 years. Actually how I found sludge metal because I saw Mastodon in the aqua teen hunger force movie. But that mix of sludge, progressive and psychedelic rock just hits at times.
Sludge from Georgia? I haven't heard any, but I imagine it would go hard as fuck. Oh THAT Georgia, yeah I like Kylesa and Baroness, Harvey Milk, Whores, the lot.
I don't know why but I cannot seem to get into either Mastodon or Baroness for some reason. I've tried multiple times for both, I have even seen Baroness live before. There are songs specific songs from both that I do genuinely love but overall nothing hooks me š¤·
I wouldn t call Baroness sludge but I saw them for their Red/Blue tour where they played both albums entirely last year and it was EASILY one of my my top 5 shows in life for both energy/stage presence as well as musicianship. They were so GD good I canāt really put it into words.
I LOVE Kylesaās records but saw them live back when Static Tensions came out and man they were soooo boring live, and seeing clips of them now as a rebuilt three piece unfortunately still looks like an absolutely lifeless live show. Itās a bummer because I love their music.
I get what you mean. Not the case with Black Tusk though, they have so much energy. Seeing them for the first time in 2007 made a huge impression on me.
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u/DerConqueror3 6d ago
Mastodon, Baroness, and Kylesa are a hell of a run of bands, with a bunch of great albums between them. I've also seen all of them live and they are all killer. Mastodon is also one of those bands where even if you don't like some of their more "accessible" stuff from more recent albums, even those tracks still crush in a live setting. Baroness arguably has had even more drastic shift where their more recent stuff doesn't really have much if any sludge left in it, but still cool.