Filipino sludge metal

THING
Oct 29, 2018
2 min read

The term ‘Sludge Metal’ began in the late 1980s to describe bands which had down-tuned guitars with thick and oppressive sounds that evoked muddy, greasy, foul and yeah, sludgy imagery.

It is a virulent concoction of Doom Metal (which began with the thicker and heavier side of Black Sabbath) and Hardcore Punk with Industrial Music and Noise Rock further thrown into the mixture. The most significant influencer was the Melvins with their albums Six Songs (1986) and Gluey Porch Treatments (1987) being regarded as the first sludge records.

The metal scene took these influences and bands like Eyehategod, Acid Bath, Godflesh, Neurosis, Down, and Crowbar emerged with their own variations of the sound which further developed into sub-genres now called Stoner, Southern and Atmospheric Sludge (falsely regarded as Post-metal by some, which is not a real genre).

The Philippines took its cue and now has their own Sludge Metal bands in the local underground metal subculture/community.

Today I will be featuring some of these hardworking bands. Be sure to support them by going to gigs their whenever you can! (If you can stomach it)

Death After Birth

Death After Birth have been around since the 1990s and are arguably the first Sludge / Doom Metal band in the Philippines. I had a copy of this tape which is "...Sa Kabilang Anyo ng Buhay: A Death Metal Collection" from 1994 but have since lost it. Good thing there are still copies up Youtube.

Eyes of Fire

This is my friend's band and they've been a heavy force in the local doom / stoner / sludge scene. I have their album Paper Pipe released on cassette.