Sludge metal

Sludge metal (sometimes referred to simply as "sludge") is an extreme genre of music that melds elements of doom metal and hardcore punk, and sometimes Southern rock. Sludge metal is typically harsh and abrasive, often featuring shouted or screamed vocals, heavily distorted instruments and sharply contrasting tempos. While the style was anticipated by the Melvins from Washington, many of its earliest pioneers were from the city of New Orleans.

Characteristics

Sludge metal generally combines the slow tempos, heavy rhythms and dark, pessimistic atmosphere of doom metal with the aggression, shouted vocals and occasional fast tempos of hardcore punk. As The New York Times put it, "The shorthand term for the kind of rock descending from early Black Sabbath and late Black Flag is sludge, because it's so slow and dense." Many sludge bands compose slow-paced songs that contain brief hardcore passages (for example, Eyehategod's "Depress" and "My Name Is God"). Mike Williams, a founder of the sludge style and member of Eyehategod, suggests that "the moniker of sludge apparently has to do with the slowness, the dirtiness, the filth and general feel of decadence the tunes convey". However, some bands emphasize fast tempos throughout their music. The string instruments (electric guitar and bass guitar) are down-tuned and heavily distorted and are often played with large amounts of feedback to produce a thick yet abrasive sound. Additionally, guitar solos are often absent. Drumming is often performed in typical doom metal fashion. Drummers may employ hardcore d-beat or double-kick drumming during faster passages, or through the thick breakdowns (which are characteristic of the sludge sound). Vocals are usually shouted or screamed, and lyrics are generally pessimistic in nature. Suffering, drug abuse, politics and anger towards society are common lyrical themes.

Sludge (film)

Sludge is a 2005 documentary film by Appalshop filmmaker Robert Salyer chronicling the Martin County Sludge Spill that was an accident that occurred after midnight on October 11, 2000 when a coal sludge impoundment in Martin County, Kentucky, broke through an underground mine below, propelling 306 million gallons of sludge down two tributaries of the Tug Fork River. The movie documents the continuing story of the Martin County disaster, the resulting federal investigation, and the looming threat of coal sludge ponds throughout the coalfield region.

In the United States today, coal is the largest single source of fuel for energy production. Annually, the country mines over a billion tons of coal. Coal waste is a consequence of this consumption; the Mine Safety and Health Administration has estimated that there are over 235 sludge ponds throughout the region with the potential to break into an underground mine, as the Martin County pond did in 2000.

In the wake of the December 2008 release of coal ash at a Tennessee Valley Authority power plant, Appalshop provided a web stream of Sludge for the public for a limited time.

Sludge (disambiguation)

Sludge may refer to:

See also

Lava

Lava is the molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption. The resulting rock after solidification and cooling is also called lava. The molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. The source of the heat that melts the rock within the earth is geothermal energy. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at temperatures from 700 to 1,200 °C (1,292 to 2,192 °F).

A lava flow is a moving outpouring of lava, which is created during a non-explosive effusive eruption. When it has stopped moving, lava solidifies to form igneous rock. The term lava flow is commonly shortened to lava. Although lava can be up to 100,000 times more viscous than water, lava can flow great distances before cooling and solidifying because of its thixotropic and shear thinning properties.

Explosive eruptions produce a mixture of volcanic ash and other fragments called tephra, rather than lava flows. The word "lava" comes from Italian, and is probably derived from the Latin word labes which means a fall or slide. The first use in connection with extruded magma (molten rock below the Earth's surface) was apparently in a short account written by Francesco Serao on the eruption of Vesuvius between May 14 and June 4, 1737. Serao described "a flow of fiery lava" as an analogy to the flow of water and mud down the flanks of the volcano following heavy rain.

Lava (2001 film)

Lava is a 2001 British black comedy directed by Joe Tucker.

The film competed at the Alexandria International Film Festival, Filmfest Oldenburg, Austin Film Festival and Rome Independent Film Festival in 2000.

References

External links

Greatest Hits TV

Greatest Hits TV was a British satellite TV music channel owned by UltimateHits Limited. The channel is ultimately owned by All Around the World Productions, a British record label who also operate Channel AKA, Clubland TV and Planet Pop.

The channel launched on 29 March 2010 on Sky channel 378 as Lava. Lava specialised in the Indie and rock music genres. Lava's remit was to provide a platform for young rock, pop punk and indie musicians, and features young unsigned music acts from around the United Kingdom. Lava was a sister channel of Channel AKA, which was also owned by Mushroom TV, and replaced Rockworld TV which operated on Sky Channel 378 and closed at 7.00am on 29 March 2010. Both the Lava and Channel AKA formats allowed viewers to decide on the station's playlist through the use of a voting system which enables viewers to watch the videos they want to see.

On 26 April 2011, Lava was rebranded as Greatest Hits TV at 23.45pm. Lava continued on Greatest Hits TV as overnight programming block, called Lava Showcase, between 3.00am and 8.00am, until the autumn 2012 widescreen relaunch of GHTV.