#90s sludge

IN FOUR WORDS: "HATRED. FOR. THE. SPECIES."

PICS INFO: Mega spotlight on assorted shots of American/Bay Area-based sludge/DOOM metal band, NOOTHGRUSH, performing live at the famed 924 Gilman venue in Berkeley, CA, c. late '90s 📸: Danielle Graham.

LIVE IN NAWLINS -- A BOOZY, GOOD TIME WAS MORE THAN LIKELY HAD BY ALL.

PIC(S) INFO: Mega spotlight on a photo-dump of American sludge metal band BUZZOV*EN, performing live at an unnamed dive bar in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, c. late 1990s, during the band's "At a Loss" era (with Dave "Dixie" Collins on bass guitar/whiskey breath vokills).

BECAUSE JEFF HAYWARD WAS NEVER TOO FAR AWAY FROM A MARVEL COMICS TEE -- HEAVY SHIT.

PIC(S) INFO: For your "Wolverine Wednesday" -- Spotlight on a live shot of American sludge/DOOM metal band GRIEF, from the band's "Come to Grief" era, c. 1994, plus a promotional shot of the group from the same time period. Note the old-school Wolverine tee à la vocalist Jeff Hayward in the first photo -- "SNIKT!"

TRANSMISSIONS FROM THE SLUDGE/DOOM VINYL UNDERGROUND -- TUNE LOW, PLAY SLOW.

A.) DYSTOPIA – "Diary of a Battered Child"

B.) NOOTHGRUSH – "Procreation of the Wicked" (CELTIC FROST cover)

C.). BONGZILLA – "Gestation"

D.) CORRUPTED – "Nieve"

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on the four sides of the "Twin Threat to Your Sanity" 7 inch EP, featuring crucial '90s underground acts such as: DYSTOPIA, NOOTHGRUSH, BONGZILLA, & CORRUPTED, released on Bad People Records, Riotous Assembly, and Selfish Fucker Records in 2001.

DRUM SET VAPORIZER, PULVERIZER, TERRORIZER, ATOMIZER -- DINO!!

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on a mega photo-dump of the mighty Dino Sommese, dishing out shrieks and beats during his time with American sludge crust/sludge punk/crust punk band DYSTOPIA, performing live at 924 Gilman, Berkeley, CA, c. 1998. 📸: Jerry Guzman.

"Blending images of societal decay, inner turmoil and humanity's destruction of the planet to create a style that goes hand in hand with the music."

-- TANKCRIMES (record label) on the music of DYSTOPIA

TAKE A TAB OF THIS STUFF FOR ALL YOUR HEAVY MUSIC NEEDS -- CLASS OF '98.

PIC INFO: Spotlight on cover art to stoner/DOOM/ psychedelic/sludge metal magazine/fanzine?, "Bad Acid" tab #2 (published September 1998), zine founded by David Gedge, Poole, UK. Cover Art by Arik Roper.

MY SPIRIT ANIMALS WHEN I'M HAVING "ONE OF THOSE DAYS."

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on members of "Dismal"-era GRIEF -- Boston sludge/DOOM metal band, c. 1992-'93.

These shots are damn near impossible to find on the interweb, so, I figured the next best thing was to snap the pictures from the CD booklet itself, from my Fuck Yoga Records/Hellmilitia reissue of "Dismal" on CD, and which you should totally already own if you like slooow, heavy, fucked up sounds with a slight hardcore punk influence in Jeff Hayward's vocal delivery.

Tune Down, Stay Down, DOOM On!!

"...WE WROTE THESE SONGS TO EXPRESS WHAT OTHER PEOPLE MIGHT FEEL THAT ARE IN THOSE SITUATIONS."

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on a Decibel Magazine "Making of" featuring the seminal "Come to Grief," sophomore studio effort by Boston sludge/DOOM metal band GRIEF.

DECIBEL: "There’s so much agony and depression on the album. What was going on in your lives to make you so miserable?"

HAYWARD: "[laughs] I mean, honestly, at the time, I wasn’t all that miserable of a person. I was young; 22 years old, I was the youngest of the crew. I was never a depressed or really miserable person. You know, when you’re young, you’re kinda angry about shit. But I dunno, I loved SAINT VITUS, I always thought that was our biggest influence, that slow, kinda caveman approach to writing slow songs. We just took it and added an angry edge to it. Maybe part of it comes from playing in DISRUPT prior to that, which was all about aggression and it was just brutal, so we just took that mentally and slowed it way, way down. But depression and misery, that was never really me. I’m a pretty happy-go-lucky guy in general."