Stoner Rock

During the '80s, while the Metal bandwagon strained to reach the higher velocities achieved by Thrash and Grindcore, a small faction led by Saint Vitus and Trouble splintered off from the pack to explore the swampy, pot-marked side roads. Travelling at lumbering, overloaded tempos through the sludgy nether-regions formerly explored by Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, Stoner Rock reveled in abysmal quicksands of feedback and blue-in-the-face wailing. Kyuss, Sleep, and Monster Magnet sounded like they wrote and played songs entirely on the nod. By slow-dancing on the pedal effects, they were able to unveil thick, sticky taffy sheets of distortion that blanketed compositions in a rippling fuzz. Stoner Rock extremists like EYEHATEGOD and Cavity took the pursuit of sludgy sonic mayhem even further. Their lyrical preoccupation with self-hate and utter prostration before monoliths of guitar noise transformed "fear and loathing" from a clever turn of phrase into an ethos.