I have always thought that it seems odd that there is a "southern belles and beaus" image from a region whose oppressively hot and biting-bug filled summers certainly do not seem to be condusive to good moods. However, the mere existence of southern sludge metal compensates for this fact. Eyehategod even has an album called "Southern Discomfort." When listening to truly good southern sludge, you can almost feel the buggy humidity in the air. From living in the south, I can tell you that the closest thing to Georgia heat besides actually being there is a scalding sludge riff.
An especially active area in the south for sludge is New Orleans. There are countess bands in the "NOLA metal scene," many of them sharing members. An especially active participant has been Phil Anselmo, former singer for Pantera. Even before Pantera broke up, he had joined the sludge metal supergroup Down, featuring members from the bands Crowbar, Eyehategod, (both from New Orleans) and Corrosion of Conformity. Since then, Down has released 3 albums and an EP, and Phil Anselmo has joined many other sludge bands including Superjoint Ritual, Philip H. Anselmo and the Illegals, and Arson Anthem. Another huge contributor to this scene is the aforementioned band Eyehategod. The members from this band have been in a huge number of other groups, which has caused the NOLA metal scene to grow immensely. They have also released eight albums, all of which are colossal monoliths of brain-melting sound and force.
This was an extremely brief overview of a huge music scene which has influenced all of metal. Below is a list of three introductory albums to the southern sludge metal scene:
"Nola" by Down
"Dopesick" by Eyehategod
"Crowbar" by Crowbar
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