grindcore
Grindcore is an extreme metal, extreme fusion genre of heavy metal music, heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, e ...
/
sludge metal
Sludge metal (also known as sludge doom or simply sludge) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that combines elements of doom metal and hardcore punk. The genre generally includes slow tempos, down-tuned guitars and nihilis ...
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
.
History
Soilent Green was founded in 1988, but their debut album was not released until 1995, when '' Pussysoul'' came out via Dwell Records. The following four albums were released by
Relapse Records
Relapse Records is an American independent record label based in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990. The label features many grindcore, death metal, metalcore and sludge metal artists.
History
The ...
Inevitable Collapse in the Presence of Conviction
''Inevitable Collapse in the Presence of Conviction'' is the fifth studio album by American extreme metal
Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the earl ...
''.
On April 26, 2004, bassist Scott Williams was killed in a
murder–suicide
A murder–suicide is an act where an individual intentionally kills one or more people before killing themselves. The combination of murder and suicide can take various forms:
* Suicide after or during murder inflicted on others
** Suicide af ...
by his partner. In September 2005, former singer Glenn Rambo was killed in
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...
.
Musical style
Soilent Green's musical style is characterized as a mixture of
grindcore
Grindcore is an extreme metal, extreme fusion genre of heavy metal music, heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, e ...
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
-heavy
southern rock
Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country and blues, and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals.
History 1950s and 1960s: origin ...
. '' Rock Hard'' initially saw the band as an intersection of
Eyehategod
Eyehategod (also abbreviated and referred to as EHG) is an American sludge metal band from New Orleans, Louisiana, who formed in 1988. They have become one of the better known bands to emerge from the NOLA metal scene. Their core lineup has r ...
Anal Cunt
Anal Cunt, also called AxCx and A.C., was an American grindcore band that formed in Newton, Massachusetts, in 1988. From its inception, the band underwent a number of line-up changes and never had a bassist. The band, known for its flippant and ...
with occasional borrowings from
death metal
Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...
, but on the next album the group's sound focussed on grindcore, which the band combined with influences from sludge and technical death metal, and coined the term "sludgegrind" for Soilent Green's 2008 album. Michael Edele of
laut.de
''laut.de'' is a German online magazine covering music and entertainment. It was founded in Konstanz in 1996 by Rainer Henzehardcore, sludge, grindcore and southern rock".
The band's 1990s and early-2000s albums are regarded as trendsetting for the grindcore genre; a ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' article listed Soilent Green as one of the "ten most important hard and heavy bands" of the hour in the late 1990s.
In popular culture
In 2009, Soilent Green was featured on the first episode of season four on the
Adult Swim
Adult Swim (stylized as dult swimand s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...
show '' Squidbillies'', entitled "Lerm". They performed the main title theme in a cowpunk/sludge style.