Louisiana gets all the glory when it comes to sludge metal. And, for good reason. Some of the genre's greatest bands hail from the swamps of the pelican state: Crowbar, Eyehategod, Acid Bath, Down, Soilent Green, and Thou, to name a few.

But we have our own swamps in North Carolina. And they're quite dismal.

It's in North Carolina's red clay and brackish waterways that heavy icons like Corrosion of Conformity, Buzzov•en, Sourvein, and Weedeater were spawned. 

This list features some classic sludge bands, some lost-to-time sludge bands, and some up-and-coming sludge bands that all play it slow and lumbering, like they've got tar on their heels. These are the bands that make us proud to be a part of Old North State's sludge metal scene.