Album Review: Sludgefest
Written by Grady Fiorio Original Publishing Date: March 27th, 2025 Vol 1 Rating: 4/5 Vol 2 Rating: 2.5/5
Embrace the sludge. Live forever.
Sludgefest Vol. 1
Artist chipmunkson16speed Genre Sludge Metal Label N/A Production Brian Borcherdt Release Date 2015
Doom metal, opiates, and Alvin and The Chipmunks. This is going to be a doozy. Yes, ladies and gents, today I’m covering Sludgefest Vol 1 & 2 by chipmunkson16speed. Now as I’m sure for many of you reading, those last two sentences read like gibberish from a schizophrenic man chanting biblical doomsday verses on the street. But fear not. The end is not near! There is no apocalypse! We just have music to simulate it. As you may have guessed this one is going to need some context, and context you will get. (Any underlined words are clickable links to referenced material.)
The year is 1958, and singer/songwriter Ross Bagdasarian experiments with a tape recorder, discovering the secret to making a hit novelty record. When singing slowly, he can record a song at half speed, then when played normally, it will pitch his voice up an octave, making it sound squeaky… like a chipmunk. Bagdasarian takes this idea and turns it into the hit novelty band Alvin and the Chipmunks. With their first official record “The Chipmunk Song”, shooting into the stratosphere with 12 million record sales, Bagdasarian had a certified hit on his hands and would work with Liberty Records to turn Alvin and the Chipmunks into a household brand, with movies, shows, toys, and more. After Bagdasarian’s passing in 1972, his son Ross Bagdasarian Jr. would take over for his father and lead the brand going forward. In 1980, radio station KMET would play Blondie’s song “Call Me” at 45 RPM instead of the standard 33 1⁄3, with DJ Chuck Taylor joking that it was the newest song from the Chipmunks. This became an unexpected hit at the station, leading Bagdasarian Jr. to rush to record a new album, that would take modern rock and pop songs, and turn them into Chipmunk-style covers. This led to the creation of the Chipmunk’s 1980 album Chipmunk Punk, becoming one of their best-selling albums, going gold on the Billboard Top 100.
Time jump once again to 1990. In the Houston, Texas hip-hop scene was the up-and-coming DJ Screw. Screw was famous for creating the chopped n’ screwed subgenre of hip-hop, where songs would be remixed by slowing the tempo of a turntable to warp the sound of a song, skip the beat, or repeat parts of a song over again. It created a wholly unique sound in hip-hop, meant to emulate the feeling of being high on lean, a mix of opioid cough syrup and Sprite. Unfortunately, Screw’s drug addiction caught up with him when he was found dead in his home recording studio after overdosing on a mix of lean and various street drugs. Despite his death, the influence of chopped n’ screwed music would greatly expand across hip-hop and become a staple of the genre, with many artists paying their respects through chopped n’ screwed remixes of their own albums.
Our final fast forward brings us to 2015, where pop-punk artist Brian Borcherdt found himself on tour with an antique record player, and a stack of random vinyl records that just so happened to include a copy of Chipmunk Punk. By now, I’m sure you can put two and two together, as did Borcherdt when he decided to take the record and combine it with the style of DJ Screw, playing the record back at 16 RPM. Borcherdt unknowingly created a subgenre of his own as the poppy high-pitched vocals of the Chipmunks were now brought back to their original pitch and speed, while the instrumentation was slowed and pitched down, creating a rugged and ethereal doom-metal-like sound. Borcherdt took a collection of songs from the Chipmunk catalog, including Chipmunk Punk, to create his collection of remixes dubbed Sludgefest Vol 1 & 2. He then uploaded them to Bandcamp under the name chipmunkson16speed. What resulted was genuinely one of the most interesting and hypnotic series of mixtapes to crawl out of the far corners of the internet.
I’m not going to tell you that chipmunkson16speed is a reinvention of the wheel (rather the slowing down of it). Still, ever since discovering the album back in 2022, when it was played as a part of a pre-show to a screening of Pasolini’s controversial masterpiece Salo (read more about that wild experience here), I haven’t been able to shake the sound. It’s an incredibly unique style, taking classic 80s hits and smearing them with a thick coat of sludge, creating a psychedelic rock experience that could only come from this Russian nesting doll-like history of warping and remixing music for over 60 years. What Sludgefest lacks in grace, it makes up for in its audacity as a musical affront to God. Similar to the work of DJ Screw, it uses distortion to emulate a drug-like feeling, serenading you into a different state of consciousness. I never thought it was something I could experience from songs like “Walk Like an Egyptian” but great art is often built on new ideas that subvert genre expectations, and Sludgefest does exactly that. It’s not often you find yourself saying “Hey you should really listen to this Alvin and The Chipmunks album” but here we are. I guess there really is a time and a place for everything.
The full tracklist of Vol 1 includes ten covers and two original songs.
Call Me by Blondie Walk Like an Egyptian by The Bangles Heaven Is a Place on Earth by Belinda Carlisle My Sharona by The Knack You Keep Me Hanging On by The Supremes Diamond Dolls by The Chipettes Bad by Michael Jackson You Were Always On My Mind by Willie Nelson Venus by Shocking Blue Mony Mony by Tommy James and the Shondells Made For Each Other by The Chipmunks I Love a Rainy Night by Eddie Rabbitt
It’s a stacked cast of 80s pop hits and rock classics. Kicking it off, the opening guitar riffs of “Call Me” pull you into the album instantly, bringing a mix of doom metal and the “Pink Room” theme from Twin Peaks. Its droning and hypnotic sounds drag you into a distorted musical world, bathing you in the sludge to come. The whole album carries this Lynchian tone, feeling so similar yet so eerily different. Admittedly Vol 1 is front-loaded with “Call Me”, “Walk Like an Egyptian”, and “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” being the standouts of the album. “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” is the strongest of the bunch, as it turns a radio hit into a transcendent acid rock song. The guitar drones combined with the bassy drums push this into a league above. The vocals get equal treatment, sounding like distorted angels that call you through the speakers as they shout “Heaven” over and over again. It’s genuinely beautiful, as the haunting guitar riffs pull you deeper into a musical k-hole. It’s the type of thing you can lie in bed to with all the lights off, and feel yourself sink into the mattress. It’s kind of scary how well it works, and for these first three tracks, it’s become my preferred way to listen to these songs, superseding the originals.
However, I can’t say the same for the rest of the album. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a very solid piece, but it doesn’t hit the same psychedelic highs as those first three tracks. “My Sharona” in particular feels a bit strange as its original fast tempo doesn’t blend well with Sludgefest’s brand of dragging low-tempo and warped sounds. It’s not bad, but it shows the limitations of the format. Granted, I was never really a fan of My Sharona (apologies to all the dads out there). But even as the “worst” song on the album, it’s still pretty solid, boasting a great warped guitar solo that’ll reverberate the eardrums of any internet degenerate that’s gone this far down the rabbit hole.
Surprisingly, the two original songs by The Chipmunks, “Diamond Dolls” and “Made for Each Other”, mark two very distinct high points on the album. “Diamond Dolls” feels like a genuine pop-rock song of the 80s, with a compelling melody and lyrics that exceed what you’d expect from the source material.
“It’s a ravenous world And the ceiling is very tall There’s a weight and a climb And a ladder and many fall”
On the complete opposite side of the coin is “Made for Each Other”. At this new slowed tempo, this Chipmunks love ballad turns a cheesy love poem into what sounds like the confessions of a serial killer. The song is a back-and-forth conversation between chipmunk Alvin, and human woman Brenda, as he begs for her reluctant love. His dulled begging voice repeatedly states that they’re “made for each other”. It feels less like a cheeky love song, and more like something you’d overhear in a white van parked across from the local park. What makes it even stranger is that the voice of Brenda was originally meant to be pitched at a normal human voice, meaning that in this slowed version her voice sounds less like a woman and more like a demonic Lennie from Of Mice and Men. It’s a terrifying yet fitting way to penultimately end this Internet anomaly of an album. Look at the rabbits…
As the title suggests, Vol 1 is not where the story ends, as Vol 2 continues the sludge fest with an equally stacked tracklist, ranging from covers of Pat Benatar to Bob Dylan and even the instrumental theme to Chariots of Fire by Vangelis. It’s much more diverse than Vol 1, with more focus on male vocals and varied tempos. While it’s very much a pop and rock-focused album, Vol 2 starts to shift away from the populous taste and goes a bit more eclectic (at least for the Alvin and the Chipmunks target demo). The full tracklist includes
Heartbreaker by Pat Benatar Refugee by Tom Petty Whip It by Devo Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes Jessie's Girl by Rick Springfield Mr. Tambourine Man by Bob Dylan This Diamond Ring by Sammy Ambrose Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor Fame by Irene Cara How Do I Make You by Linda Ronstadt Good Girls Don't by The Knack Chariots Of Fire by Vangelis
I’ll be blunt. Vol 2 is not nearly as good as Vol 1, and starts to show the cracks of the format. The aforementioned male vocals, changing tempos, and genre shift create an inconsistent experience that rarely hits the same highs as Vol 1. It’s an album full of “My Sharona” with songs like “Whip It” being a notable low point that feels out of place with the psychedelic rock tone that Vol 1 sets. There’s also some (intentional?) humor throughout the album, as the song “Jessie’s Girl” includes lyrics that are changed to fit the chipmunk theme. “Jessie's got himself a squirrel and I want to make her mine.” It reminds you that these all began as parody covers in the vein of Kidz Bop, and not some mysterious sludge metal album that formed in an 8-track from hell. “Chariots of Fire” is probably the strangest cut from the tracklist. This instrumental movie theme is hummed by the vocalists, as the chipmunks cut in for comedic commentary about “singing” an instrumental song. It’s cute for a novelty album targeted at kids, but feels very out of place for Sludgefest, especially as the final song that ends the duology.
While Vol 1 remains my favorite of the Sludgefest duology, Vol 2 still has some great tracks worth acknowledging. “This Diamond Ring”, “Eye of the Tiger” and “Fame” are the few tracks that hit the same highs of Vol 1. “This Diamond Ring” evokes similar feelings to “Made For Each Other”, as a love ballad with an unsettling tone of desperation. “Eye of the Tiger” features similar guitar riffs as “Call Me” as the vocals conjure images of a barbershop quartet from hell, reverberating a fighting spirit to escape whatever sludge-fueled torment is keeping them from salvation. “Fame” evokes similar feelings to both this and “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” as crying vocals exclaim
“I'm gonna live forever
I'm gonna learn how to fly
I feel it coming together
People will see me and cry
I'm gonna make it to heaven
Light up the sky like a flame”
After releasing the Sludgefest duology in 2015, Borcherdt returned one last time in December 2018 to release “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”. It’s a fitting epilogue, that’s very atmospheric with less sludge and more melancholy. It feels like a Christmas celebrated alone, amongst a dying chimney fire and a withering tree. Depending on your temperament, that might sound like sweet musical pie or emotional torture. There’s something poetic about the final track of this saga ending with a distorted human voice saying, “Okay, kids, time to turn the record over.”
It’s worth noting that many fan albums have appeared through the years as Sludgefest has garnered a cult following. They often mix Chipmunk covers with original song recordings that defeat the original purpose of the remix. That wouldn’t be much of a problem if they were successful. Unfortunately, this is a rarity as many of them feel slapped together, lacking the curation that Borcherdt put into the original Sludgefest.
Sludgefest is an internet anomaly of music history, taking one of the most iconic novelty bands ever created and filtering it through a post-process of 60 years of music history and internet culture. Be it enjoyed ironically or genuinely, Brian Borcherdt has created a unique piece of music culture, that truly feels like it could only exist today. It’s strange how much emotion can be evoked from what was originally an Alvin and the Chipmunks cover album. But if the emotion is real, does it matter? Art is funny like that. Of course, equal credit needs to go to the original songwriters who wrote the songs and melodies that would get covered in the first place. Without the foundation set in place by such a lineage of artists, this would be nothing more than a gimmick. Through a gripping set of deranged and warped melodies, Sludgest has found a way to become more than some of its parts, pulling me into the sludge and grateful for it.
