Floor is an American

stoner metal Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Slee ...

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 ...

band from

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, that was formed in 1992 by Steve Brooks, Anthony Vialon and Betty Monteavaro with Brooks and Vialon being the only constant members. The band has released three full-length studio albums to date: ''

Floor A floor is the bottom surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from wikt:hovel, simple dirt in a cave to many layered surfaces made with modern technology. Floors may be stone, wood, bamboo, metal or any other material that can support the ex ...

'', ''

Dove Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

'' and ''

Oblation An oblation is a solemn offering, sacrifice or presentation to God, to the Church for use in God's service, or to the faithful, such as giving alms to the poor. The word comes from the Late Latin ''oblatio'' (from ''offerre'', ''oblatum'' 'to ...

'' and one EP: ''Madonna''.

History

''Floor'' and ''Dove'' (1992–2013)

Initially from Miami, Floor was formed in 1992 by guitarist Steve Brooks, bassist and guitarist Anthony Vialon and drummer George Rios. Betty Monteavaro replaced Rios on drums in 1993 after the first song was written; Rios went on to play in Brethren, Crestfallen and

Bird of Ill Omen Damien Zev Moyal (born September 25, 1976) is an American vocalist, lyricist, musician, songwriter, and designer. Born in Amstelveen, North Holland, Netherlands, he moved to the United States as a child and grew up in Miami, Florida, where he n ...

(with ex-members of

Morning Again Morning Again is an American metalcore band from Florida. They were known for their metallic sound as well as for their straight edge, vegan, anti-religious and anti-government ideals. The band was a "sister band" to Culture, often switching mem ...

and

Shai Hulud Shai Hulud is an American metalcore band formed in Pompano Beach, Florida, in 1995, and later based in Poughkeepsie, New York. The band is named after the giant sandworms in Frank Herbert's novel ''Dune''. The two mainstay members of Shai Hulu ...

). Jeff Sousa became the drummer in late 1993, when the band had two songs fully written, and Brooks and Vialon changed their sound by implementing two uniquely low-tuned guitars, forgoing the need of a bassist. Material was then recorded for two full-length albums: ''

'' in 1994 and ''Saturnine and Tears'' in 1995; neither were however released until after their eponymous album, years later. During that time several vinyl-only 7" singles and splits were released, followed by the band's first breakup in 1996. They reformed with a new lineup for one show in 1997 with Henry Wilson on drums and practiced only occasionally until 2001. They released their first full-length album, self-titled ''

'', before splitting up in 2003. The self-titled album went on to garner accolades from the underground music scene and the bands' cult-following grew in their absence. Brooks would go on to form the band Torche. Henry Wilson went on to form the bands Dove and House of Lightning. Anthony Vialon, having also played several years with Miami outfit Cavity, focused on theology. The band reformed in 2010 for a reunion tour to support the release of ''Below & Beyond'', an 8-CD/10-LP box set encompassing their entire career.

''Oblation'' (2013–present)

In March 2013, Floor reunited again and announced its intention to tour and release a new album through

Season of Mist Season of Mist is an independent record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pa ...

. Vialon said that after the group's 2010 reunion tours, Floor had, "noticed that our fan base had grown exponentially and doing a new record, kind of picking up where we'd left off, was something we agreed we should focus on." Floor released their third studio album ''

'' on April 29, 2014, to generally favorable reviews scoring 77% on aggregate website ''

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

''.

Musical style

The band is known for incorporating two low-tuned and distorted guitars that forgo the need to have a bass guitar. This includes the extended use of what some critics have called the "bomb note", an E-string that is extremely loosely strung to the guitar. ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

s'' Gregory Heaney called it "a shuddering explosion of sludgy distortion that comes from hitting a guitar string that's detuned until it's barely hanging on". ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

'' described the effect as "a guitar string tuned so low it flaps like a pensioner's bingo wing" while Grayson Haver Currin of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' remarked "Who needs a fourth wheel when you've got 12 strings tuned to the introductory letters of the alphabet?".

Band members

;Current * Steve Brooks – guitars, vocals (1992–present) * Anthony Vialon – guitars, bass, vocals (1992–present) * Henry Wilson – drums, bass (1997–present) ;Former * George Rios – drums (1992) * Beatriz Monteavaro – drums (1992–1993) * Jeff Sousa – drums (1993–1996)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums * ''

'' (2002, No Idea) * ''

'' (2004, recorded in 1994, No Idea) * ''

'' (2014,

) Other releases * ''Saturnine And Tears'' (March 30, 2010, Robotic Empire – recording date unknown) * ''Self-Titled + Outtakes'' (March 30, 2010, Robotic Empire – recording date unknown) * ''Riddim Of Silence'' (March 30, 2010, Robotic Empire – recording date unknown) * ''Pillars Of Irem'' (March 30, 2010, Robotic Empire – recording date unknown) * ''It's Not The Same'' (March 30, 2010, Robotic Empire – recording date unknown) * ''F**k You. For Now.'' (March 30, 2010, Robotic Empire – recording date unknown) * ''Oblation'' (April 21, 2014, Floor – recorded 2014) Compilation albums * ''Below & Beyond'' (2010,

Robotic Empire Robotic Empire is an American independent record label based out of Richmond, Virginia, specializing in hardcore punk, heavy metal, and alternative rock. Some of the most popular bands signed to the label over the years have been pg.99, City o ...

) Video albums * ''Sight & Seen'' (2010, Chunklet) EPs * ''Madonna'' (1994, Bovine) Singles * "Loanin'" / "Figbender" (1994, Dirge) * "Heather" / "When the Pigs Broke Free" (1995, Noise Vacuum) * "Goddard" / "Slugthrower" (1995, Rhetoric) * "Homegoings and Transitions" / "Shadowline" (2013, Season of Mist) * "The Ladder" (2013,

Decibel The decibel (symbol: dB) is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a Power, root-power, and field quantities, power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whos ...

) Split singles * ''Floor / Tired from Now On'' (1994, No Idea) * ''Floor / Spazz'' (1994, Bovine) * ''Floor / Sloth'' (1995, self-released) * ''Floor / Ed Matus' Struggle'' (1996, Space Cadette) * ''Floor / Dove'' (2001, Berserker) Compilation appearances * ''Loud & Ugly Vol. 2'' (contributed song "Iommi") (1995, Bovine) * ''No Idea No.12'' (contributed song "Who Are You") (1995, No Idea) * ''The Good, The Bad & The Ugly'' (contributed song "Dead Wrong") (1998, Insolito)

References

External links

Floor
at

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Floor 1992 establishments in Florida American doom metal musical groups American sludge metal musical groups Heavy metal musical groups from Florida Musical groups established in 1992 Musical groups disestablished in 1996 Musical groups reestablished in 1997 Musical groups disestablished in 1997 Musical groups reestablished in 2001 Musical groups disestablished in 2004 Musical groups reestablished in 2013 Musical groups from Miami Musical trios from Florida Season of Mist artists