The city is known for the "Louisiana sound", which was pioneered by Exhorder, who was the first band to combine doom metal and up-tempo thrash metal. Several of these metal groups share a style which draws inspiration from Black Sabbath, Melvins, hardcore punk as well as Southern rock. There is still variance within the sounds of the scene, however. Eyehategod features very harsh vocals and guitar distortion; Down has a style closer to classic rock; Crowbar's music has mostly slow tempos and a downtuned guitar sound; and Soilent Green has a sound which is closer to grindcore.