Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres. Both the music and the lyrics intend to evoke a sense of despair, dread, and impending doom. The genre is strongly influenced by the early work of Black Sabbath, who formed a prototype for doom metal. During the first half of the 1980s, a number of bands such as Witchfinder General from England, American bands Pentagram, Saint Vitus, the Obsessed, Trouble, and Cirith Ungol, and Swedish band Candlemass defined doom metal as a distinct genre.
Sleep is an American heavy metal band from San Jose, California. Guitarist Matt Pike and bassist and vocalist Al Cisneros have been the only constant members throughout its history. Critic Eduardo Rivadavia describes them as "perhaps the ultimate stoner rock band" and notes they exerted a strong influence on metal in the 1990s. The band first gained attention with their second album, Sleep's Holy Mountain (1992). However, conflict with the band's record company contributed to Sleep's breakup by the end of the decade. Sleep's third album, Dopesmoker, was released after the band's dissolution. The band reformed in 2009 and has played sporadic live dates internationally since. In 2018, Sleep released their comeback album, The Sciences, on Third Man Records, to critical acclaim.
The Obsessed is an American heavy metal band from Potomac, Maryland, led by Scott "Wino" Weinrich. The band combines elements of doom metal, stoner rock, and punk rock. Formed in 1980, they recorded a few demos and played a handful of live shows until they first split up in 1986 when Weinrich joined as lead vocalist for Saint Vitus, but reformed four years later. After releasing three albums, the Obsessed broke up for a second time in 1995. After briefly reuniting for some shows in 2012 and 2013, the Obsessed announced their third reunion in March 2016.
Probot was a heavy metal side project of ex-Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters rhythm guitarist and lead-singer Dave Grohl. Described by Grohl as "a death metal Supernatural", the album mixes instrumentals recorded by Grohl himself with various metal singers whom the musician admired. The album was released in February 2004 by Southern Lord Records. It featured one single entitled "Centuries of Sin"/"The Emerald Law".
Sunn O))) is an American experimental metal band formed in 1998 in Seattle, Washington, US. The band is known for their distinctive visual style and slow, heavy sound, which blends diverse genres including doom metal, drone, black metal, dark ambient, and noise rock, as well as for their loud live performances.
Southern Lord is an American heavy metal record label that was founded in 1998 by Greg Anderson. It specialized in experimental metal: particularly doom metal, stoner rock, and drone metal. The label later expanded its line-up to include artists from black metal, hardcore punk and crust punk bands.
Goatsnake is an American stoner/doom metal band from Los Angeles, California. They have released three studio albums, the first being 1999's Goatsnake Vol. 1.
Burning Witch was an American doom metal band from Seattle, Washington, active between 1995 and 1998. Aside from EPs and split releases, the band released a compilation album called Crippled Lucifer, which had songs of their early EPs.
Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine is an English drone doom supergroup, formed in 2001 with musicians from other metal bands.
Southern Lord Records is an American independent record label founded by Greg Anderson in 1998. The Los Angeles-based label was initially formed "just to put out" the debut albums by Thorr's Hammer and Burning Witch. These bands were among the first collaborations between Anderson and Stephen O'Malley, who also formed Sunn O))), one of the label's biggest selling acts along with Japanese band Boris.
Greg Anderson is an American musician, a co-founder of Southern Lord Records.
Psycho Café is the first full-length album from the band Bang Tango. It was released in 1989.
Manic Compression is the second studio album by American post-hardcore band Quicksand. It was released in 1995 on Island Records. The album influenced many post-hardcore and alternative metal bands. It peaked at number 135 on the Billboard 200.
Vol. 1 is the debut album by American doom metal band Goatsnake. It includes the former rhythm section of The Obsessed, consisting of Guy Pinhas and Greg Rogers, as well as Greg Anderson of Sunn O))) and Pete Stahl of Scream and Wool.
Dog Days is an EP by American doom metal band Goatsnake, released in 2000 via Southern Lord Records. It consists of material recorded from 1997 to 1999. It was re-pressed by Southern Lord in 2004 on vinyl only and limited to 500 copies. The re-press includes a cover of Black Sabbath's "Who Are You". Also in 2004, Southern Lord repackaged the EP with Goatsnake Vol. 1 on a single CD.
Gentry Densely is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter. A longtime fixture on Salt Lake City, Utah's punk, metal and experimental music scenes, Densely has been involved in numerous bands but is best known for leading the groups Iceburn, Ascend and Eagle Twin. Critic Gregory Heaney describes him as "One of music's great scientists".
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 Sleep.
Dynamite Monster Boogie Concert is a studio album by American hard rock band Raging Slab, released in 1993. It was released digitally in 2009.
Life Metal is the eighth studio album by drone metal band Sunn O))). Through Southern Lord Records, the album received a limited release for Record Store Day on April 13, 2019, and a wide release two weeks later on April 26. Life Metal was recorded and mixed by Steve Albini entirely using analog tape. The title "life metal" is an inside joke among band members and collaborators that is meant to humorously contrast the genre death metal, and conceptually contrast anything that's "not doom-and-gloom". Sunn O))) chose this as the album's title because of both the music's shift in tone and the mindset of the band members at the time of writing. In addition to Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley, the album features collaborators Tos Nieuwenhuizen, Tim Midyett, Hildur Guðnadóttir and Anthony Pateras.
The discography of Sunn O))) consists of nine studio albums, three collaborative albums, six EPs, four demos, one remix album, eight official live albums, one box set compilation, one stand-alone single and three compilation contributions.
