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 are intended 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 and Pagan Altar from England, American bands Pentagram, Saint Vitus, the Obsessed, Trouble, and Cirith Ungol, and Swedish band Candlemass defined doom metal as a distinct genre. Pentagram, Saint Vitus, Trouble and Candlemass have been referred to as "the Big Four of Doom Metal".
Sunn O))) is an American drone metal band formed in 1998 in Seattle, Washington. 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 extremely loud live performances.
Southern Lord is an American heavy metal record label that was founded in 1998 by Greg Anderson. It initially 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.
Drone metal or drone doom is a style of heavy metal that melds the slow tempos and heaviness of doom metal with the long-duration tones of drone music. Drone metal is sometimes associated with post-metal or experimental metal.
Goatsnake is an American stoner/doom metal band from Los Angeles. They have released three studio albums, the first being 1999's Goatsnake Vol. 1.
Khanate is an American drone doom supergroup that brought together James Plotkin and Alan Dubin, two members of the defunct band OLD, as well as Tim Wyskida of Blind Idiot God and Manbyrd and Stephen O'Malley of Burning Witch and Sunn O))).
Burning Witch was an American doom/sludge 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.
Lee Robert Dorrian is an English singer, best known as a former member of grindcore band Napalm Death and later as frontman of doom metal band Cathedral. He is currently singing with Septic Tank and With the Dead.
Stephen O'Malley is an American guitarist, producer, composer, and visual artist from Seattle, Washington, who has conceptualized and participated in numerous drone metal, doom metal, and experimental music bands, most notably Sunn O))).
Boris is a Japanese band that draws variously from styles such as sludge metal, drone, noise, psychedelia, and minimalism. Formed in 1992 in Tokyo, the band is composed of drummer Atsuo, guitarist/bassist Takeshi, and guitarist/keyboardist Wata. All three members sing. Boris has released more than 20 studio albums on various labels around the world, as well as a variety of live albums, compilations, EPs, singles, and collaborative albums. They have collaborated with acts such as Sunn O))), Merzbow, Keiji Haino, and guitarist Michio Kurihara.
White1 is the third studio album by American drone metal band Sunn O))), released in 2003. It was the most significant departure from their original style to date. Each track was experimental in its own way, with Julian Cope reciting poetry for half of "My Wall", Norwegian lyrics sung by Runhild Gammelsæter of Thorr's Hammer as an intro to a drum machine and stoner metal bass riff in "The Gates of Ballard", and the drone track "A Shaving of the Horn that Speared You".
Thorr's Hammer was an American-Norwegian death-doom band.
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.
Altar is a collaborative album by Japanese experimental music group Boris and American drone metal band Sunn O))), released on October 31, 2006 through Southern Lord Records (SUNN62). A limited two-CD edition was released on October 23 via Southern Lord with a 28-minute bonus track with Sunn O))), Boris, and Dylan Carlson, titled "Her Lips Were Wet with Venom". Inoxia Records released their own two-CD version in 2006 which features a bonus track on the first disc, "The Sinking Belle ", and also features "Her Lips Were Wet with Venom" on disc 2. The triple-vinyl edition by Southern Lord contains all of the songs from their two-CD edition, additional pictures, and liner notes by Kim Thayil. The Daymare 3LP version was released March 23, 2007 and features a bonus track not found on any other version of this release: "The Sinking Belle ".
Khlyst is an American drone doom band, formed in 2006.
Runhild Gammelsæter is a Norwegian musician notable for being the vocalist for the American bands Thorr's Hammer and Khlyst. She works as a professional biologist and holds a Ph.D. in cell physiology.
Monarch was a French doom metal band from Bayonne, formed in 2002.
Life Metal is the eighth studio album by American 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 is "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.
Pyroclasts is the ninth studio album by American drone metal band Sunn O))). The album was released through Southern Lord Records on October 25, 2019. Pyroclasts was recorded and mixed by Steve Albini entirely using analog tape. In addition to Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley, the album features collaborators Tos Nieuwenhuizen, Tim Midyett and Hildur Guðnadóttir.
