Explore California Metal

Browse California Metal Bands

29 bands found
Oxnard · 2012–present · active
Formed in 2012 in Oxnard, California, Mortificado operate at the crossroads of black and death metal, fusing the venomous spite of black metal aesthetics with death metal's pulverizing low-end attack.
Los Angeles · 2015–present · active
Los Angeles black metal act Mortis Inanis, formed in 2015, conjure cold, misanthropic soundscapes befitting their name — 'hollow death' — with a style that emphasizes atmosphere and desolation over spectacle.
· 2020–present · active
California black metal project Moss Witch emerged in 2020, channeling a raw, nature-fixated aesthetic through cold, sparse compositions — their Bandcamp handle hints at a deliberately obscure, occult-adjacent personality.
· 2017–present · active
California-based Mossen have been practicing uncompromising raw black metal since 2017, stripping the genre down to its most confrontational and lo-fi extremes with a cold, primordial approach that owes little to modern production trends.
San Francisco · 2009–present · active
please update this band
Baywood-Los Osos · 2019–present · active
Baywood-Los Osos is a foggy coastal community on California's central coast, and Murk Rider's black metal reflects that remote, mist-shrouded geography — cold, isolationist, and atmospheric without falling into post-black sentimentality. Active since 2019, this solo or small-ensemble project captures the bleakness of the Pacific coastline.
Los Angeles · 2009–present · active
Los Angeles-based Mutagen trade in black/death metal that favors dark, warring extremes — the atmospheric chaos of black metal pressing hard against death metal's crushing technical framework. Active since 2009, they operate in LA's sprawling underground where genre lines blur under the sheer volume of the city's metal output.
Sacramento · 2017–present · active
A depressive black metal project out of Sacramento, California, My Useless Life traffics in the suffocating misery and lo-fi aesthetics that define the DSBM underground, delivering bleak, introspective compositions that lean heavily on raw atmosphere over technical polish.
San Diego · 2023–present · active
San Diego's Myoldlovelost blends post-black metal's shimmering atmosphere with ambient undercurrents and a nostalgic emotional weight, creating soundscapes that feel as much like grief processed through texture as they do conventional black metal.

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California Metal Index indexes hundreds of California heavy metal bands across every subgenre — death metal, black metal, thrash metal, doom metal, metalcore, hardcore punk, grindcore, sludge, stoner metal, and more. Browse heavy metal bands by genre, city, or state.
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California Metal Index is an index of California heavy metal bands — death metal, black metal, thrash metal, doom metal, metalcore, hardcore punk, and all heavy music. Browse bands by genre, find metal concerts near you, and discover the California metal scene.