Explore California Metal
Featured Album
Necromanteum (2023)
Featured Black Metal Album
Vertigo (Sunbather: 10th Anniversary Remix / Remaster) (2023)
Featured Artist with an Upcoming Show
Featured Power Metal Album
We Three Kings (Metal Holiday) (2015)
Featured Artist with an Upcoming Show
Browse California Metal Bands
101 bands found
Founded by ex-Cattle Decapitation bassist Troy Oftedal, Cave Bastard forge a savage hybrid of death metal, sludge, and hardcore from San Diego with relentless abrasive heaviness.
Celestial Sovereignty is a progressive black/death metal band from Modesto, California. They blend the sinister atmosphere of black metal, the brutality of death metal, and the compositional complexity of progressive metal into multi-layered compositions.
Cemetery Rot is a death metal band from Bakersfield, California, drawing from the Swedish and Finnish old-school traditions with a heavy reliance on buzzsaw guitar tone, gut-punch riffing, and the morbid energy of early Dismember and Entombed.
San Diego, California brutal death metal and slam act formed in 2003, known for guttural vocals, down-tuned chugging riffs, and the punishing rhythmic intensity central to the slam subgenre; frequent comparisons to Devourment and Disgorge.
Los Angeles, California band blending melodic death metal's harmonic sensibility with the riff aggression of thrash, resulting in a melodically charged and technically driven sound.
San Francisco, California three-piece brutal death metal and slam band formed in 2007, evolving from a noise project into a full-force practitioner of slam's rhythmically punishing style, with their 2011 album Orgasmica showcasing their established sound.
Los Angeles, California death metal band playing in the tradition of the West Coast death metal underground with a dark and aggressive approach.
Cerulean is a Tucson-area act blending black and death metal into a harsh, extreme sound that draws from both genres' most punishing tendencies. Their material combines blackened dissonance with death metal brutality.
Cetus is a Ventura, California band merging black and death metal extremity into a ferocious, uncompromising sound drawing on both genres' most aggressive elements. Their work captures the raw, underground energy of the California extreme metal scene.
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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.
Yes — browse California death metal bands in our index. Filter by genre to find death metal, technical death metal, and melodic death metal bands. We also index black metal, thrash metal, doom metal, and all heavy metal bands.
Use the genre filter to browse California black metal bands. We index black metal, atmospheric black metal, and related subgenres alongside death metal, thrash metal, doom metal, and all heavy metal bands.
Browse our index for California thrash metal bands. Filter by genre to discover thrash metal, crossover thrash, and speed metal bands. Our index covers all heavy metal bands including death metal, black metal, doom, and metalcore.
Yes — we index metalcore bands, doom metal bands, and every heavy metal subgenre. Browse California metalcore, doom metal, sludge metal, stoner metal, progressive metal, power metal, and more.
Yes — browse California hardcore punk bands alongside heavy metal bands. We cover hardcore punk, crust punk, D-beat, grindcore, metalcore, and all heavy music subgenres.
Filter by city and state to find heavy metal bands near you. Each band page includes streaming links, genre tags, and upcoming metal concerts. Discover death metal, black metal, thrash, doom, and all heavy metal bands in your area.
Visit our shows page for California metal concerts — death metal shows, black metal concerts, thrash metal shows, doom concerts, and all heavy metal events. Updated daily with ticket links from Ticketmaster and SeatGeek.
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.