Saint Vitus are one of the foundational architects of American doom metal, the Los Angeles band having defined the form's slow-motion anguish and lysergic heaviness across decades of influential releases. Revived in their current incarnation since 2012, they remain a towering reference point for every doom band that followed — unhurried, crushing, and utterly singular.

Seven Sisters of Sleep is a sludge and doom metal band from Southern California, formed in mid-2009 from members of Tafkata and The Arm and Sword of a Bastard God. The band built their sound on a foundation of occult-themed, downtuned sludge drawing from doom, death metal, black metal, and d-beat, releasing records on A389 Recordings and Southern Lord, among others. They released multiple full-length albums before disbanding following legal troubles involving a former member, leaving behind a body of work regarded as important within the Southern California heavy underground.

Santa Barbara, California's Seventh Circle occupy a darkly syncretic extreme metal space, weaving together the bleakness of black metal, the heaviness of death metal, and the grinding weight of doom into a single suffocating whole. Active since 2008, they've developed a reputation for uncompromising, multi-dimensional heaviness that refuses easy categorization.

Los Angeles' Shadow Projector traffic in gothic and doom metal with a cinematic quality native to the city, pairing slow, mournful guitar lines with the drama and romanticism gothic metal draws its power from since 2019. Their Bandcamp handle frames their work as something almost visual — projecting shadow as texture and mood.

San Francisco's Shrinebuilder are a supergroup formed in 2009 from members of Sleep, Neurosis, The Melvins, and Scott Kelly's solo projects, combining stoner and doom metal traditions into monolithic, lysergic compositions that draw from the full weight of their members' combined legacies.

Los Angeles doom and heavy metal band formed in 2015, conjuring a ritualistic, occult-tinged atmosphere through slow tempos, commanding riffs, and deliberate pacing. Their name signals an affinity for the ceremonial side of doom metal, and their LA setting has long been fertile ground for that style.

Los Angeles sludge and doom metal band formed in 2017, operating in the long shadow of the city's thriving heavy underground with dense, slow-moving riffs and the kind of suffocating atmosphere that characterizes the best of the West Coast doom scene. The "sixesdoom" Bandcamp tag underscores where their loyalties lie.

San Francisco's Skin Horse has been wading through thick sludge and crushing doom since 2016, drawing on the Bay Area's fertile heavy underground to craft slow, oppressive music with the weight of the Pacific behind it.

Corona, California's Skinslip work the intersection of sludge and doom, conjuring slow, weight-bearing riffs that reflect the smoggy, sun-bleached desolation of the Inland Empire since their formation in 2014.