Los Angeles's Skyeater formed in 2016 weaving black metal's icy dissonance together with doom metal's crawling tempos into a style they describe as a dirge — slow, bleak, and relentlessly oppressive. The band channels the kind of urban dread that tends to haunt Southern California's underground experimental metal scene.

Legendary San Jose stoner/doom metal institution formed in 1992, Sleep defined a generation of slow, cannabis-scorched heaviness with records like Holy Mountain and the monolithic single-track Dopesmoker. Their hypnotic, Sabbath-descended dirges became the blueprint for an entire strain of heavy, riff-obsessed music that continues to resonate worldwide.

San Francisco sludge/doom/post-metal trio formed in 2018, layering colossal low-end riffs beneath post-metal's expansive structural ambitions and sludge's punishing dissonance. Sleepbomb draw naturally from the Bay Area's rich tradition of heavy, slow, and deliberately oppressive music.

Los Angeles' Slog combine the bleakness of death-doom with black metal's icy atmosphere and death metal's brutality since their 2021 formation, creating music that crawls through the darkest possible sonic spaces. Their multi-genre approach reflects LA's ability to generate extreme metal that refuses easy categorization.

San Francisco psychedelic doom metal band formed in 2021, weaving extended lysergic textures into slow, crushing compositions rooted in the Bay Area's long history of heavy and experimental music.

San Francisco progressive doom metal band formed in 2023, crafting elaborate, slowly unfolding compositions that wed psychedelic atmosphere with heavy, deliberate riffing.

Los Angeles sludge, drone, and doom metal band formed in 2020, specializing in oppressively heavy, low-frequency material at the extreme end of the California doom underground.

Somnus Throne are a Los Angeles doom/stoner metal band formed in 2020, conjuring heavy, fuzz-laden riffs and psychedelic weight in the tradition of California's sun-scorched but spiritually dark stoner doom scene.

Soul Broker is a doom and stoner metal band from Oakland, California, formed in 2019, delivering heavy, fuzz-laden riffs and slow, hypnotic grooves characteristic of the Bay Area's rich heavy underground.