Explore California Metal
Featured Album
Death's Forgotten Children (2023)
Featured Death Metal Album
Necromanteum (2023)
Featured Artist with an Upcoming Show
One Day Closer to the End of the World (2019)
05/12 @ The Basement East, Nashville
Featured Melodic Death Metal Album
From Days Unto Darkness (2019)
Featured Artist with an Upcoming Show
Browse California Metal Bands
185 bands found
Sacramento, California outfit formed in 2023 that takes a notably wide approach, weaving together death metal brutality, doom metal weight, and thrash momentum into a style that rewards listeners willing to follow them through the shifts in tempo and atmosphere.
San Diego's Tideless weave death-doom density with shoegaze texture, producing a sound that's simultaneously crushing and immersive — churning riffs suspended in reverberant haze. The band has been refining this submerged aesthetic since forming in 2016.
San Francisco's Tomes have been threading doom metal's crush through a thrash and hardcore framework since 2014, producing music that carries Bay Area aggression in its bones while slowing things down enough to feel genuinely oppressive.
San Francisco's Totem approach doom metal through a psychedelic lens, layering hazy, reverb-soaked atmospheres over glacially slow riff progressions in a style that reflects the Bay Area's history of mind-expanding heavy music.
Moreno Valley, California's Trapped Within Burning Machinery have been churning out slow, suffocating doom and sludge metal since 2009, combining crushing low-end weight with the caustic edge their name implies.
Santa Cruz, California doom and sludge trio that has been cultivating slow, toxic heaviness since 2017, combining the crushing weight of doom with stoner haze and sludge's abrasive edge. Their Bandcamp handle hints at a UK-influenced atmosphere despite their West Coast roots.
San Diego, California death/doom metal band formed in 2023, merging the sepulchral atmosphere and mournful pacing of doom with the brutality of death metal in the style of the genre's earliest practitioners.
Twitching Tongues is a Los Angeles band formed in 2013 operating at the intersection of doom metal, metalcore, and alternative metal, known for incorporating dark, cinematic atmospheres and melodic rock dynamics into what began as a hardcore-adjacent sound.
Tzompantli is a death/doom metal band from Pomona, California, formed in 2012, drawing on Mesoamerican imagery and history to create crushingly heavy music that stands apart from the genre's more conventional touchstones.
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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.