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.

Skaven is an Oakland, California sludge metal and crust punk band formed in 2004, rooted in the Bay Area's long tradition of heavy, filthy music that draws equally from Neurosis and His Hero Is Gone. Their sound is oppressive and slow-burning, built on feedback-soaked riffs and punk urgency.

Skeletal Incineration is a San Diego, California death/black/thrash metal band formed in 2004, forging a destructive hybrid of the three styles that leans into the darkest corners of each — the speed of thrash, the malevolence of black metal, and the low-end grotesquerie of death metal. San Diego has historically been fertile ground for this kind of cross-genre extreme metal brutality.

Skeletal Remains is a Whittier, California death metal band formed in 2011, widely recognized as one of the most accomplished practitioners of old-school death metal in the contemporary underground — their technically refined but atmosphere-rich style draws deep from the Florida and European wells. They have built a dedicated international following through consistent, high-quality releases that never chase trends.

Out of Santa Fe Springs, California, Skeptor has been honing a razor-sharp technical speed and thrash metal attack since 2014 — a Southern California act rooted in the region's rich thrash heritage but pushing toward more intricate, precise territory.

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.

A California death metal outfit with deep roots in hardcore, Skinfather (formed 2012) carve out a punishing middle ground between the two genres — delivering crushing riffs and pit-ready aggression that owes as much to the beatdown scene as it does to old-school death metal.

Out of Bakersfield, California, Skinjob have been grinding out death metal since 2012 in a city not known for its metal scene, which gives their output a flinty, self-sufficient character that sets them apart from their coastal counterparts.

Skinlab formed in San Francisco, California in 1994, carving out a groove-heavy sound that bridged the aggression of Bay Area thrash with the downtempo churn of early 1990s groove metal and the emerging nu-metal movement. The band's early albums Disembody: The New Flesh and Bound, Gagged and Blindfolded were released with assistance from Robb Flynn of Machine Head, who helped them access the European touring circuit. After disbanding in 2003 and reforming multiple times, Skinlab continued releasing material through the 2000s and 2010s, including The Scars Between Us (2009) and the single Flesh Wounds (2024) on WURMgroup.