San Diego, California heavy metal band formed in 2025, carrying on the traditions of classic American heavy metal in Southern California.

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.

Los Angeles heavy metal band formed in 2009, operating in the Southern California underground with a direct, no-frills approach to traditional metal songwriting.

Los Angeles sludge and death metal band formed in 2024, merging the caustic weight of death metal with sludge's slow, corrosive heaviness in the city's contemporary extreme underground.

Santa Barbara's Snot were one of the most promising nu-metal/funk metal acts of the late '90s, with Lynn Strait's charismatic swagger and the band's eclectic blend of funk, punk, and heavy grooves on 'Get Some' setting them apart from their more one-dimensional peers. Strait's tragic death in a 1998 car accident cut the band short at the height of their potential, though the posthumous 'Strait Up' tribute album featured contributions from Corey Taylor, Serj Tankian, and others.

Los Angeles grindcore band active since 1996, one of the longer-running acts in the Southern California extreme underground, committed to the blast-beat intensity of the genre across their career.

California sludge metal band formed in 1996, dealing in the slow, crushing heaviness and feedback-drenched abrasion that defines the West Coast sludge tradition.

San Francisco band founded in 2020 that fuses brutal death metal with hardcore aggression, channeling the Bay Area's long tradition of punishing crossover extremity.