Birushanah

Hermit Dreams is a Norwegian death/doom project that pairs pummeling, harsh-vocal extremity with an unusual acoustic arsenal — banjo, cello, upright bass and theremin — played by musicians otherwise found in bands like Diskord and Vingulmork. Their debut Desperate Anomies (Chaos Records, Dec 2025), mastered by Colin Marston, swings between blast-beat chaos and spectral, folk-tinged funeral atmosphere.

Directionless Gazeplay in the dock

BandcampSpotify

compare profiles →

Nàda were a Lucerne, Switzerland outfit (active 1992-1997) fusing sludge/doom heaviness with industrial clang and tribal/neofolk percussion, earning Terrorizer coverage in 1994 and comparisons to Neurosis, Swans and Einstürzende Neubauten. Their two albums, 'Celmètra' (1994, Licht & Blindheit/Common Cause) and 'Ùr' (1997, Licht & Blindheit), are murky, ritualistic slabs built on layered percussion and detuned riffing rather than conventional song structure. A largely forgotten act of 90s European experimental sludge, tangential to any scene rather than embedded in one.

Iatherplay in the dockcompare profiles →

Grayceon are a San Francisco progressive-metal trio formed in 2005, built around Jackie Perez Gratz's electric cello and vocals alongside Max Doyle's guitar and Zack Farwell's drums, releasing through Vendlus and later Profound Lore on records such as All We Destroy (2011). The cello-forward lineup fuses thrash and doom heaviness with chamber-folk melody. Perez Gratz also plays in Giant Squid, with whom Grayceon shared a 2007 split, and has collaborated widely across the Bay Area scene, including with Neurosis.

Aarni is a Finnish avant-garde/funeral doom project founded in 1998 by Master Warjomaa, who casts the band as a fictional ensemble including the Comte de Saint-Germain, Doomintroll, and Mistress Palm.

Aaen Anima is a Prague, Czechia avant-garde/doom-metal project founded April 25, 2002 as, in the band's own words, "originally playing acoustic avant-garde." Its 2003 album "Aniline Harp" pairs guitars and bass with cedar drum, bell, didgeridoo, darbuka and harmonium (all played by founder Aaen), plus flute (Ismia) and keyboards/djembe (Jari Velaochaga) — an eclectic, ritual-tinged folk-instrumentation palette rare even for avant-garde metal. No activity is documented past 2008.

Baroness are a sludge and progressive metal band formed in Savannah, Georgia in 2003 by John Baizley, who writes the songs and paints every cover in the band's colour-titled album cycle. Their records move between pummelling riffs and punk-rock screams and finger-picked acoustic passages with a bluegrass and Appalachian cast — "Cockroach en Fleur", "O'Appalachia", the Blue Record interludes — and the sound drifted steadily from early sludge toward the alternative-rock accessibility of Yellow & Green and the psychedelic space-rock of Gold & Grey. Widely credited across the scene: Baizley is also one of its most prolific cover artists, and the band's ties here run through Mastodon, Converge and the 2019 co-headline tour with Deafheaven and Zeal & Ardor.

Mutyumu (夢中夢, 'a dream within a dream') was a six-piece Japanese band active 2002–2010, blending post-rock, classical minimalism and heavy metal around operatic vocals, strings and piano alongside blast beats and screamed vocals. Contrary to secondhand descriptions of it as a solo project, sources consistently describe a full band led by vocalist Hatis Noit. Their two albums, 夢中夢 (2006) and イリヤ -Il y a- (2008, on Gyuune Cassette), fold folk melody and droning classical passages into a metal/post-rock framework, with the latter featuring guest contributions from World's End Girlfriend, before the band split in 2010.

Anfinnsaas is a Norwegian duo of guitarist Knut Finsaas and drummer Geir Anfinn Halland Johansen, formed in 2013, whose self-titled debut (released September 18, 2015 on Autumnsongs Records) fuses traditional Nordic tunes with metal. Track titles like 'Svensk Revelje,' 'Hålandsdal,' and 'Slått Fra Røstad' point to source material drawn directly from regional folk melody, filtered through a stop-start dynamic that lurches from tuned-down, doom-laden passages into sudden black-metal eruptions. MetalSucks likened the record's post-metal skronk to Gorguts and Dysrhythmia while noting it registers as less overtly heavy and more experimental than either. The album was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Rhys Marsh at Autumnsongs Recording Studio in Trondheim.

Giant Squid are an American post-metal and progressive/doom band formed in Sacramento, California in 2002 and led by Aaron Gregory, known for oceanic and marine-biology concept records including Metridium Fields (2006) and The Ichthyologist (2009), released via labels including Translation Loss. Cellist and vocalist Jackie Perez Gratz, of Amber Asylum and Grayceon fame, joined the band in January 2007, deepening its chamber-tinged heaviness. The band shares members and a 2007 split 7-inch, 'Sutter's Fort,' with fellow Bay Area group Grayceon.

Om is an American stoner/doom drone band formed in San Francisco in 2003 by bassist-vocalist Al Cisneros and drummer Chris Hakius, previously the rhythm section of Sleep. The band is known for droning, bass-driven, meditative songs steeped in spirituality and mysticism, a marked departure from Sleep's Black Sabbath-rooted sound. After Hakius departed in 2008, Emil Amos (of Grails) joined on drums, and the group's acclaimed fifth album Advaitic Songs was released by Drag City in 2012.