Boris (drone/doom era)
Japan
Scores cover the drone/doom era: Amplifier Worship, Flood.
Boris's early drone/doom era built monolithic, amplifier-worshipping slabs of sludge, doom and drone metal, frequently structured as single extended long-form pieces rather than conventional songs. The 1996 debut Absolutego is a 65-minute track of oozing, slow-motion, Melvins-inspired drone rock/metal, while Flood (2000) unfolds as one roughly 70-minute title track broken into four movements. Across Amplifier Worship (1998) and Boris at Last -Feedbacker- (2003) the trio pushed feedback, distortion and glacial tempos to the foreground, a sound whose kinship with Sunn O))) later yielded their joint album Altar.
SCORE PROFILE
Accent numbers counted towards the index. Hover an axis — or hold it on a phone — for what it means.
MEMBERS
- Takeshibass guitar, guitar, vocals· also in Boris (rock/shoegaze era)
- Wataguitar, keyboards, vocals· also in Boris (rock/shoegaze era)
- Atsuodrums, vocals, electronics· also in Boris (rock/shoegaze era)
CONNECTIONS
- Boris (rock/shoegaze era)path →
Boris — same band, era split
- Keiji Hainopath →
Black: Implication Flooding (1998) is a live collaboration album between Keiji Haino and Boris. source ↗
- Merzbowpath →
Ongoing Boris with Merzbow collaboration since 1997 — Megatone (2002), Gensho (2016), 2R0I2P0 (2020). source ↗
- Sunn O)))path →
Sunn O))) and Boris recorded the collaborative album Altar, released 2006 on Southern Lord. source ↗
- Acid Mothers Templepath →
Shared label roster: Essence Music, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Boris (rock/shoegaze era)path →
Shared label roster: avex trax, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Botchpath →
Shared label roster: Sargent House, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Church of Miserysatellitepath →
Shared label roster: Kult of Nihilow, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Circlepath →
Shared label roster: Conspiracy Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Deafheavenpath →
Shared label roster: Sargent House, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Earthpath →
Shared label roster: Third Man Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Eyehategodsatellitepath →
Shared label roster: Bovine Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Fantômaspath →
Shared label roster: Amphetamine Reptile Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Faun Fablespath →
Shared label roster: Drag City, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Helmetsatellitepath →
Shared label roster: Amphetamine Reptile Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- House of Low Culturepath →
Shared label roster: Double H Noise Industries, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Incapacitantspath →
Shared label roster: Hello From the Gutter, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Isispath →
Shared label roster: Conspiracy Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Jazkamer (Jazzkammer)path →
Shared label roster: aRCHIVE, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Jesupath →
Shared label roster: Conspiracy Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Keiji Hainopath →
Shared label roster: Inoxia Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Khanatepath →
Shared label roster: Sacred Bones Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- KK Nullpath →
Shared label roster: Hello From the Gutter, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Mamifferpath →
Shared label roster: Conspiracy Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Melt-Bananapath →
Shared label roster: STARCHILD, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Melvinspath →
Shared label roster: Scion Audio/Visual, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Merzbowpath →
Shared label roster: Mangrove, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Meshuggahpath →
Shared label roster: Scion Audio/Visual, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Monnopath →
Shared label roster: Conspiracy Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Mutoid Manpath →
Shared label roster: Sargent House, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Nadjapath →
Shared label roster: Invada Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Napalm Deathsatellitepath →
Shared label roster: Amphetamine Reptile Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Ompath →
Shared label roster: Drag City, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Primuspath →
Shared label roster: Third Man Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Russian Circlespath →
Shared label roster: Sargent House, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- The Bodypath →
Shared label roster: Sacred Bones Records, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- These Arms Are Snakespath →
Shared label roster: Sargent House, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
- Zeni Gevapath →
Shared label roster: Hello From the Gutter, per MusicBrainz. source ↗
FURTHER LISTENING
Nearest score profiles in the atlas.
- Southern Lord / droneEI 16KhanateDoomDroneTheatrical
Khanate was an American drone/extreme doom supergroup formed in New York in 2000 by guitarist Stephen O'Malley and bassist James Plotkin, with vocalist Alan Dubin and drummer Tim Wyskida. Their glacial music paired extremely slow tempos and harsh layers of feedback with Dubin's torturous shrieking, debuting with a self-titled album on Southern Lord Records in 2001. The band split in 2006 before a surprise return with the album To Be Cruel, released via Sacred Bones Records in 2023.
- Southern Lord / droneEI 14Burning WitchDoomDroneTheatrical
Burning Witch was an American doom/sludge metal band formed on Capitol Hill in Seattle in early 1995 from the ashes of the doom/death band Thorr's Hammer, active until 1998. Known for extremely slow tempos, dense feedback and Edgy 59's alternately mournful and tortured vocals, the group is best remembered as a formative pre-Sunn O))) project for guitarist Stephen O'Malley. Their EP recordings were gathered on the compilation Crippled Lucifer, released in 1998 on Southern Lord Records, the label O'Malley co-founded with fellow Seattle musician Greg Anderson.
- Southern Lord / droneEI 23ThronesDoomDroneTheatrical
Thrones is the long-running solo project of American bassist Joe Preston, begun in 1994 and given to bass-heavy doom, avant-garde noise rock and experimental drone. Preston is a scene hub in his own right — a former member of Earth and the Melvins and a guest on Sunn O)))'s recordings — and Thrones channels that low-end lineage into one-man records like the Southern Lord compilation Day Late, Dollar Short (2005). The music pairs crushing riffs and heavily processed vocals with an eclectic, unpredictable sensibility.
- Post-metalEI 17UfomammutDoomDroneTheatrical
Ufomammut are an Italian power trio formed in 1999 in Tortona, dealing in a signature strain of psychedelic sludge that spans doom, stoner, sludge and drone metal. Their music favors lengthy songs built on repeated heavy riffs, droning vocals and a heavy use of synths and sound effects, staged live with synchronized psychedelic visuals by founders Poia and Urlo's Malleus art collective. Their most recent studio albums — including Fenice (2022) and Hidden (2024) — appear on Neurosis's Neurot Recordings.
- Southern Lord / droneEI 25KhlystDoomDroneTheatrical
Khlyst is an American experimental drone/doom project formed in New York in 2006, built around guitarist James Plotkin (Khanate, OLD, Phantomsmasher), Norwegian vocalist Runhild Gammelsæter (Thorr's Hammer), and drummer Tim Wyskida (Khanate, Blind Idiot God). Their sole album, the dually-titled "Chaos Is My Name" / "Kaos er mitt navn," was released by Hydra Head Records in October 2006. Across eight Roman-numeral-titled pieces it alternates Gammelsæter's shrieked, free-form vocals with eerie ambient guitar and percussion soundscapes.
- UnaffiliatedEI 13The Mountain KingDroneDoomAmbient
German experimental/noise act (Mainz) built around destructive recording techniques rather than conventional songwriting — their Radiant Eulogy series deliberately degrades master tapes (sun exposure, physical decay) to bury heavy doom riffs under crackling, collapsing signal. Prolific (37+ Bandcamp releases since 2013) across noise, post-metal, drone, doom, and post-rock with electronic/tape elements. Sits closer to power-electronics/drone art-noise than conventional metal songcraft.
- UnaffiliatedEI 16Opium WarlordsDroneDoomTheatrical
Opium Warlords is the solo-turned-trio outlet of Sami Albert Hynninen (Albert Witchfinder of Reverend Bizarre), stretching doom metal into extended drone-riff meditations with minimal percussion. Since 2010 he has been joined by drummer Erkki Virta and keyboardist Laura Länsimäki, though the project remains built around Hynninen's distorted bass and bleak conceptual framing. Six albums deep on Svart Records, the band trades hooks for duration, dissolving riffs into noise and silence.
- UnaffiliatedEI 10Beneath the SodDoomDroneAmbient
Beneath the Sod is the solo funeral/industrial doom project of Irish musician Ray Keenaghan (Wreck of the Hesperus), formed 2017. Releases include Circling the Drain (2017, Fort Evil Fruit), the split cassette Transmorphic Eye (2018, with Crypticum), and a self-titled 2021 EP on Cursed Monk Records described as harsh, synth-laced industrial doom metal with guest vocals from Richard Carson.
- UnaffiliatedEI 17Black MayonnaiseDoomDroneAmbient
Black Mayonnaise is the long-running one-man bedroom project of Mike Duncan from Akron, Ohio, active since August 1991. It blends heavily detuned, distorted doom/sludge guitar with drum-machine programming, tape loops and cut-up sonic manipulation into a lo-fi, ambient/psych-drone-inflected sound. Cited influences include old Godflesh, old Carcass, Butthole Surfers and Big Black; notable releases include TTSSATTSR (2004) and the retrospective compilation When You Get Caught Between the Moon and Boston Harbor (2011). (Verified spelling: the RYM scout note had a typo, 'Black Mayonaise' — the real band spells it 'Black Mayonnaise'.)
- Southern Lord / droneEI 24NazoranaiDroneDoomTheatrical
Nazoranai is an improvising power trio formed in 2011 by Keiji Haino (guitar, vocals, synth), Stephen O'Malley of Sunn O))) (bass) and Oren Ambarchi (drums), issuing its self-titled live debut on O'Malley's Ideologic Organ imprint in 2012. The name signals a stance against pure free improvisation, favoring a more deliberate approach as the trio moves from sparse, post-industrial landscapes into huge firestorms of riff and distortion. Its genesis traces to a 2006 introduction between Haino and O'Malley via Ambarchi.