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The Malpractice is the Copenhagen project of Danish songwriter Johannes Gammelby (also of I Am Bones and Beta Satan), blending grunge and aggressive rock with pop hooks and noisy synthesizers into what the band calls 'amphetamine reptile punk, sludge and grand, barking hymns' carrying violent, depressive existentialist narratives. The 2010 debut Tectonics (Crunchy Frog Records) drew players from Tiger Tunes, Marybell Katastrophy and Beta Satan and was named a top-ten Danish album of the year by GAFFA. The live lineup adds vocalist Marie Koldkjær Højlund, whose solo work ties the band into Copenhagen's Escho circle.

Head of David were a Birmingham-area experimental/industrial-metal band formed in 1986 and signed to Blast First, whose abrasive noise-rock was once described as being about as harsh as music can get 'without descending into pure noise.' Their releases include Dustbowl (1988) and Seed State (1991). Justin Broadrick drummed for the group from 1987 to 1989, a stint between his early stretch in Napalm Death and the founding of Godflesh.

Killing Joke are an English post-punk band formed in Notting Hill, London in 1979, whose 'tension music' fused aggressive rhythms with gothic, industrial and metallic weight across landmark records like Night Time (1985) and Pandemonium (1994). Frontman Jaz Coleman's apocalyptic delivery and the band's dense, dubwise heaviness made them a widely cited influence on industrial and alternative acts including Metallica, Nirvana and Nine Inch Nails. Longtime bassist Paul Raven, who joined in 1982, was later briefly recruited for a planned Godflesh US tour that collapsed before it began.

Formed in Montesano, Washington in 1983 around the constant core of Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover, Melvins fused punk with a heavy Black Sabbath influence and in doing so godfathered sludge metal, leaving fingerprints on everything from grunge to doom and stoner rock. Relentlessly prolific shapeshifters, they have cycled through bassists and configurations — including the Kevin Rutmanis era and the double-bass-driven Melvins Lite with Trevor Dunn — while releasing a torrent of albums on Mike Patton's Ipecac Recordings since 1999. Their gravitational pull is such that Japan's Boris took their name from the title of a Melvins song, and collaborators have ranged from Fantômas and Jello Biafra to Lustmord and Napalm Death.

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Zozobra is an American sludge/post-metal band conceived in 2006 by bassist-vocalist Caleb Scofield (Cave In, Old Man Gloom), taking its name from the giant effigy burned annually at the Fiestas de Santa Fe in New Mexico. It gave Scofield his first outlet to write his own songs, and its debut album Harmonic Tremors (2007) featured Old Man Gloom drummer Santos Montano; the band toured the U.S. with Isis and Jesu in early 2007. Later releases Bird of Prey (2008, with Aaron Harris of Isis on drums) and Savage Masters (2013) followed, with the project ending after Scofield's death in 2018.

Godflesh are an English industrial metal band from Birmingham, formed in 1988 by Justin Broadrick and G.C. Green, evolving out of the earlier group Fall of Because. Through their fusion of hip hop-derived drum-machine programming, downtuned metal riffs, and industrial dissonance - heard on their acclaimed debut album Streetcleaner (1989) - they developed a sound widely regarded as foundational to industrial metal and post-metal. Broadrick had earlier drummed in Napalm Death, and the band signed to Earache Records before disbanding in 2002 and reuniting in 2010.

Human Impact are a New York noise-rock supergroup formed in 2019, welding Chris Spencer's Unsane fury to Jim Coleman's Cop Shoot Cop-derived industrial electronics. The debut lineup added the Swans rhythm section of Chris Pravdica and Phil Puleo; their self-titled debut appeared on Mike Patton's Ipecac Recordings in 2020, followed by Gone Dark (2024). By 2024 the rhythm section had turned over to ex-Daughters drummer Jon Syverson and ex-Made Out of Babies bassist Eric Cooper.

Zeni Geva are a Japanese noise-rock band formed in Tokyo in 1987 by guitarist-vocalist KK Null (Kazuyuki Kishino), built on brutal, minimalist, detuned riff-machines and Null's harsh electronics. Steve Albini produced their 1991 album Total Castration and performed on the 1993 live document All Right You Little Bastards, and Jello Biafra released them on Alternative Tentacles; their 2001 album 10,000 Light Years appeared on Neurosis's Neurot Recordings. The long-running trio settled around Null, Ruins drummer Tatsuya Yoshida, and (for over two decades) guitarist Mitsuru Tabata.

Old Man Gloom is an experimental sludge/post-metal supergroup formed in 1999 in Santa Fe, New Mexico by Aaron Turner (Isis) and drummer Santos Montano, later expanding with musicians from the Boston hardcore and metalcore scene. Their music juxtaposes crushing sludge and hardcore with noise, drone, and ambient soundscapes. Bassist/vocalist Caleb Scofield died in a car accident in March 2018; Stephen Brodsky, his Cave In bandmate, subsequently joined the band. Their albums have appeared on labels including Hydra Head Records (and its Tortuga imprint), founded by Aaron Turner, as well as Profound Lore.

Made Out of Babies were a Brooklyn noise-rock/sludge quartet active 2004-2012, fronted by the extraordinary Julie Christmas, whose lurching between whisper and shriek gave the band its volatile character. They released Trophy (2005) and The Ruiner (2008), with the Steve Albini-recorded Coward (2006) widely rated their high point; early records came out on Neurosis's Neurot Recordings. The lineup drew from the wider New York heavy underground, with guitarist Brendan Tobin (Red Sparowes), bassist Eric Cooper, and Christmas also fronting Battle of Mice.