Kovtun

KTL was a drone/electronic duo formed in 2006 by guitarist Stephen O'Malley (of Sunn O))) and electronic musician Peter Rehberg (Pita, Editions Mego). The project originated as the score for Gisele Vienne and Dennis Cooper's theatre production Kindertotenlieder, which premiered in Brest, France, in March 2007. Working across drone metal, dark ambient, and noise, the duo released six drone-doom albums between 2006 and 2021 on labels including Editions Mego and Thrill Jockey.

Lotus Eaters is an American experimental electroacoustic/drone supergroup formed around 1999, featuring Aaron Turner of Isis, Stephen O'Malley of Sunn O))), and James Plotkin of OLD and Khanate. Working in a minimal, guitar-and-electronics drone idiom, the trio released the CD Mind Control for Infants (Neurot Recordings, 2002) and Wurmwulv (Troubleman Unlimited, 2007). As the only project shared by Turner and O'Malley, it forms the shortest bridge between the Isis pole and the Sunn O))) pole of the atlas. (Not to be confused with the Liverpool new-wave band The Lotus Eaters.)

Reto Mäder's long-running Sum Of R has cycled through several lineups since 2008; the current Swiss-Finnish incarnation with Marko Neuman (vocals) and Jukka Rämänen (drums) pushes furthest into ritual drone-doom territory on 2025's Spectral, an 'acoustic séance' of tape manipulation, mellotron, and psychedelic doom built around sustained tones rather than riffs. The record pulls in a small constellation of scene names as guests — Juho Vanhanen of Oranssi Pazuzu, Vicotnik of Dødheimsgård, and G. Stuart Dahlquist of Burning Witch/Goatsnake — placing the band at a crossroads of drone, post-metal, and avant-black circles, even as Mäder's other projects (Ural Umbo, Hexvessel, Dark Buddha Rising) sit outside this atlas.

Solaceplay in the dock

BandcampSpotify

compare profiles →

Ghostmass (大鬼眾) is a Beijing improvisation collective formed in 2021 from a shared passion for drone, doom, and extreme metal, filtered through harsh noise and free improvisation. Reviewer Michael Scharf (Outside Noise) describes their 2024 album 'Ghost Meditation' as evolving from chaotic noise toward a more structured, doom-metal-inspired sound, with anguished throat-singing-style vocals over grating feedback and power electronics. The lineup draws members from Beijing noise-rock scene acts Carsick Cars and Soviet Pop.

Mamiffer is an American experimental band based in Seattle, Washington, founded in 2007 by Faith Coloccia out of ideas from her former group Everlovely Lightningheart. It began as her solo project and grew into a duo with Aaron Turner (of Isis and Sumac), who became her creative partner and later husband; the two also co-founded SIGE Records. The music intertwines ambient, drone, and post-rock composition with piano and ethereal vocals, and the band is known for collaborative albums and rotating guest musicians.

House of Low Culture is an American drone/dark ambient and experimental project fronted by Aaron Turner (Isis, Sumac), active since 2000 and named after a song from Isis's Sawblade EP. Its music marries warm cinematic tones with murky, sub-nautical textures, and its lineup has drawn on figures from the wider Hydra Head/experimental-metal orbit. Since 2010 the project has centered on Turner alongside his Mamiffer bandmate and wife Faith Coloccia, with Kevin Micka joining in 2020.

Tribes of Neurot is an American experimental group formed in 1995 by the members of Neurosis as an ambient, ritual-noise counterpart to that band, weaving tribal structures, drone, musique concrete and manipulated field recordings into abstract soundscapes. Their best-known work, Grace (1999), was conceived as a companion to Neurosis' Times of Grace: built from sounds taken from that album and designed to be played simultaneously with it, synchronizing track by track so the two discs form an enhanced experience neither delivers alone, while still standing on its own. Later conceptual releases include Adaptation and Survival: The Insect Project and Meridian.

Locrian are an American experimental trio formed in late 2005 in Chicago by André Foisy and Terence Hannum, with drummer Steven Hess joining permanently in 2010. AllMusic characterizes their sound as an eclectic mixture of black metal, electronics, drone and noise rock, shot through with ambient and industrial textures and dystopic, apocalyptic imagery. In 2012 they made the collaborative album Bless Them That Curse You with Mamiffer, released on Profound Lore alongside Sige and Utech.

Runhild Gammelsæter is a Norwegian vocalist who is also a professional biologist holding a Ph.D. in cell physiology. She first drew notice fronting the American doom band Thorr's Hammer, which she joined at 17 alongside Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson, and later co-formed the duo/trio Khlyst with James Plotkin. Her 2008 solo debut Amplicon (Utech Records) is built almost entirely from her own voice, warped with effects, with each track founded on a scientific, largely biologic theme conceived as a soundtrack to the cycle of the universe. Her voice ranges from the death-metal growls of her Thorr's Hammer work to unnerving, art-inflected experimental singing.

Terra Tenebrosa were a masked, pseudonymous Swedish avant-garde/industrial black metal project from Stockholm (2009-2021), fronted by 'The Cuckoo' (Tomas Hallbom) alongside 'Hisperdal' and 'Hibernal.' Rising out of the ashes of cult post-hardcore band Breach, their three albums - The Tunnels (2011), The Purging (2013), and The Reverses (2016) on Debemur Morti Productions - combine black metal shrieks with industrial noise, sludge-doom heaviness, and dark-ambient drone. The Cuckoo's own history gives the band a direct, sourced tie to the atlas: he was a member of The Ocean (as 'The Ocean Collective,' 2004-2007) and appeared as one of the credited guest vocalists on The Ocean's 2006 album Aeolian.

The End Is Mine to Rideplay in the dock

BandcampSpotify

compare profiles →