Metatron

Pelican is an American instrumental post-metal band formed in Chicago in 2001, known for heavy, atmospheric, almost entirely instrumental compositions with extended track lengths. Their debut EP and albums such as Australasia (2003), The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw (2005), and City of Echoes (2007) appeared on Hydra Head Records before the band moved to Southern Lord Records around 2009. The founding lineup pairs the two guitars of Trevor de Brauw and Laurent Schroeder-Lebec with the rhythm section of brothers Bryan and Larry Herweg.

Russian Circles are an American instrumental post-metal band based in Chicago, Illinois, formed in 2004 by childhood friends Mike Sullivan (guitar) and Dave Turncrantz (drums). Since 2007 the trio has been rounded out by bassist Brian Cook, formerly of Botch and These Arms Are Snakes. Their sprawling, dynamic instrumental albums include Enter (2006), Station (2008), Memorial (2013), Guidance (2016) and Blood Year (2019).

Vaults of Zin is a Denton, Texas quartet fusing Magma-style zeuhl rhythm-section interplay with sludgy, doom-weighted metal guitar and modular-synth freakouts. Largely instrumental and built from long-form, prog-length pieces, their two albums (self-titled 2011, Kadath 2016) sit at the psychedelic, heavy end of the American avant-prog underground, drawing comparisons to Kayo Dot and Maudlin of the Well.

A Burlington, Vermont project that began as epic doom metal (lyrics about cartoons and archaeology) before pivoting into what it now calls 'Doom Cabaret' — metal-influenced piano ballads that the band itself likens to 'Voltaire after listening to Candlemass and bingewatching old cartoons.' The Johnsonian Demos blends doom/thrash/power metal roots with free improvisation and dark ambient textures, landing somewhere between symphonic doom and cabaret songcraft.

Giraffe Tongue Orchestra is an American rock/alternative-metal supergroup founded in 2012 by guitarist Ben Weinman of The Dillinger Escape Plan, melding hard rock and progressive metal. Its lineup drew members from various established acts: Brent Hinds of Mastodon (guitar), William DuVall of Alice in Chains (vocals), Thomas Pridgen of The Mars Volta (drums), and bassist Pete Griffin (Dethklok, Zappa Plays Zappa). The band released its debut LP, Broken Lines, on September 23, 2016 via Party Smasher Records, reaching #85 on the Billboard 200.

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Goatsnake is an American stoner/doom metal band from Los Angeles, formed in 1996 after the dissolution of The Obsessed, whose rhythm section of bassist Guy Pinhas and drummer Greg Rogers teamed with guitarist Greg Anderson (also of Sunn O))), Burning Witch, and Thorr's Hammer) and vocalist Pete Stahl. Known for a soulful, bluesy take on low-and-slow doom, they released their debut album '1' in 1999. After breaking up in 2001 they later reunited, issuing the album Black Age Blues on Southern Lord Recordings in 2015.

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.

Cult of Luna is a Swedish post-metal band formed in 1998 in Umeå, emerging from members of the local hardcore group Eclipse. Widely regarded as a leading force in post-metal alongside Neurosis and Isis, their songs are long, slow and crushing, layering heavy distorted passages with orchestral interludes and post-rock-esque forays. Their discography includes Salvation (2004), Somewhere Along the Highway (2006), and the Metropolis-inspired Vertikal (2013). In 2016 they released the space-themed collaborative album Mariner, recorded with American vocalist Julie Christmas.

Formed in New York City in 1989 by jazz-schooled guitarist and vocalist Page Hamilton, Helmet distilled heaviness to its mechanics: repetitive, syncopated, staccato riffs in drop-D and drop-C tuning, often in unconventional time signatures, delivered with drill-team precision. Their 1992 Interscope debut Meantime went gold and sold over two million copies worldwide, and its clipped, groove-locked attack was borrowed wholesale by the nu metal and industrial metal generations that followed, with acts like Fear Factory, Limp Bizkit and Papa Roach in its debt. The New York Times credited the band with making important connections between indie rock and metal — the 'thinking man's metal band' whose blueprint a thousand bands traced.

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Rosetta is a post-metal band formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 2003, blending sludge metal, post-rock, drone, ambient, and space rock into a sound the band self-describes as "metal for astronauts." Their key releases include the two-disc The Galilean Satellites (2006), Wake/Lift (2007), and A Determinism of Morality (2010), issued on Translation Loss Records before the group became fully independent. They are known for lengthy, atmospheric compositions and an eclectic hybrid drawing on post-hardcore, shoegaze, and progressive elements.