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Circle is a Finnish experimental rock institution formed in Pori in 1991, built around bassist/vocalist Jussi Lehtisalo, the band's only constant presence and de facto leader. Their restless, ever-mutating music fuses motorik krautrock repetition with heavy metal riffing, ambient, prog and psychedelia, a sound they half-jokingly branded the New Wave of Finnish Heavy Metal. Absurdly prolific across dozens of albums, they release most of their work through Lehtisalo's own Ektro Records, and their 2017 album Terminal appeared internationally on Southern Lord.

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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.

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.

Neurosis is an American post-metal band formed in December 1985 in Oakland, California, founding a genre by fusing hardcore punk roots with heavy, atmospheric, slow-building song structures on landmark albums such as Through Silver in Blood (1996) and Times of Grace (1999). The band runs its own label, Neurot Recordings, and maintains the experimental ambient alter ego Tribes of Neurot, which comprises the same members. Co-founder Scott Kelly was expelled in 2019 after the band learned of his domestic abuse, which he publicly admitted in August 2022 before retiring from music. In 2024 Aaron Turner (Isis, Sumac) joined on guitar and vocals, and the band surprise-released the album An Undying Love for a Burning World in March 2026.

Amenra is a Belgian post-metal and sludge band formed in 1999 in Kortrijk, West Flanders, known for cathartic, ritualistic live performances built around themes of pain, loss, and catharsis. The band names its full-length albums as a numbered Mass series (Mass III through Mass VI, plus De Doorn) and is the creative center of the Church of Ra, a Kortrijk-area collective of like-minded musicians and visual artists. Fronted by vocalist Colin H. van Eeckhout, their sound draws heavily on doom, hardcore punk, and the atmospheric heaviness of Neurosis.

The Book of Knots is a Brooklyn experimental art rock studio collective formed in the spring of 2003 at Joel Hamilton and Tony Maimone's Studio G, with Matthias Bossi and Carla Kihlstedt completing the core quartet. The group built a trilogy of themed concept albums: the self-titled debut (Arclight, 2004) about failed sea voyages, Traineater (Anti-, 2007) about crumbling Midwestern rust belt towns, and Garden of Fainting Stars (Ipecac Recordings, 2011) about flight and space travel. Their records feature a rotating cast of guest vocalists and musicians including Tom Waits, Mike Watt, Mike Patton, David Thomas, Blixa Bargeld, and Jon Langford.

A New York art-world side project active from 2000-2003, pairing visual artist Rita Ackermann with Gang Gang Dance's Lizzi Bougatsos in a ritualistic, blood-and-paganism-themed 'art + metal' hybrid — chant-like incantations and wordless vocal panting over heavy, dirge-paced guitar/bass, with Orthrelm's Mick Barr guesting on guitar for Labia Minora. Functioned as much as a performance-art and visual-art collective as a band, releasing on Captain Trip and, posthumously, Locust Music.

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.

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.

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Birushanah are an experimental sludge/doom band from Osaka, Japan, formed in 2002, fusing crushing sludge metal with Japanese traditional percussion and scales. Founding bassist Sougyo was previously a member of fellow Osaka doom act Corrupted.