Squalus

Grandmother Is Dead is a Czech one-man project from Prague, active since 1996, built entirely around Josef Pernikl playing and recording all instruments in his home studio as a hobby release he doesn't sell for profit. Its self-described 'Scenic Doom' style pairs doom metal with ambient, industrial and theatrical passages, and each album pursues a grim historical theme — its first release in 1997 was inspired by the Sobibor concentration camp, followed by The Camp (2006) and the atomic-bomb-themed Trust Christ Today (2009) — often layered with recorded witness testimony. Pernikl has also played guitar in the thrash band Lobotomia.

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.

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.

Isis were an American post-metal band formed in Boston in 1997 and later based in Los Angeles, active until their breakup in 2010. Building on roots in hardcore punk and doom metal, they helped pioneer and evolve the post-metal sound established by Neurosis and Godflesh, favoring lengthy compositions built on repetition and gradual structural evolution. Led by Aaron Turner, founder of Hydra Head Records, the band's core lineup remained consistent across five studio albums including the acclaimed Oceanic (2002) and Panopticon (2004). They disbanded in June 2010, just before a split EP with the Melvins, and reunited once in 2018 as Celestial for a tribute show.

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.

Om is an American stoner/doom drone band formed in San Francisco in 2003 by bassist-vocalist Al Cisneros and drummer Chris Hakius, previously the rhythm section of Sleep. The band is known for droning, bass-driven, meditative songs steeped in spirituality and mysticism, a marked departure from Sleep's Black Sabbath-rooted sound. After Hakius departed in 2008, Emil Amos (of Grails) joined on drums, and the group's acclaimed fifth album Advaitic Songs was released by Drag City in 2012.

Demimonde is a Prague act that began in 1996 as gothic/doom/death metal before going dormant and resurfacing in 2016 with Cygnus Oddyssey, a sprawling 'kosmik experimetal' concept album about space, sci-fi and occult mysticism, built on layered programming, synths and guest vocalists (including a Cradle of Filth-affiliated guitarist). Reviewers likened its dark, electronically-augmented atmosphere to Nocturnus-style space-death metal filtered through progressive/avant-garde structuring — a genuinely avant-leaning Czech curiosity with no documented scene ties.

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.

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.

The Ocean (also known as The Ocean Collective) is a German post-metal band formed in 2000 in Berlin by guitarist and principal composer Robin Staps, built around a fluid, revolving cast of musicians. Their sound blends post-metal, progressive metal, sludge and avant-garde elements across ambitious concept albums exploring geology, evolution and oceanic depths, including Precambrian (2007), the paired Heliocentric and Anthropocentric (2010), Pelagial (2013), and the Phanerozoic double-album series (2018-2020). The band released early records via Make My Day Records before signing to Metal Blade Records, and Staps also runs the post-metal imprint Pelagic Records.