Sumac

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Eyehategod (also stylized EYEHATEGOD) is an American sludge metal band formed in New Orleans, Louisiana on April 20, 1988, founded by guitarist Jimmy Bower and drummer Joey LaCaze. Emerging from the fertile NOLA metal scene, they forged an ugly, uncompromising blend of doomy, bluesy punk and misanthropic metal built on heavy detuned riffs, walls of feedback, and vocalist Mike IX Williams' tortured screams. Their defining records include Take as Needed for Pain (1993) and Dopesick (1996), followed decades later by A History of Nomadic Behavior (2021).

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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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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.

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.

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.