Zatvor
Zatvor is a long-running experimental doom/sludge/drone project from Kursk, Russia, active since 1996. Their 2018 release 'Ключ земли' is a single 49-minute piece blending guitars, drums, flute, and saxophone with noise and electronic textures over a drone/doom foundation, mixed and mastered by James Plotkin.
SCORE PROFILE
Accent numbers counted towards the index. Hover an axis — or hold it on a phone — for what it means.
WHY THOSE SCORES
- Jazzy 2 — Flute and saxophone woven into the doom/drone base.
- Glitch 3 — Layers noises and electronic elements combined with industrial aesthetics.
- Doom 6 — Self-described 'atmospheric doom / sludge metal psychedelia'.
- Drone 5 — Single 49-minute composition built on 'visceral drone foundations'.
- Ambient 4 — 'Immersive, meditative soundscaping'.
CONNECTIONS
- James Plotkinpath →
James Plotkin mixed and mastered Zatvor's 2018 album 'Ключ земли'. source ↗
FURTHER LISTENING
Nearest score profiles in the atlas.
- UnaffiliatedEI 17Persistence in MourningDoomDroneAmbient
Persistence in Mourning is the Oklahoma City-based solo funeral doom project of Andy Lippoldt, active since 2006, described as sitting between funeral doom, death industrial, power electronics and death metal.
- UnaffiliatedEI 13All Are to ReturnDoomAmbientDrone
All Are to Return is a mostly-anonymous two-person industrial doom/noise project (credited only as 'F' and 'N') based in the Netherlands, releasing since 2020 via Tartarus Records. Their records (II, 2021; III, 2024; Limen, 2025) build colossal, FX-drenched noise-scapes from pulsing synths, doom-paced percussion, and screamed vocals, with lyrical/conceptual focus on ecological collapse and climate catastrophe. No gamelan or other Indonesian/Balinese percussion instrumentation was found in any source consulted, despite that being the scouting lead's premise — the confirmed sound is industrial/doom/noise, not gamelan-folk fusion.
- UnaffiliatedEI 10Beneath the SodDoomDroneAmbient
Beneath the Sod is the solo funeral/industrial doom project of Irish musician Ray Keenaghan (Wreck of the Hesperus), formed 2017. Releases include Circling the Drain (2017, Fort Evil Fruit), the split cassette Transmorphic Eye (2018, with Crypticum), and a self-titled 2021 EP on Cursed Monk Records described as harsh, synth-laced industrial doom metal with guest vocals from Richard Carson.
- Blackgaze / avant-blackEI 15Psy-No-ArkDoomDroneAmbient
Ecuadorian experimental collective from Guayaquil ('Psychedelic-Noise-Arkestra') led by multi-instrumentalist José Francisco Ycaza (aka Esquizoide 0nírico), billed 'Arkestra Director' in the Sun Ra tradition. Their 2019 album Nodvs Gordivs (Pensador Records) is a long-form concept piece weaving Castro, Alexander the Great and the Sabazios cult into a psychedelic doom/sludge/krautrock ritual built from extended pieces of noise, orchestral texture and heavy riffing.
- UnaffiliatedEI 13The Mountain KingDoomDroneAmbient
German experimental/noise act (Mainz) built around destructive recording techniques rather than conventional songwriting — their Radiant Eulogy series deliberately degrades master tapes (sun exposure, physical decay) to bury heavy doom riffs under crackling, collapsing signal. Prolific (37+ Bandcamp releases since 2013) across noise, post-metal, drone, doom, and post-rock with electronic/tape elements. Sits closer to power-electronics/drone art-noise than conventional metal songcraft.
- UnaffiliatedEI 17Black MayonnaiseDoomDroneAmbient
Black Mayonnaise is the long-running one-man bedroom project of Mike Duncan from Akron, Ohio, active since August 1991. It blends heavily detuned, distorted doom/sludge guitar with drum-machine programming, tape loops and cut-up sonic manipulation into a lo-fi, ambient/psych-drone-inflected sound. Cited influences include old Godflesh, old Carcass, Butthole Surfers and Big Black; notable releases include TTSSATTSR (2004) and the retrospective compilation When You Get Caught Between the Moon and Boston Harbor (2011). (Verified spelling: the RYM scout note had a typo, 'Black Mayonaise' — the real band spells it 'Black Mayonnaise'.)
- UnaffiliatedEI 9Lochrian PoemDoomDroneAmbient
Lochrian Poem is the solo project of Romanian multi-instrumentalist Andrei 'Solomonar' Oltean (Sibiu), billed as experimental atmospheric doom metal. Debut LP Snow (2019) is a short, bleak meditation on the grey, static urban-decay landscapes of Sibiu's Guşteriţa suburb, built on droning, dissonant doom guitar (Bandcamp tags it 'phasing') under a heavily atmospheric mix, with tracks stretching past sixteen minutes.
- UnaffiliatedEI 13The Crawling ChaosDoomDroneAmbient
The Crawling Chaos is a Moscow noise/sludge act formed in 2013 ('filth & stench since 2013'), blending doom, black metal and drone into an abrasive, atmosphere-heavy sound thickened by saxophone and noise/synth layers. They've released a self-titled full-length (2015), Гильотины поют о любви (2016), the EP Стерилизация преданных слуг, and the 2024 split Организованное безумие (Organized Madness) with fellow atlas act Neon Scaffold.
- Southern Lord / droneEI 23ThronesDoomDroneAmbient
Thrones is the long-running solo project of American bassist Joe Preston, begun in 1994 and given to bass-heavy doom, avant-garde noise rock and experimental drone. Preston is a scene hub in his own right — a former member of Earth and the Melvins and a guest on Sunn O)))'s recordings — and Thrones channels that low-end lineage into one-man records like the Southern Lord compilation Day Late, Dollar Short (2005). The music pairs crushing riffs and heavily processed vocals with an eclectic, unpredictable sensibility.
- UnaffiliatedEI 16Opium WarlordsDoomDroneAmbient
Opium Warlords is the solo-turned-trio outlet of Sami Albert Hynninen (Albert Witchfinder of Reverend Bizarre), stretching doom metal into extended drone-riff meditations with minimal percussion. Since 2010 he has been joined by drummer Erkki Virta and keyboardist Laura Länsimäki, though the project remains built around Hynninen's distorted bass and bleak conceptual framing. Six albums deep on Svart Records, the band trades hooks for duration, dissolving riffs into noise and silence.