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Heavy Metal Thunder Stoner Metal / Stoner Doom

Genres Heavy Metal Doom Metal Stoner Metal / Stoner Doom

Stoner Metal / Stoner Doom

Doom with the misery swapped for fuzz and groove. Warm, hazy, and designed for a room full of overworked amplifiers.

Active years
1991 – present
Origin
USA (California / South)
Family
Doom Metal
Bands here
14

Before you press play

Explicit content

Graphic lyrics and artwork are a defining feature of this genre rather than an occasional accident — which of violence, gore or sex depends on the band. Worth knowing before you put it on in a room with other people in it.

Start here

Four records in order of how easy they are to get into — which is not the same as best first.

  1. Blues for the Red Sun Kyuss, 1992

    Desert rock with the bass through a guitar amp. Warm, groovy and the easiest possible way into anything this slow.

    Listen to Blues for the Red Sun

  2. Dopes to Infinity Monster Magnet, 1995

    Space rock with the fuzz at maximum. More songs and fewer riffs-for-their-own-sake than the rest of the genre.

    Listen to Dopes to Infinity

  3. Dopethrone Electric Wizard, 2000

    The heaviest record here by some distance. Deliberately murky, genuinely oppressive, and adored for exactly that.

    Listen to Dopethrone

  4. Dopesmoker Sleep, 2003 The landmark

    One song, an hour long, about a caravan of ritual smokers crossing a desert. Recorded in 1994; the label refused to release it, the band refused to cut it, and the band split up. It first reached shops in 1999 as an unauthorised 52-minute edit called Jerusalem — this 2003 Tee Pee release is the authorised version.

    Listen to Dopesmoker

What it sounds like

Fuzz, and lots of it. The guitars run through overdriven valve amps until the tone is warm and furry rather than sharp, and the riffs sit in a mid-paced groove you can nod along to. Bass is prominent and often plays through a guitar amp, which is where the thickness comes from. Vocals are usually sung, sometimes buried in the mix as another texture. Where doom is oppressive, this is hazy and oddly comfortable — the tempos are just as slow but the mood is entirely different. The seventies are everywhere in it: Sabbath riffs, desert-rock space and a general preference for feel over precision. The most physically pleasant thing in metal to listen to loudly.

  • Heaviness 4 out of 5
  • Speed 1 out of 5
  • Aggression 2 out of 5
  • Technicality 2 out of 5
  • Darkness 2 out of 5
  • Melody 3 out of 5

Where the name came from

Named for the genre's cultural association with cannabis and psychedelic drugs, reflecting both the hazy, fuzz-saturated sound and the lifestyle surrounding California's early-1990s desert rock scene. Sleep's Holy Mountain (1992) and Kyuss's Blues for the Red Sun (1992) defined the aesthetic.

The bands

Hear these first

  • Sleep USA
  • Kyuss USA
  • Electric Wizard UK
  • Monster Magnet USA
  • Orange Goblin UK

And 9 more

  • Bongripper USA
  • Yob USA
  • Windhand USA
  • High on Fire USA
  • Weedeater USA
  • Fu Manchu USA
  • Truckfighters Sweden
  • Red Fang USA
  • Beastwars New Zealand

If you liked this

Closest in sound outside this family, leaning towards the similar or the gentler rather than straight into the deep end.