Southern Lord is an American heavy metal record label that was founded in 1998 by Greg Anderson. It specialized in

experimental metal Avant-garde metal (also known as avant-metal, experimental metal, and experimental) is a subgenre of heavy metal music loosely defined by use of experimentation and innovative, avant-garde elements, including non-standard and unconventional soun ...

: particularly

doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...

stoner rock Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Sleep. ...

, and

drone metal Drone metal or drone doom is a style of heavy metal that melds the slow tempos and heaviness of doom metal with the long-duration tones of drone music. Drone metal is sometimes associated with post-metal or experimental metal. Characteristics Ty ...

. The label later expanded its line-up to include artists from

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...

and

crust punk Crust punk (also known as crust or stenchcore) is a form of music influenced by English punk rock and extreme metal. The style, which evolved in the early 1980s in England, often has songs with dark and pessimistic lyrics that linger on politic ...

bands.

History

Before co-founding their own record label Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley were friends and bandmates in

Thorr's Hammer Thorr's Hammer was an American-Norwegian death-doom band. History Thorr's Hammer was formed in Ballard, Seattle, Washington by Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley during winter 1994–1995. Soon after, Runhild Gammelsæter, then a 17-year-ol ...

and

Burning Witch Burning Witch was an American doom metal band from Seattle, Washington, active between 1995 and 1998. Aside from EPs and split releases, the band released a compilation album called '' Crippled Lucifer'', which had songs of their early EPs. Hi ...

. The pair formed a new band named Sunn O))) in 1998 and moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. They started Southern Lord as a way to have control over the releases of their own recordings. Southern Lord's first release was the CD version (previous released as a cassette) of Thorr’s Hammer‘s ''Dommedagsnatt--'' a doom/death metal album with Norwegian lyrics. The second release was: Burning Witch‘s ''Crippled Lucifer--'' a compilation CD of the band's first two EPs. Subsequently Southern Lord branched out to release a compilation album from Scott "Wino" Weinrich's doom band The Obsessed. ''Incarnate w''as the first release to bear the Southern Lord label that did not include Anderson and O’Malley. Anderson's next band Goatsnake added another name to the roster. Wino continued his involvement with the label through various bands such as: Saint Vitus, Place of Skulls, as well as a solo artist in 2009. Southern Lord released material by Anderson and O’Malley‘s latest band,

Sunn O))) Sunn O))) (pronounced "sun") is an American experimental metal band formed in 1998 in Seattle, Washington. The band is known for their distinctive visual style and slow, heavy sound, which blends diverse genres including doom metal, drone, bla ...

in 2002. Sunn O))) was later reviewed several times by

Ben Ratliff Ben Ratliff (born 1968 in New York City) is an American journalist, music critic and author. Ratliff is the son of an English mother and an American father, growing up in London and in Rockland County, New York. From 1996 to 2016, he wrote abo ...

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

. The label's roster continued to grow with notable doom releases such as Warhorse’s ''As Heaven Turns to Ash,'' Place of Skulls ''Nailed and With Vision,'' as well as albums from Anderson's band Goatsnake. It also expanded its musical pallet releasing music by: Darkest Hour, Orcustus, and Dave Grohl‘s side project

Probot Probot was a heavy metal side project of ex-Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters rhythm guitarist and lead-singer Dave Grohl. Described by Grohl as "a death metal ''Supernatural''", the album mixes instrumentals recorded by Grohl himself with variou ...

. The band Earth joined the Southern Lord family in 2005—continuing Southern Lord's involvement in drone and doom music. Southern Lord released just shy of 20 black metal releases between 2005 and 2006—focused primarily on black metal with dark ambient undertones. Releases included albums by:

Xasthur Xasthur () is the project of American musician Scott "Malefic" Conner. Conner formed Xasthur in 1995 and released eight studio albums of black metal by 2010, when he announced the end of the project. However, he began using the name once again i ...

, Leviathan, Lurker of Chalice, as well as the ‘supergroup‘ Twilight. Relationships were also formed with international bands:

Deathspell Omega Deathspell Omega is a French black metal band formed in 1998 in Poitiers. Their lyrical content deals primarily with Satanism on a metaphysical level – as the band has stated that "all other interpretations of Satan are intellectually invali ...

Urgehal Urgehal () is a black metal band from Norway. It was formed in Hønefoss in 1992 by lead guitarist/vocalist Trond Bråthen ('Trondr Nefas') and rhythm guitarist 'Enzifer'. Before their split up in 2016, they released seven full-length albums, four ...

and

Striborg Striborg is a black metal / ambient project of Australian musician Russell Menzies. The project first began in 1994 under the name Kathaaria and during this time the stage name "Vvelkaarn" was used. The name Kathaaria was adapted from a Darkt ...

. Releases from Earth, Sunn O))) (including the heavily lauded

Monoliths & Dimensions ''Monoliths & Dimensions'' is the sixth studio album by drone metal band Sunn O))). The album was created and recorded over a period of two years and features the collaborations of composer Eyvind Kang, Australian guitar player Oren Ambarchi, Hun ...

), and a series of Boris 7″s to go along with the album ''Smile'' took place at the end of the decade.

Artists

This is a list of the artists who have recorded for Southern Lord Records.

Current roster

Former bands, one-offs, etc.

References

External links