Southern Lord is an American heavy metal record label that was founded in 1998 by Greg Anderson. It specialized in experimental metal: 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, and drone metal. 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 bands.

History

Before co-founding their own record label Greg Anderson and

Stephen O'Malley Stephen O'Malley (sometimes referred to as SOMA; born July 15, 1974) is an American guitarist, producer, composer, and visual artist from Seattle, Washington, who has conceptualized and participated in numerous drone doom, death/doom, and exper ...

were friends and bandmates in Thorr's Hammer 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. Hist ...

. 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 of

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. 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, 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 invalid" ...

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), 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