Ecstatic Vision are a heavy psych quartet from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, formed in 2013 by guitarist Douglas Sabolik following the dissolution of A Life Once Lost. Drawing from Detroit proto-punk (MC5, The Stooges), krautrock (Can, Guru Guru), space rock (Hawkwind), and Zambian rock, the band signed to Relapse Records for their debut Sonic Praise (2015). Subsequent albums Raw Rock Fury (2017), For the Masses (2019), and Elusive Mojo (2022) continued to push the band's raw, exploratory sound.

Chapel Hill, North Carolina project Horseback is the primary creative vehicle of multi-instrumentalist Jenks Miller, who has released more than a dozen recordings since 2007 fusing drone metal, black metal, American roots music, and psychedelic noise into a consistently singular body of work. The Invisible Mountain (2009) and Half Blood (2012) are among the more widely recognized releases in a catalog that has appeared on Relapse, Hydra Head, and Three Lobed Records. Miller's willingness to draw equally from Neil Young's Crazy Horse and the work of Sunn O))) makes Horseback a difficult project to categorize but an easy one to recognize.

Formed in Red Bank, New Jersey in 1989 by vocalist and guitarist Dave Wyndorf, Monster Magnet helped establish the template for stoner rock with their debut Spine of God (1991) and Superjudge (1993). Their 1998 album Powertrip crossed into mainstream success, earning a gold certification and placing the single Negasonic Teenage Warhead on heavy MTV rotation. Wyndorf remains the sole consistent member across eleven studio albums, and the band is widely credited as one of the genre's founding acts.