Denver's Messiahvore formed in 2021 at the intersection of sludge, stoner, and groove metal, occupying the fertile space where riffs are built for maximum swing and maximum punishment simultaneously. Their music has the slow-cooked psychedelic weight of stoner metal combined with groove metal's hip-centric punch, making them a band as suited to a headbang as to a haze.

San Luis Obispo's Meth Leppard play exactly the kind of scuzzy, riff-addled rock that their gleefully irreverent name promises — a collision of stoner metal's THC-soaked grooves with thrash metal's punk-derived velocity. Formed in 2015 on California's Central Coast, they stake out a territory between the desert rock tradition and thrash 'n' roll swagger, keeping things loose and heavy in equal measure. They are a party band in the best sense: unpretentious, loud, and built for the stage.

Mico de Noche have been Seattle's slow-burning stoner metal institution since 2002, crafting thick, fuzz-drenched grooves that owe as much to the Pacific Northwest's heavy psych tradition as to any riff-worshipping desert scene. Their two-plus decades of active existence speak to a staying power rooted in the hypnotic, heads-down weight of their sound.

Towering Doom / Stoner Metal / Rock out of Texas.

Vancouver, Washington's Minoton traffic in sun-scorched stoner metal that lands somewhere between fuzzed-out desert rock and downtuned heaviness, a band that has been honing its slow-burning, riff-driven approach since 2011.

Columbia, South Carolina's MNRVA traffic in the overlapping territories of doom, stoner, and sludge metal, building slow-burning riff structures with a hazy, sun-baked weight. Founded in 2023, the band carries on the Southern tradition of heaviness as a physical, almost geological force.

Pittsburgh's Mold Farmer blend the fuzz-soaked riff worship of stoner metal with the funeral pace of doom, cultivating a sound that's both hazy and heavy in equal measure. Since 2019 they've added another layer to Pittsburgh's already rich tradition of slow and heavy music.

Pittsburgh's Monolith Wielder traffic in the smoke-thickened overlap between stoner and doom metal, building their sound around slow, heavy grooves and the kind of hazy, riff-forward inertia the city's underground does well.

Moon Curse is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin stoner-doom band formed in 2012, weaving fuzz-heavy riffing through slow, hypnotic grooves in the tradition of the genre's heaviest practitioners. Their sound is built on thick, deliberate tempos and the kind of psychedelic weight that makes the room feel smaller.

Moon Wizard is a Salt Lake City stoner-doom outfit formed in 2019, conjuring thick, fuzz-saturated riffs over slow tempos in the classic tradition of the genre. Their sound leans into the psychedelic and occult rock side of stoner metal, with a heavy groove that suits the Utah landscape's vast, strange terrain.

Moonbow is a stoner rock and metal outfit from Dry Ridge, Kentucky, active since 2013, rooted in the heavy, fuzz-driven sound that defines the genre while carrying a distinctly Appalachian sensibility. Their music is built for volume and road miles.

Moonfarmer is a Grand Junction, Colorado sludge-doom project formed in 2024, combining stoner heaviness with sludge's abrasive, tar-thick texture and doom's slow-grinding tempos. Grand Junction's high desert isolation feels right at home in music this massive and unhurried.

A Pennsylvania doom, stoner, and sludge outfit active since 1999, Moons traffic in slow, pulverizing riffs and narcotic haze — occupying the heavy, low-tuned intersection where all three genres bleed together.

A stoner metal and rock band from Dayton, Ohio, formed in 2023, Moontemple pursue the fuzz-heavy, riff-driven aesthetic where amplifier worship and psychedelic repetition are the primary virtues.

Ayer, Massachusetts quartet Moosataur have been crafting psychedelic doom and stoner metal since 2013, layering lysergic haze over slow, crushing riffwork in a style that's as trance-inducing as it is heavy.