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

black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw ( lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an em ...

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 pu ...

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

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

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. 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 and Striborg. Releases from Earth, Sunn O))) (including the heavily lauded Monoliths & Dimensions), and a series of

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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