Stoner Metal Doom Metal Vol. 1 — Down the Rabbit Hole of Heavy, Fuzzy Rifftastical Goodness
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"What happens when fresh green collides with Metal? Duuuuuuuuuuude…"
"Zeppelin + Sabbath + Weed = Stoner Metal."
"Every time a Stoner/Doom Metal band plays, Tony Iommi smiles."
"Is Sleep the Modern Day Black Sabbath?"
About This Episode
Stoner Metal. Doom Metal. Sludge Metal. The label doesn't really matter. What DOES really matter is how fantastically heavy and awesome ALL of it is. On this Metal Nerdery Stoner Metal Showcase Vol. 1, we check out some of the early, influential stoner and doom metal bands (cough Black Sabbath more coughing), discuss the differences between the subgenres, and talk about anything and everything with relevant tangentionalality to Stoner Metal.
Roll another bowl, prepare your favorite relaxer, crank up the lava lamps and black lights and join us for a trip down the rabbit hole where everything is wood paneling, shag carpeting and incredibly heavy, fuzzy, stony rifftastical goodness.
Opening message from Marc Potterson — stoner metal awesomeness in full effect. DOWN at Download playing "Bury Me in Smoke" with the legendary Donnington/Download banter set the tone immediately. "Email us YOUR favorite Stoner/Doom Metal bands at metalnerdery@gmail.com."
The pre-show rabbit hole: Suicide Paneling & Shag Carpeting. The smorgasbord of stoner metal styles. A full update on the "...And Pasta for All Tour." Ron checks in. Marc Potterson returns with a word on the Shag Carpet Strain from the 70s. Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg operating levels discussed. The munchies — check out Big Daddy's BBQ Pit on YouTube for your munchie needs.
The Three Subgenres — Know Your Stoner Metal
Stoner Metal / Stoner Rock
Heavy, fuzz-drenched, riff-forward rock with a psychedelic edge. Think Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age, Fu Manchu, Monster Magnet. Groovy, spacey, and built for desert highways and lava lamps.
Doom Metal
Slow, heavy, atmospheric. Takes the Sabbath blueprint and cranks the tempo down to a crawl and the weight up to crushing. Saint Vitus, Pentagram, Electric Wizard. Every note feels like it weighs a ton.
Sludge Metal
Doom Metal meets hardcore aggression. Feedback-drenched, abrasive, and deliberately ugly. DOWN, Eyehategod, Acid Bath. New Orleans is the spiritual home. Filthy in the best possible way.
Episode Timestamps
The Bands — Full Rundown
The origin of everything. You cannot have Stoner Metal without Black Sabbath — they invented the template that every band on this list built on. Tony Iommi's tuned-down, fuzz-drenched riffs on the first six albums are ground zero. Sweet Leaf is the anthem. Fairies Wear Boots is the deep cut. Planet Caravan is the comedown. All six of those first albums qualify as proto-stoner metal.
"Every time a Stoner/Doom Metal band plays, Tony Iommi smiles." / "HAIL to Tony Iommi & Black Sabbath."
Pre-Sabbath Prior to Sabbath. Blue Cheer's 1968 cover of "Summertime Blues" is one of the earliest examples of genuinely heavy, fuzz-drenched proto-metal — two years before Black Sabbath's debut. One of the great underappreciated historical footnotes in heavy music.
The American take on Black Sabbath — and one of doom metal's most troubled origin stories. Bobby Liebling spent decades in the wilderness before Pentagram finally got the recognition they deserved. Watch the documentary "Last Days Here" for the full, heartbreaking, ultimately redemptive story. Essential viewing for any stoner/doom fan.
Doom metal before doom metal was a genre. Wino's vocals and Dave Chandler's massively downtuned guitar created a sound that influenced an entire generation of bands who had no idea how to describe what they were hearing. If Pentagram is the East Coast answer to Sabbath, Saint Vitus is the West Coast.
The Modern Day Black Sabbath? That's the question. Holy Mountain (1992) is the album that introduced an entire generation to modern doom — Matt Pike's guitar tone is unholy. Dopesmoker is a single 63-minute track about a marijuana caravan traveling to the Promised Land. It was rejected by their label for being "unreleasable." It is now considered a masterpiece. If you have time to kill, go listen to it. All of it.
"Is Sleep the Modern Day Black Sabbath?" / "If you have time to kill, go listen to Sleep's Dopesmoker."
Matt Pike's post-Sleep band — faster, more aggressive, more Motörhead than Sabbath. "A heavier Motörhead" is exactly right. High on Fire took the doom template and injected it with thrash energy, creating something that works at festival volume and at 2am alone with headphones on. Both things simultaneously.
"A heavier Motorhead." / "#gofast #badass #mattpike"
The Palm Desert Scene in one band. Kyuss essentially invented the blueprint for desert rock/stoner rock — playing outdoor parties in the Coachella Valley powered by generators in the dark. Welcome to Sky Valley is structured like the first Sabbath album — three suites rather than individual tracks. Tangentionally related to QOTSA (Josh Homme connection).
"Is it pronounced Kyuss? Or Kyuss?" — a debate for the ages.
The commercially successful evolution of the Palm Desert Scene. "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" lists its ingredients in the lyrics — a song about exactly what it sounds like. QOTSA has a tangentional relation to Kyuss through Josh Homme, who served as Kyuss's rhythm guitarist before founding QOTSA. The stoner scene's biggest mainstream success story.
"#nowitsaparty"
Read those lyrics. Seriously. Dave Wyndorf's lyrical universe is its own psychedelic sci-fi dimension. "Space Lord" has an uncensored version — the full title should tell you everything you need to know. (#spacelordmotherfucker). Tractor is the deeper, weirder cut that rewards multiple listens.
"#readthoselyrics" / "FYI: There is an UNCENSORED version of Space Lord."
The heaviest band in the universe — self-proclaimed, and not entirely disputable. Jus Oborn's guitar tone on Dopethrone is genuinely unlike anything else in recorded music. Funeralopolis is their defining track — seven minutes of absolutely crushing, fuzz-drenched doom that makes you feel the music physically. #hearthecough
Phil Anselmo, Pepper Keenan, Kirk Windstein, Rex Brown, and Jimmy Bower — the greatest metal supergroup ever assembled — playing New Orleans sludge/doom at its most monolithic. "Bury Me in Smoke" opened the episode with the legendary Donnington/Download banter clip. NOLA is the definitive Southern sludge metal album. Also see: our supergroups episode.
"New Orleans is a Dying Whore" / "#killeropener"
ZZ Sabbath. That's the description and it's perfect — the Texas riff tradition colliding with Sabbath worship to create one of the great stoner metal bands of the 2000s. "Winter's Wolves" is a Metal Nerdery #cantbeloudenough track. HAIL to The Sword.
"Sword = ZZ Sabbath." / "HAIL to The Sword!!!"
Ukrainian stoner/psych rock — and genuinely excellent. "Here Come the Robots" is the entry point. The album art is worth a specific discussion — stoner metal album art as a genre unto itself is one of the episode's better tangents.
California stoner rock royalty. #rollandpass. Fu Manchu have been doing this longer than almost anyone and doing it more consistently than almost everyone. Supercruel gets noted as having "a touch of QOTSA and Foo Fighters" — #rollanotherlaxer.
UK stoner metal done right. Orange Goblin have been consistently excellent for 30 years and remain criminally underrated outside the genre. "Time Traveling Blues" is the entry point for the uninitiated.
Super slowed down thrash metal — the definition is perfect. Mike Scheidt's YOB operate at a tempo that makes Electric Wizard sound speedy. "The Unreal Never Lived" is mandatory listening for anyone who thinks they've heard the heaviest thing there is. They haven't.
More doom-adjacent than straight stoner rock — Solace occupy the space between the two with a heavy riff sensibility and a blues undercurrent. #blackdog and #strangerdanger.
Check out their videos — seriously. Red Fang's music videos are as entertaining as their music, which is saying something. #strohs #pbr. Portland stoner metal with a sense of humor and serious riff chops.
The honorable mentions and rabbit holes. Orchid (Capricorn), Acid Mammoth (check out the song titles — they're incredible), The Melvins (more volumes of stoner metal to come), Cough (A Year in Suffering), Nebula (To the Center), King Weed (Doomsday, Smoking Land), and Unida (for the tangentionally related bands of consequentional tangentionalality). Check out bandcamp.com for the deeper cuts.
The Big Debates
🏆 Is Sleep the Modern Day Black Sabbath?
The question that keeps coming back. Black Sabbath invented the template. Sleep took it, slowed it down further, added more weed, and created something equally foundational for the genre. Is Dopesmoker the 21st century answer to Black Sabbath's debut? Make the case.
🎸 Stoner Metal vs Doom Metal vs Sludge Metal — where do the lines actually fall?
Kyuss is stoner rock. Electric Wizard is doom. DOWN is sludge. But Sleep is all three simultaneously. Does the taxonomy even matter — or does it all just fall under the umbrella of "music that makes Tony Iommi smile"?
🌵 The Palm Desert Scene — the most important regional metal scene in history?
Kyuss, QOTSA, Unida, Mondo Generator, Earthlings? — all born from the same California desert generator parties. Is the Palm Desert Scene the most creatively fertile regional metal scene since the NWOBHM pub circuit? The argument is surprisingly strong.
💀 Pentagram's "Last Days Here" — the saddest story in doom metal?
Bobby Liebling formed Pentagram in 1971. They didn't release their debut album until 1985. The documentary covers everything in between — and it's one of the most harrowing, ultimately hopeful stories in all of metal. Required viewing.
- Episode: Metal Nerdery #52 — published August 17, 2020
- Pre-Sabbath stoner metal origin: Blue Cheer — "Summertime Blues" (1968)
- The equation: Zeppelin + Sabbath + Weed = Stoner Metal
- Dopesmoker runtime: 63 minutes — one track
- Kyuss connection to QOTSA: Josh Homme — tangentional
- Space Lord uncensored title: #spacelordmotherfucker
- Best new word coined: "Tangentionalality" — we stand by it
- Stoner metal munchie recommendation: Big Daddy's BBQ Pit on YouTube
- More volumes of Stoner Metal: Coming…
