A Guide to Southern Lord

Southern Lord isn't your typical metal label. Started ten years ago by Sunn O))) /Thorr's Hammer members Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley (aka SOMA), the Southern Lord imprint pretty much bypasses the shred-happier aspects of the genre in favor of serving up some of the slowest, trippiest and heaviest metal in captivity. But while the label is generally associated with the Black Sabbath-derived doom sub-genre, much of their output is less about banging your head than it is about taking extended journeys within it. It often seems like there's just as much Brian Eno in Southern Lord's grooves as Tony Iommi. Anderson and O'Malley also have their ears finely attuned to the more "out there" variations of black metal, a genre whose adherents tend to look askance at any deviation from conventions established two decades ago.

Consequently, Southern Lord has developed as much (or more) of a cult following among indie hipsters and lovers of noise and experimental rock as it has among metalheads, which has resulted in the label being pigeonholed as a hotbed of "thinking man's metal." In reality, much of the imprint's output sounds best when you're not thinking — so turn off your mind, relax and float downstream with Southern Lord's finest slabs.