Drone metal ordrone doom^[1][2] is a style ofheavy metal that melds the slow tempos and heaviness ofdoom metal with the long-duration tones ofdrone music.^[3][4] Drone metal is sometimes associated withpost-metal^[5] orexperimental metal.^[6]

Typically, the electric guitar is performed with a large amount of reverb or audio feedback^[3] while vocals may or may not be present. Songs often lack beat or rhythm in the traditional sense and are typically very long. The experience of a drone metal performance has been compared by novelistJohn Wray inThe New York Times to listening to an Indianraga in the middle of an earthquake.^[3] Wray also states, "It's hard to imagine any music being heavier or, for that matter, very much slower."^[3] A pioneer band of drone metal calledSunn O))) has indicated a kinship withsound sculpture.^[3] Jan Tumlir indicates a "sustainedinfra-sound rumble ofsub-bass—so-calledbrown noise".^[4]

Early guitar-produced drone effects go as far back as thekrautrock (for exampleCluster II byCluster, 1972) and earlynoise rock /industrial music era (Metal Machine Music byLou Reed, 1975;Stahlwerksynfonie byDie Krupps, 1981).

Drone metal was first established byEarth,^[7] a group fromOlympia, Washington, formed in 1989 by minimalist musicianDylan Carlson,^[2] which has been described as "minimalistpost-grunge".^[3] Earth took inspiration from thesludge metal ofMelvins and theminimalist music ofLa Monte Young,Terry Riley andTony Conrad.^[2]Stephen O'Malley's groupBurning Witch, formed five years later, also in Seattle, continued in this tradition, incorporating unusual vocals and bursts ofaudio feedback. The group initially recorded for the prominentpowerviolence labelSlap-a-Ham. O'Malley's subsequent group,Sunn O))),^[3][4] initially formed as a tribute to Earth, is most responsible for the contemporary prominence of the drone metal style.Godflesh is also a stated influence on many groups.Boris,^[3][8] from Tokyo, also developed a style of drone metal, parallel with the Seattle groups, as didCorrupted, from Osaka.^[2]

Nadja (Toronto),Locrian^[9] (US),Jesu (UK), Black Boned Angel (Wellington, New Zealand),Khanate (New York City), Ocean (Portland, Maine),Growing^[10] (New York City),KTL (Washington/London), Ascend^[11] andEagle Twin (US),^[12]Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine (Nottingham, England),Conan (Liverpool, England) andMoss (Southampton, England) are prominent drone metal groups that formed in the early 21st century.^[2] Noise musicians, such asKevin Drumm andOren Ambarchi, have also worked in the style.^[13]Rhys Chatham's Essentialist project is a contribution to drone metal by an elder composer,^[6] attempting to "arrive at ana priori essence of heavy metal, reducing it to a basic chord progression".^[14]

Stephen O'Malley fromSunn O))) collaborated on an installation with artistBanks Violette, who has likened drone metal to the work ofDonald Judd.^[3] Tumlir locates a precedent inRobert Rauschenberg.^[4] Violette points out, however, that drone metal is "as much a physiological phenomenon as an acoustic one",^[3] with an attendant physicality. O'Malley has also mentioned an appreciation forCormac McCarthy andRichard Serra.^[1] Rhys Chatham's Essentialist included projections byRobert Longo.^[6]Jim Jarmusch's 2009 filmThe Limits of Control features music by a number of drone metal groups.^[15] Jarmusch said, "I love these kind of visual landscapes they make, and they really inspired things for me for my film ..., because when I write I'm listening to things that inspire me in the direction of whatever world I'm imagining. Boris and Sunn O))) and Earth were really instrumental in me just finding a place in my head."^[16]

• Doom metal
• Japanoise
• Noise rock
• Sludge metal
• Stoner metal

• Coggins, Owen (2018). "Amplifier Worship: Materiality and Mysticism in Heavy Sound".Mysticism, Ritual, and Religion in Drone Metal. Bloomsbury Studies in Religion and Popular Music.London:Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 115–136.doi:10.5040/9781350025127.ch-005.ISBN 978-1-3500-2510-3.
• Coggins, Owen (June 2015). Walters, Barbara R. (ed.)."The Invocation at Tilburg: Mysticism, Implicit Religion, and Gravetemple's Drone Metal"(PDF).Implicit Religion: Journal for the Critical Study of Religion.18 (2).London:Equinox Publishing:209–231.doi:10.1558/imre.v18i2.27238.ISSN 1743-1697.S2CID 146358066.Archived(PDF) from the original on July 15, 2021. RetrievedFebruary 1, 2022.