What it is, what to hear first, and what sits next to it.
Stoner metal is a subgenre of metal music that combines elements of doom metal with elements of psychedelic rock and blues rock to create a melodic yet heavy sound. Like stoner metal's close relative genre stoner rock, riffs are often groovy and psychedelic, while the tempo of the music as a whole is generally slow to mid paced. The guitar tuning is kept low and, unlike stoner rock, there is an additional emphasis on a bass-heavy sound. This form of music was first pioneered in the early 1990s by such bands as Kyuss, Sleep, and Cathedral. .