IN THE EARLY '90s, a rock band from San Jose resurrected a timeless heavy-metal formula: slow, detuned guitar riffs plunged into darkness alongside ghostly vocal howls, all set to a painfully lumbering drum beat. Sound familiar? It should— this was the blueprint used by the high priests of heavy metal themselves, Black Sabbath, circa 1968. Only this time, a South Bay power-trio called Sleep, led by guitarist Matt Pike, was creating music even slower and heavier.

As Sleep, along with a handful of equally menacing bands, began creating a stir in the music press, a new vocabulary surfaced. Strange amalgamations like sludge rock, doom rock and stoner metal appeared in newspaper and magazine articles, and many wondered which of these groups would be the first to taste the fruits of mainstream success. And then, suddenly, it all but vanished. Steamrolled by grunge, the burgeoning fleet of slothful metal bands was swept under the music industry's rug.

Sleep's demise in 1997 could have signaled the final breath of the era. But a year later, Pike began jamming in his garage with drummer Des Kensel and Dear Deceased bassist George Rice. Within months, the new group began exploring a path that strayed from Sleep's sluggish brutality, culminating in a sound that was equally gargantuan, but faster, and fiercer. Pike and company named their new band High on Fire; a new movement of heavy metal was under way.

Meanwhile, in the decade between Metallica's rise to heavy-metal monarchy in the late '80s and High on Fire's garage sessions, a slew of other metal factions arose: black metal, death metal, classic metal. Despite the runaway success of the nü-metal trend led by Korn and Linkin Park, a new crop of talented groups is bringing back the spirit of metal's originators. Though High on Fire is still looking for a big-hit breakthrough, Austin, Texas–based the Sword found one when its song "Freya" made its way into the video game Guitar Hero II. Likewise, Aussie retro-metal act Wolfmother's self-titled debut album won a Grammy, and the Atlanta-based prog-metal outfit Mastodon's fourth album is selling like well-marketed hotcakes.

The Bay Area, always a hotbed of heavy-metal talent, has spawned a variety of bands that are combining the best elements of '70s metal with their own unique embellishments. Among the brightest and heaviest of these young metal bands is Santa Cruz's Archer (performing July 31 at the Brookdale Lodge), led by the face-melting guitar work of front-man Dylan Rosenburg.

Closer to home, San Jose's Desecrater (Aug. 16 at the Avalon in Santa Clara) mixes thrash, death metal and classic metal into a dizzying array of hard-rock mayhem. Across the bay, Oakland-based Saviours play their own blistering version of modern heavy metal. In San Francisco, sludge-titans Black Cobra (performing July 30 at Thee Parkside) might just be the heaviest band on the West Coast, combining bone-crushing doom metal with the hardest of rock.

Besides locals, there are a few notable shows by touring bands coming up—biggest of all, Crüe Fest 2 on July 30 at Shoreline Amphitheatre. Eighties hair-metal gods Mötley Crüe headline, with Dallas-based metal group Drowning Pool, alternative metal band Godsmack, 16 Second Stare and Canadian hard rock group Theory of a Deadman also performing.

Also on July 31 (at the VooDoo Lounge) is the Baptized in Beer Tour featuring the relentless riffage of Bison B.C. along with Lazarus and Woe of Tyrants. And from the sludge-rock side of the spectrum are the Melvins, who storm the stage at the Blank Club on Aug. 7. You can also treat yourself to a full night of prog-metal madness on Aug. 29 as San Jose's own Pericardium headlines a gig at the Venue with Heavy Water Experiments and Strobehead sharing the bill.

The future of heavy metal is as uncertain as the changing winds of popular music itself, but there's little doubt that the next wave of metal bands will continue the tradition birthed by Birmingham, England's Black Sabbath and the original Prince of Darkness. Whoever carries the shadowy torch into the next decade will surely harness the force of all that is heavy.

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