Early in the next decade, California's Kyuss and Sleep, inspired by the earlier doom metal bands, spearheaded the rise of stoner metal, while Seattle's Earth helped develop the drone metal subgenre.
Tidligt i det næste årti var californiske Kyuss og Sleep forgangsband inden for stoner metal, som var inspireret af de tidligere doom metal band, mens Seattles Earth hjælp med at udvikle drone metal undergenren.