Southern Metal is an emerging sub-genre of metal, that shares a common lineage with Doom Metal, Sludge Metal, and Stoner Metal. They are all derived from the "Black Sabbath" family tree of Heavy Metal. Doom Metal is characterized by slow, heavy riffs, slow plodding melodies and a dark oppressive atmosphere. Sludge Metal is similar to Doom Metal, but with more hardcore influenced beats, bursts of speed, and generally with shouted vocals. Stoner Metal is generally more upbeat, with mid-tempo bass and guitar riffs, raw, stripped down production values giving off kind of a '70s rock vibe. Think Blue Oyster Cult, and Led Zeppelin branches of the Black Sabbath family tree.

Southern Metal contains aspects of these three genres. Some Southern Metal has slow, plodding heavy riffs, some have more upbeat mid-tempo riffs, and some show the hardcore influences of Sludge. The primary aspect separating Southern Metal from Doom, Sludge and Stoner metal,  is the distinct blues and country overtones added to the mix, along with southern imagery, and subject matter. Although, Southern Metal is related to these other genres, the bluesy riffs, and country style riffs owe as much to bands like Lynrd Skynnrd and  early Charlie Daniels as they do Black Sabbath. Many Southern Metal bands do hail from the southern United States, but Southern Metal speaks to musical style as much as location, and there are many great Southern Metal, or Southern Hard Rock bands from outside of the American south.

Southern Death Metal
An important and emerging sub-set of Southern Metal , that does not necessarily derive from Doom, Sludge or Stoner Metal, Southern Death Metal is just that: It is Death Metal infused with blues, and country derived riffs and imagery  It IS Death Metal,  with screaming vocals, super fast, complex rhythms, and double bass blasts - but you can clearly  pick up the blues influence, giving it a very distinctly different sound than what is typically considered Death Metal..