Doom metal

Doom Metal
Stylistic origins	Heavy metal (mainly early Black Sabbath albums)
Cultural origins	mid-1980s, Europe
Typical instruments	Guitar - Bass - Drums - Synthesizer
Derivative forms	Gothic metal
Subgenres
Death/Doom Metal, Funeral Doom, Sludge/Doom, Drone/Doom
Fusion genres
Sludge/Doom Metal, Doomdeath, Drone Metal
Regional scenes
United Kingdom, United States, Finland, Sweden

Doom metal is a form of heavy metal that emerged as a recognized genre of metal in the mid-1980s. Doom metal is slow and heavy, with a pessimistic nature and often with intentions to evoke an atmosphere of darkness, despair and misery. It is strongly influenced by the early work of Black Sabbath. A number of early Black Sabbath tracks, such as "Black Sabbath" and "War Pigs," are often considered embryonic or prototypical doom metal songs. Many of the tracks on their third album Master of Reality (released in 1971) seem to have more in common with what today is seen as doom metal, with tracks such as "Sweet Leaf", "Into The Void", and "Children of the Grave" that featured Tony Iommi's guitar and Geezer Butler's bass tuned down to C# for heavier riffing and reduced string tension for his previously injured fingers. However Black Sabbath was not the only influence. Many doom metal bands started up only a few years after Black Sabbaths debut, with many hailing from countries where the popularity of Black Sabbath had not yet spread.

History of doom metal

Doom metal is among the oldest forms of heavy metal, rooted in the music of early Black Sabbath, who are generally considered one of the first heavy metal bands. In the early 1970s both Black Sabbath and the American band Pentagram composed and performed this heavy/slow music which would later (in the '80s) begin to be known and referred to as doom metal by subsequent musicians and by fans of the music. From the late 1970s to mid 1980s, bands such as Trouble, Saint Vitus, Candlemass, Cathedral, Pentagram and Witchfinder General contributed much to the formation of doom metal as a distinct genre. The form of music played by these artists can be described as being rooted in both the music of Black Sabbath and, especially in the case of Witchfinder General, and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The slowness of their music is often seen by some as a reaction to the increasing tempos of the contemporary thrash, power and speed metal movements of the 1980s.

Doom metal first became widely recognized within the metal scene with Sweden's Candlemass, who are hailed in the mainstream metal press as one of the most important and influential doom metal bands; their 1986 album Epicus Doomicus Metallicus is considered a genre-defining release. According to the proponents of the classic doom metal style, the most prototypical doom metal band would be Saint Vitus, who released their self-titled debut album in 1984 - two years before doom metal as a genre was recognised in the mainstream metal press. Saint Vitus still remains one of the most legendary and influential bands within the genre.

Doom metal developed further in the early 1990s. The breaking point and probably the most influential doom metal band from the early 1990s to the present was Cathedral, especially their debut album Forest of Equilibrium (1991). Although it was a traditional doom release, this album opened a wide range of possible influences and directions for the coming doom metal bands.

A few death metal bands bordered the line of doom metal by slowing down their playing style, such as Sorrow or Paradise Lost on their debut. A number of bands started combining the original doom metal style that was pioneered in the 1980s with influences from death metal and other forms of extreme metal and even hardcore. The first band who mixed doom with death metal may have been the heavily Celtic Frost-influenced Winter, although this style known as death/doom later became generally associated with and made popular within wider heavy metal audience by three British bands: Paradise Lost(old), My Dying Bride and old Anathema.

Although classic doom and death/doom have remained central to the present, during the 1990s the doom metal genre developed in much further styles. In the early 1990s European bands such as Thergothon and Funeral moved the basis of death/doom to the extreme. This utterly slow and often very dark style is now known as funeral doom. At the same time, American bands such as Crowbar and Eyehategod mixed certain doom metal with a lot of hardcore and even some punk influencies and created another new faction within the doom metal scene: sludge doom. Also, the band Earth (Seattle band, not to be confused with early name of Black Sabbath) pioneered the rise of drone doom, as the slowest and the most minimalistic form of doom.

A number of bands, such as The Gathering and Theatre of Tragedy took the mellower side of Paradise Lost, and started with a lot of experimentation with female vocals and keyboards and created the generally more accessible genre of gothic metal. Although this genre is generally considered to be inspired by some doom metal bands, it is not considered as doom's subgenre, but as a genre for itself. Gothic metal was seen as a mix between metal and gothic music (which is actually fairly opposite to doom metal).

Also, it has been argued that a nexus exists between doom metal, stoner rock and psychedelic rock, although each of these genres have developed on their own. The stoner rock bands like Kyuss, Fu Manchu, Mondo Generator and Queens of the Stone Age share with doom metal a heavy sound and a strong Black Sabbath influence, but generally have a different objective: whereas doom metal aims for dark and moody themes and atmosphere, stoner rock aims for a groovy "feelgood" and psychedelic sound. A number of doom metal bands, however, such as Cathedral(mid) and Sleep, have combined doom metal with psychedelic influences, thereby creating a style which can be considered a hybrid form of doom metal and psychedelic rock.

Nowadays, the original brand of doom metal with clean vocals is usually labelled as a "traditional doom." One of the most important traditional doom bands in the past few years was Finnish Reverend Bizarre. Another band that plays in this style is Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi's solo project Iommi with former Deep Purple/Black Sabbath vocalist Glenn Hughes on vocals/bass guitar.

Instrumentation

Like most kinds of metal, doom metal is typically based upon an instrumentation of vocals, guitar, bass guitar and drums, and heavy, downtuned, loud guitar riffing is considered an important feature within almost all of its subgenres. Some doom metal bands, especially newer bands, also use keyboards on occasion. In classic doom, however, keyboards are still relatively uncommon. Vocals in doom metal are clean, except for in death/doom, funeral doom or some sludge/doom where growled vocals are often in use. Fast tempos are relatively very rare, because doom metal is mainly based on mid and slow tempos. Although more commonly associated with gothic metal, a number of doom metal bands, such as My Dying Bride or Funeral, have also made use of violins in their music. On the whole, however, doom metal remains a genre of very guitar-oriented and very heavy music.

Stylistic divisions within doom metal

Avantgarde doom

Avantgarde doom is a division of undefinable, atypical and unique doom metal bands with slightly artistic touches. Some examples are Esoteric and Unholy. Avantgarde doom can also include some avant garde metal bands which are not strictly doom metal by any means, but with many connections and/or influences from/to doom metal: In The Woods (with their album Omnio), Neurosis, Jesu, Isis, Cult of Luna, Callisto. Those bands are also often referred to as atmospheric sludge or melodic sludge. However, most of the bands in that sub-genre moved on to what can be described as a post-metal sound, which is highly influenced by that of avantgarde doom and sludge doom.

Black/doom

Black/doom is a combination of elements from black metal and doom metal. As in funeral doom, the lyrical themes often deal with nature, melancholia, sadness or depression. The music is characterized by the use of black metal screams, distorted doom or black metal guitar riffs and clean guitar riffs. Bands usually associated with this genre include: Dolorian, Love Lies Bleeding, Beatrik, Dark Inferna, and Cantar. Some bands more often described as suicidal black metal--such as Shining, Forgotten Tomb, Nortt, and Silencer--are also linked to the movement due to common lyrical and atmospheric elements. Other experimental black metal bands such as Agalloch came to a similar style. The style is thought to have been developed during the late 1990s.

Death/doom

A mixture of doom metal with a number of elements from death metal, most notably guttural vocals. Typical examples: Winter, diSEMBOWELMENT, early Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, early Anathema, early Tiamat, Novembers Doom, early Katatonia, Swallow the Sun and Runemagick.

Drone doom

See also: Drone music

Also known as drone metal, drone doom is a genre which is even more minimalistic and inaccessible than funeral doom. Generally influenced by noise and ambient music, the music often mainly consists of distorted downtuned guitars and bass, usually with lots of reverb applied to the final mix, with clear (melodic) themes being a rarity. Drone doom tracks are generally long, with typical drone tracks lasting between ten and thirty minutes; some drone doom releases even consist of only one album-long track, an example of this being Sun Baked Snow Cave, a collaboration between Boris and Merzbow which clocks in at 62 minutes. Vocals and even drums are often absent, and the music often lacks any beat or rhythm in the traditional sense. Like funeral doom, drone doom typically emphasizes despair and emptiness, although apocalyptic and cryptic themes are also common. Innovator Stephen O'Malley, heavily influenced by Earth, can be largely credited with the creation of drone doom as a recognised subgenre, being or having been involved with seminal acts such as Burning Witch, Khanate and Sunn O))). Sunn O))) and their predecessor Earth can be considered the two most influential bands of the genre.

Epic doom

Epic doom is roughly the same as traditional doom, but with a stronger medieval and/or fantasy influences in lyrics. Also, vocals have a much more narrative, epic, or even theatrical presence. Epic doom traces its roots through more traditional metal such as Manowar and Iron Maiden in addition to emulating the concepts of pre-doom bands such as Black Sabbath. The biggest doom metal bands with this epic feel are Candlemass and Solitude Aeturnus. A number of bands who embraced this style emerged from the West Yorkshire region of England in the mid/late 1990s, such as Solstice which featured Rich Walker from the crust punk band Sore Throat.

Funeral doom

Funeral doom is a style that takes the slowness of doom metal to further extremes, and that puts a strong emphasis on an atmosphere of despair and emptiness. The style can be seen as a departure from death/doom, slowing down the music even further, and frequently incorporating influences from ambient music, creating a sound which is distorted and gloomy, but often dreamy at the same time. Vocals are usually growled, but are often much less in the foreground than in other styles of music, and are rather used to provide an additional texture to the music. The style was originally pioneered by Thergothon, and later also by Skepticism and Funeral; modern examples include Monolithe, Mournful Congregation and Shape of Despair. Celestiial was recently credited with taking the genre to new places.

Sludge doom

Main article: Sludge metal

Combining the slow riffing and negative outlook of doom metal with the raw abrasiveness and shrieked vocals of hardcore, sludge is at the outer limits of doom metal (although a couple of bands, such as Eyehategod and Crowbar, are fairly well known within the metal community), especially in the New Orleans sludge scene from which they came. Even though first sludge bands sport the "booze 'n' bongs" image synonymous with stoner rock, they lacked the stoner rockers' positive outlook on life, with lyrical themes typically centered around misery, hatred and nihilism. Some examples are Eyehategod, Corrupted and Crowbar, whose lyrical themes are usually seen in "sludgecore". Lyrical themes vary but have nothing in common with other genres of doom.

Stoner doom

Close to traditional doom, but it's actually seen as a hybrid form of doom metal and stoner rock. Typical examples: (late) Cathedral, Sleep, High on Fire and YOB. A significant borderline case are Electric Wizard, whose music can be seen as a mixture of traditional doom, stoner doom, and sludge doom. Australian doom/stoner band Pod People, have coined the term "stoom" (a portmanteau of 'stoner' and 'doom') to describe this style of music.

Traditional doom

'Traditional doom' is a doom metal in its purest form. It's a slow, riff-based "downer" metal which was influenced by Black Sabbath as well as the NWOBHM movement (Typical examples include Saint Vitus, Pentagram and Candlemass). Four "waves" have so far been recognised in the history of traditional doom: the first one started with the originators of the entire genre, the proto-doom bands Black Sabbath and Pentagram; the second one has been located in the mid-1980s, especially in the work of Saint Vitus and Candlemass; the third one started with the success of Cathedral's debut album Forest of Equilibrium; and the fourth has recently been affiliated with Reverend Bizarre.

List of bands

Main article: list of doom metal bands

Myth

It is an urban myth that Doom metal was the basis for the in-game music on the computer game Doom.

See also

• Stoner metal
• Gothic metal
• List of heavy metal genres

Notes and references

• FAQ at Doom-metal.com
• History at Doom-metal.com

External links

• Doom-metal.com