Doom metal

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Doom metal is a form of heavy metal that emerged as a recognised genre of metal in the mid-1980s. Doom metal is slow and heavy, with quite 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, and a number of early Black Sabbath tracks, such as "Black Sabbath", are often considered embryonic or prototypical doom metal songs.

History of doom metal

Together with heavy metal, doom metal is the oldest form of metal music, because it's rooted in the music of early Black Sabbath which is often considered as a first metal band amongst many metalheads. Although in the beginning of the 1970s both Black Sabbath and the American Pentagram performed a kind of music that can be considered as first doom metal around, neither band is generally considered as an actual doom metal band. From the late 1970s to mid 1980s, bands such as Trouble, Saint Vitus 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, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The slowness of their music is often seen by some as a some kind of reaction to the constantly increasing speed of contemporary trend in the 1980s - thrash metal and speed metal.

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 as 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 as a one of the most legendary and influental bands within the genre.

Doom metal developed further in the early 1990s. The breaking point and probably the most influental 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 influencies and directions for the coming doom metal bands.

A few death metal bands bordered the line to the doom metal by slowing down their playing style, such as Sorrow or Paradise Lost on their debut. But, much more noteable is that a number of bands started combining original doom metal style that was pioneered in the 1980s with influences from death metal and other forms of extreme metal and even hard core. 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 as Thergothon and Funeral moved the basis of death/doom to the extreme. This utterly slow and often very dark style is nowdays known as funeral doom. At the same time, American bands as Crowbar and Eyehategod mixed certain doom metal with a lot of hardcore and even some punk influencies and created another new fraction within the doom metal scene: sludge doom. Also, band Earth (Seatle 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 much or less inspired by few doom metal bands, it is not considered as a doom's subgenre, but a genre for itself. Gothic metal was seen as a mix between metal and gothic music (which is pretty opposite to doom metal).

Also, it has been argued that a nexus exists between doom metal, stoner rock and psychedelic music, although each of these genres have developed on their own. The stoner rock bands like Kyuss, Fu Manchu, Monster Magnet and Queens of the Stone Age shares with doom metal a heavy sound and a strong Black Sabbath influence, but generally has 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.

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 by occasion. In classic doom, however, keyboards still are relatively uncommon. Vocals in doom metal are clean, with exception for death/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

Traditional doom

Slow, riff-based "downer" metal influenced by Black Sabbath as well as the NWOBHM movement. Typical examples: Saint Vitus, Pentagram, Candlemass, Solitude Aeturnus, Reverend Bizarre. 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; the fourth one has recently been affiliated with Reverend Bizarre.

Epic doom

Epic doom is actually the same as traditional doom, but only with a stronger medieval and/or fantasy influences in lyrics. Also, vocals have a much more narrative, epic, somehow even a 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.

Death/doom

A mixture of doom metal with a number of elements from death metal, most notably growled vocals. Typical examples: Winter, diSEMBOWELMENT, early Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, early Anathema, early Katatonia, Swallow the Sun, Mourning Beloveth.

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 Mournful Congregation, Shape of Despair, and Until Death Overtakes Me.

Drone doom

Also known as drone metal, drone doom is a style 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. 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 and Sunn O))). Sunn O))) and their predecessor Earth can be considered the two most influential bands of the genre.

Stoner doom

A hybrid form of doom metal and stoner rock. Typical examples: (late) Cathedral, Sleep, High On Fire. 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" (an portmanteau of 'stoner' and 'doom') to describe this style of music.

Sludge doom

Combining the thick, riffing sound of stoner doom with the raw abrasiveness and shrieked vocals of hardcore, sludge is at the outer limits of doom metal and is an acquired taste (although a couple of bands, such as Eyehategod and Crowbar, are fairly well known within the metal community). Even though many sludge bands sport the "booze 'n' bongs" image synonymous with stoner rock, they lack the stoner rockers' positive outlook on life, with lyrical themes typically centered around misery, hatred and nihilism. Typical examples: Eyehategod, and Crowbar.

Avantgarde Doom

Avantgarde Doom is a divison of undefineable, untypical and unique doom bands with slightly artistic touch. Perfect examples are Esoteric and Unholy. Avantgarde doom can also include some avantgarde bands which are not strictly doom by all means, but with a lot certain connections and/or influencies from/to doom metal: In The Woods (album Omnio), Neurosis, Jesu, Isis, Cult Of Luna...

List of bands

See also

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

Notes and references