Doom metal

Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres. Both the music and

Instrumentation#

The electric guitar, bass guitar, and drum kit are the most common instruments used to play doom metal (although keyboards are sometimes used), but its structures are rooted in the same scales as in blues. Along with the usual heavy metal compositional technique of guitars and bass playing the same riff in unison, this creates a loud and bass-heavy wall of sound. Another defining characteristic is the consistent focus on slow tempos, and minor tonality with much use of dissonance (especially in the form of the tritone), employing the usage of repetitive rhythms with little regard to harmonic progression and musical structure.

Vocals#

Traditional doom metal vocalists favor clean vocals, which are often performed with a sense of despair, desperation, or pain; imitating the high-tone wails of Ozzy Osbourne (Black Sabbath), Frank Ferrara (Bang), Bobby Liebling (Pentagram), and Zeeb Parkes (Witchfinder General). So-called “epic doom” vocalists often take it a step further, singing in an operatic style. Doom metal bands influenced by other extreme metal genres often use growled or screamed vocals, as is the case of death-doom, black-doom, and funeral doom.

Lyrical themes#

Lyrics in doom metal play a key role. Influenced by notable blues musicians like Robert Johnson and Son House, For many bands, the use of religious themes is for aesthetic and symbolic purposes only. Examples include lyrics/imagery about the Last Judgment to invoke dread, or the use of crucifixes and cross-shaped headstones to symbolize death. Furthermore, some doom metal bands write lyrics about drugs or drug addiction. This is most common among stoner doom bands, who often describe hallucinogenic or psychedelic experiences.

Origins (late 1960s–1970s)#

The first traces of doom in rock music could be heard as far back as the Beatles’ 1969 track “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”. Black Sabbath are generally regarded as the progenitors of doom metal. Aside from Pentagram and Black Sabbath, other groups from the 1970s would heavily influence the genre’s development. Blue Cheer is often hailed as one of the first stoner metal bands. Through the use of loud amplifiers and guitar feedback, their debut Vincebus Eruptum created a template for other artists to follow. Uriah Heep released “Demons and Wizards” album include “Easy Living” in 1972. Though lacking the pessimistic lyrical content of their contemporaries, Welsh heavy metal band Budgie would also produce heavy songs which were amongst the loudest of their day, stylistically influencing various doom metal acts. Led Zeppelin’s No Quarter is considered as one of the earliest examples of a doom metal song made by a rock band. Early doom metal was also influenced by Japanese psychedelic rock albums, such as Kuni Kawachi & Friends’ Kirikyogen and Flower Travellin’ Band’s Satori. Bang’s 1971 self-titled debut is considered an important forerunner to doom metal. Other notable groups include Sir Lord Baltimore, Buffalo, Necromandus, Lucifer’s Friend,

Development (1980s)#

During the early-mid-1980s, bands from England and the United States The following year, American band Pentagram would go on to release their debut, Relentless. The Swedish Candlemass would also prove influential with their first record Epicus Doomicus Metallicus in 1986, from which epic doom metal takes its name. Pentagram, Saint Vitus, Trouble and Candlemass have been referred to as “the Big Four of Doom Metal”. Some doom metal bands were also influenced by the underground gothic rock and post-punk scene of the 1980s, showing similarities with the dark themes addressed through lyrics and the atmosphere both music styles deal with. A doom metal band like Mindrot was often described as a cross-over between death metal and gothic rock.

Regional scenes#

Like other extreme metal genres, doom metal also has regionally based scenes, with their own particular characteristics:

Finnish doom metal#

In one of the greatest doom metal outputs, Finnish groups focus more on the depressive mood of the genre, evoking an intense grieving feeling. The bands play with very slow tempos and melodic tones, creating an atmosphere of darkness and melancholia. This scene was kick-started by the band Rigor Mortis (which, due to an older US band with the same name, changed their name to Spiritus Mortis), which originated in 1987. Notable bands include Reverend Bizarre, Minotauri,

Louisiana doom metal#

Regarded as sludge metal’s birthplace by AllMusic, The bands of this scene employ some punk influences, like harsh vocals, guitar distortion and downtuned sound. Notable bands include Eyehategod,

Washington D.C. doom metal#

This scene formed in the early 1970s and was kickstarted by Pentagram and the Obsessed. Various doom/stoner bands, mostly from Washington, D.C. and its metropolitan area on Maryland and Virginia (thus also being labelled “Maryland doom sound”), This scene is also known as “Hellhound sound” for being closely related to the late Hellhound Records, Internal Void, Spirit Caravan, Earthride, and the Hidden Hand.

Pacific Northwest doom metal#

The Pacific Northwest region – primarily Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia – has been host to a growing scene of doom, sludge, and stoner metal since the 1990s. It is influenced by the geographical origin of grunge music and a sound pioneered in part by the Washington band Melvins. and Aaron Turner project Sumac, among various others.

Palm Desert Scene#

Palm Desert, California, hosts a thriving desert rock and stoner metal scene, drawing heavy influences from psychedelia, blues and hardcore punk, often featuring distinctive repetitive drum beats, a propensity for free-form jamming, and “trance-like” or “sludgy” grooves. Because of their integration, the term “stoner rock” is sometimes used interchangeably with the term “desert rock”. Notable bands include Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age, Slo Burn, and Brant Bjork.

Black-doom#

Black-doom, also known as blackened doom, is a style that combines the slowness and thicker, bassier sound of doom metal with the shrieking vocals and heavily distorted guitar sound of black metal. Black-doom bands maintain the Satanic ideology associated with black metal, while melding it with moodier themes more related to doom metal, like depression, nihilism, and nature. Forgotten Tomb, Deinonychus, Shining, Nortt, Bethlehem, early Katatonia, Tiamat, Dolorian, October Tide, and In the Woods…

Depressive suicidal black metal#

Pioneered by black-doom bands like Ophthalamia, Katatonia, Bethlehem, Forgotten Tomb, and Shining, depressive suicidal black metal, also known as suicidal black metal, depressive black metal, or DSBM, is a style that melds the second wave-style of black metal with doom metal, with lyrics revolving around themes such as depression, self-harm, misanthrophy, suicide, and death. DSBM bands draw the lo-fi recording and highly distorted guitars of black metal, while employing the usage of acoustic instruments and non-distorted electric guitar’s timbres present in doom metal, interchanging the slower, doom-like, sections with faster tremolo picking. Leviathan, Strid, Silencer, Make a Change… Kill Yourself, and I Shalt Become.

Blackened death-doom#

Blackened death-doom is a genre that combines the slow tempos and monolithic drumming of doom metal, the complex and loud riffage of death metal and the shrieking vocals of black metal. Examples of blackened death-doom bands include Morast, Dragged into Sunlight, Hands of Thieves, and Soulburn. Kim Kelly, journalist from Vice, has called Faustcoven as “one of the finest bands to ever successfully meld black, death, and doom metal into a cohesive, legible whole.”

Death-doom#

Death-doom is a style that combines the slow tempos and pessimistic atmosphere of doom metal with the deep growling vocals and double-kick drumming of death metal. Influenced mostly by the early work of Hellhammer and Celtic Frost, the style emerged during the late 1980s and gained a certain amount of popularity during the 1990s. Disembowelment,

Funeral doom#

Funeral doom is a genre that crosses death-doom with funeral dirge music. It is played at an extremely slow tempo, and places an emphasis on evoking a sense of emptiness and despair. Esoteric, Evoken, Funeral, Thergothon, and Skepticism.

Drone metal#

Drone metal (also known as drone doom) is a style of doom metal that is largely defined by drones; notes or chords that are sustained and repeated throughout a piece of music. Typically, the electric guitar is performed with large amounts of reverb and feedback Songs are often very long and lack beat or rhythm in the traditional sense. Boris, and Sunn O))).

Genre family: Heavy metal genres, Rock music genres