- Esoteric
1) Why does this site exist?
2) What is the difference between Doom-Metal and Gothic?
3) Lyrical Content?
4) How do I recognise a Doom-Metal album when I see one?
5) Why does Doom-Metal get so little airplay?
6) Does all Doom-Metal sound the same?
7) Was My Dying Bride the first Doom-Metal band?
8) How long has Doom-Metal been around?
9) What was the first Doom-Metal band?
10) Is "beauty and the beast metal" Doom-Metal?
11) Is all slow and sad music Doom-Metal?
12) What is the difference between Stoner and Doom-Metal?
13) Are Doom-Metal fans Satanists?
14) Does Doom-Metal promote suicide?
15) Are Doom-Metal fans depressive people?
16) Where can I find Doom-Metal albums?
17) Do Doom-Metal fans have a dress code?
18) What are Sub-genres?
19) What are the best albums to start with?
1) Why does this site exist?
This site exists because information about the Doom-Metal genre is difficult to find!. Metal is probably the genre most frequently plagued by misconceptions (even within the metal community itself!). The "typical" stereotype held regards metal as rather unintelligent, incoherent noise which is generally enjoyed by uneducated neanderthals. Another common misconception is that rap acts such as "Kid Rock" are the new sound of metal. Doom-Metal itself is unfortunately virtually unknown these days, suffering particularly from poor music-magazine coverage.This site is here to remove these incorrect images and give Doom-Metal some of the attention it deserves. This genre, and its fans, deserve a lot more respect than they are getting at present. In short, this site exists in order to support the Doom-Metal genre, its overlooked bands, and its dedicated fans.
2) What is the difference between Doom-Metal and Gothic?
A lot of people confuse Doom-Metal and Gothic music. The situation isn't helped by the fact that much of the metal press indiscriminatively refers to the majority of Doom-Metal as Gothic-metal, as well as record labels which misleadingly categorise doom acts under Gothic-metal and vice versa. It must be made clear that the two genres have very little to do with each other.
Throughout the 80s Gothic was dark, depressive music pioneered by bands such as Sisters of Mercy, Fields of the Nephilim and Bauhaus. The Gothic movement began and gained momentum in response to the Punk movement which was a New Wave development fueled by a romantic desire for beauty. Today Gothic is enjoying a revival headed by acts auch as London After Midnight, VNV Nation, Sopor Aeternus and Clan Of Xymox whose styles range from highly electronic dance-like music (EBM) to Goth rock. One thing Gothic and Doom-Metal have in common is the dramatic, melancholic atmosphere, the darkness and (at times) depression. But to put a very simplified sheen on things, gothic tends to sound more like dance music whilst Doom-Metal adheres to heavier guitars and drums. Also of note, Aaron of My Dying Bride has even been quoted as saying "What's this gothic nonsense? We're a fucking metal band!" or words very much to that effect.
However, we don't claim to be experts on Gothic music so if you want to know more about it, it would be well worth your time to follow these links:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~gunn0025/classix.html
http://www.gothics.org/subculture/
It is also important to remember that most bands will transcend genres and not remain entirely within one or another. A genre name is simply a handy tool with which to describe music to others without having to go into length about a particular bands' sound and not a religion (as some people treat it).
Alongside the aforementioned confusion between Gothic and Doom-Metal there also exists some confusion as to what Doom-metal and Gothic-metal actually are, a problem not helped by the ease with which all atmospherically-influenced metal is so readily labelled as Gothic-metal. Gothic-metal depicts a more mellow, melodic and romantic side of metal, often incorporating female vocals alongside male ones, in the vein of "beauty and the beast" metal. In general these acts have nothing to do with either Doom-metal or the Gothic genre, with the exception perhaps of a distant romantic and mellancholic feel. Musically they share nothing more with Doom-metal than, for example Thrash-metal does.
3) Lyrical Content?
Originally, Doom-Metal was based on the feelings of hopelessness experienced by its creators. A great deal of this involved hangovers from the hippie era in terms of spiritual influences, songs challenging or appraising the use and abuse of drugs (in some cases living testaments to what they do to the imagination), and some ultra-pessimistic songs about war.Today, Doom-Metal hasn't changed a great deal. It continues to focus on feelings of hopelessness experienced by the individuals responsible for the work in question. However, most of the lyrics are now written on a much more personal level, focusing instead on smaller-scale problems such as personal experiences of love, sorrow, bereavement, loss of faith and any number of other topics. Religious texts have also become viewed as a potential source for lyrics and ideas, but the texts themselves are only given a background presence. Foreign languages such as Latin, Spanish, French, Norse, or sometimes even Japanese have become popular in Doom-Metal songs and can often add an artistic baroque feel to the work.
Also, one should not confuse Doom-Metal's lyrics with Black-metal lyrics. As previously mentioned religious ideas can form a basis for some bands' lyrics, but usually the references to God or any other deity are more symbolic and should not be taken literally. Lyrics in general should usually not be taken literally. There are even (if only a handful of) Christian Doom-Metal bands!
4) How do I recognise a Doom-Metal album when I see one?
That is a particularly tough question. It's practically impossible to judge a book by its cover when it comes to Doom-Metal. The best way is obviously to listen to the band! Generally speaking though, Doom-Metal bands tend to put a lot of effort into cover artwork with many dark, sinister or sober pictures like dead flowers, churches and statues, draconian or classical influences and so on (although many black-metal and Gothic-metal albums have adopted this nowadays). If the album itself sounds slow and painful, then it has a good chance of being a Doom-Metal record.
Some Doom albums are also recognisable by way of the name of the band and album. Many Doom bands use uncommon names of mythical, poetic or historical significance. The most vivid example of this is without question My Dying Bride. When it comes to album titles the same principle more or less applies. Naturally this is not something that can be relied upon blindly. A band name such as Unholy conjures up images moresuited to a Black-metal band then a Doom band, but musically are more aptly classified under the Doom-Metal genre. This concept also applies vice versa; a band such as Prophecy of Doom does not play Doom-Metal but Death-metal. In all honesty, recognising a Doom-Metal record simply by look or a cursonry listen takes a great deal of practice and even then there are no guarantees! Using other peoples' recommendations is a good place to start. Generally speaking, when you can stop listening to a single element of the music such as the lyrics or guitar solos and hear the song as a whole, there's more chance of you detecting a good and doomy record.
5) Why does Doom-Metal get so little airplay?
It's an unfortunate fact of life that Doom-Metal doesn't get much air or TV play. In fact, metal as a whole is largely ignored by the media. In the case of Doom-Metal this is further propounded by the fact that Doom-Metal is far from easy-listening music. It is not a commercial genre where you will find any short, radio-friendly songs. Most of the songs last an average of between 7 and 10 minutes with some breaking the 20 minute mark. In combination with the slow and ultra heavy nature of Doom-Metal, this makes it a genre that is only liked by a select few. The underlying problem is the unrealistic way in which the media deals with the metal genre as a whole. Despite the fact that a lot of metal fans spend more money on CD's than fans of other genres and that there is a strong underground movement of metal bands and labels with great talent, the media continues to largely ignore metal. This is more likely to be down to the preconceptions about metal and a general unwillingness by people to truly accept other for what they are, rather than owing to financial considerations.
6) Does all Doom-Metal sound the same?
In a word, no. If you find yourself asking this question, it's likely that you haven't yet experienced much in the way of Doom-Metal. Owing to the numerous stages of growth and progression undergone by Doom-Metal throughout its existence, it now takes on many forms. One such form is ultra slow and more or less devoid of all emotion beside hate, examples being Esoteric and Unholy. Then there is the more romantic yet heavy sound used by well known Death/Doom bands such as the classic example of My Dying Bride. Bands such as Left Hand Solution and Katatonia's early work represent the minimalistic and bleak facet of Doom. Of course the more atmospheric and dreamy sounds of early The 3rd and the Mortal work and the Funeral Doom of Skepticism and Shape of Despair as well as the groovy sounds of Stoner/doom bands such as Cathedral and Electric Wizard serve to highlight the sheer array of Doom sub-genres on offer. And let's not forget tradional doom-metal by bands such as St. Vitus, Candlemass, etc.The above does not even consider the many different vocal styles used, from clean male and female vocals to classically trained female sopranos, death growls and black-metal screams, and anything in between. Neither has the variety of instruments used been taken into account. Besides the normal guitar, bass and drums there have been a wide variety of classical instruments used in Doom-Metal, such as the violin, cello, contra bass, trumpet, harp, and many others.
7) Was My Dying Bride the first Doom-Metal band?
In short, no! This is another frequent misconception. If you wish to know more about the history of Doom-Metal we recommend browsing that part of the site.My Dying Bride however can be counted as one of the first of the bands in the "second wave" of Doom-Metal that occurred at the beginning of the 1990's. Together with Paradise Lost and Anathema, they were for a large part responsible for the current style of death/Doom-Metal most people know as Doom-Metal today. However the input of lesser known bands such as Winter, diSEMBOWELMENT and Thergothon at the beginning of the nineties shouldn't be overlooked.
8) How long has Doom-Metal been around?
Please read the history of Doom-Metal section for detailed information on this. But to oversimply matters, modern-day doom has been around since the early 90s, traditional doom-metal since the early 80s, and the forrunners of doom-metal since the early / mid 70s.
9) What was the first Doom-Metal band?
To be perfectly honest, no one really knows, but equally, everyone seems to have a different opinion on this matter. One school of thought is that Black Sabbath was the first Doom band. This is however a matter of conjecture and will be a topic for debate for a long time to come. However, it is safe to say that Black Sabbath had a colossal influence on not only Doom-Metal, but the metal genre as a whole.
10) Is "beauty and the beast metal" Doom-Metal?
No, and once again this is a common mistake. Many metal bands have been borrowing from our Gothic neighbours and Doom-Metal bands are no exception. This has caused more romanticism and melody to sneak into Doom-Metal. However it does not follow that pure gothic-metal is a sub-genre of Doom-Metal. Gothic-metal bands are bands that blended Gothic or atmospheric music with Metal, not Gothic music with Doom-Metal.The mistake is usually made because Gothic metal also has a sad and emotional feel to it. However it lacks the heaviness that is an inherent part of Doom-Metal. It focuses more on romantic feelings and a strong base "beat". This however has already been discussed in the question relating to the connection between Gothic music and Doom-Metal.
Almost unquestionably, all so called "beauty and the beast metal" bands are part of the Gothic-metal genre. The confusion is most likely attributable to the fact that one of the first of these so called "beauty and the beast" bands, Theatre of Tragedy, was indeed atmospheric Doom-Metal with a heavy gothic touch. After the first two albums however, the band cut all ties to Doom-Metal. The bands that followed in their wake were more focused on romanticism than on heaviness and a dark sound. Concerts emphasise the big difference in style, with Doom-Metal bands focusing on emotion and heaviness rather than encouraging people to actively participate.
11) Is all slow and sad music Doom-Metal?
Once again the short answer is no! There is a lot of slow and sad or dark music in the world, even within pop music (Tori Amos being a good example).It would be an over-generalisation to call all sad, dark and slow music Doom-Metal. Besides the obvious fact that it needs to be metal there are also other music genres that are slow and mournful; Dark-metal, Dark-ambient, Dark-wave and Gothic-metal are amongst the best examples.
These days there even is depressive rock - confusingly enough often produced by bands which were once Doom-Metal orientated. Anathema is a good example. By virtue of the fact it is in essence rock it cannot be considered a part of Doom-Metal.
12) What is the difference between Stoner and Doom-Metal?
The term Stoner-rock pops up more and more often these days in correlation with Doom-Metal. This often gives rise to confusion and even heated debates amongst fans. Despite the two genres being related to some extent, there are marked differences between them. It is useful to bear in mind the fact that any given genre name is just that, a name. There will always be a certain amount of ambiguity and subjectivity involved with regards to classification.
Generally speaking, stoner-rock is more laid back than most Doom-Metal. The simplest description would include phrases such as "ultra groovy" and (sometimes) "heavy music". Less emphasis is placed on creating a depressive, dark atmosphere than in Doom-Metal. Additionally, as the name already indicates, stoner-rock isn't metal, but rock. Good examples of stoner-rock bands would be Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age and Spiritual Beggars. Both genres do have common ground and this is probably why one sees both names being used. For example, both Doom-Metal and stoner-rock have a connection to Black Sabbath and their contemporaries (Black Widow, Cream, etc.). Whilst the newer Doom-Metal bands that play Death/doom have almost nothing to do with Black Sabbath, a lot of traditional Doom-Metal did originally glean its roots from The Sabs. Stoner-rock in its turn also seems to be influenced to a large extent by Black Sabbath and contemporaries.
Both genres also have a common objective; they strive to create heavy music. With Stoner-rock the emphasis seems to be more on heavy groovy music whereas with Doom-Metal the emphasis is more on heavy depressive music.
A lot of the bands within the stoner-rock genre also seem to have strong connections to drug use or other forms of psychedelic "tripping". Of course this does not define the genre in any way, but a lot of stoner-rock bands tend more towards a psychedelic twist than Doom-Metal bands do. There are however also Doom-Metal bands that openly promote the use of drugs, as there are bands and artists in many genres who openly take to drug use. As such the importance should be on the psychedelic touch when defining Stoner-rock instead of the actual use of drugs.
When it comes to describing a genre and atempting to place bands within its scope, it is important to remember that it is only a name that is being dealt with. A lot of bands simply cannot be slotted comfortably into one category or another, and many bands actively traverse genre boundaries (for example Cathedral, Electric Wizard). Ultimately, the name of a genre is not that important over and above acts as a relatively quick reference point for one to describe music to others.
For more information on Stoner-Rock refer to Stonerrock.com.
13) Are Doom-Metal fans Satanists?
Only on Sundays! In all seriousness, no, Doom-Metal has nothing to do with Satanism whatsoever. Most metal actually has nothing to do with Satanism or devil worship. It is one of the most persistent and incorrect rumours plaguing Doom-Metal and metal in general.
It is possible however to confuse Doom-Metal with the only Metal genre that does actively have a lot to do with Satanism; Black-metal. It's rather simple to keep apart however, Doom-Metal is the really slow one and Black-metal is the really fast one!
Doom-Metal has no ties to any religion whatsoever. While terms like "god" and "Satan" are often used in the lyrics they have symbolic value for the artists. The subject of, for example, loss of faith in Doom-Metal can easily be said to be satanic by ignorant religious zealots, but this is not true. The meaning behind lyrics like that would be the sadness and the pain that cause somebody to lose faith and the misery that precipitates from it. It is more often than not, a symbolic meaning for suffering. A great deal of Doom-Metal deals with the dissolution of living, and it is only natural to lyrically combine that with loss of faith.
A good example is Black Sabbath. They came under heavy critisim from religious groups, being branded as Satanists and corruptors of "young, innocent minds", ignoring lyrics such as those in 'After Forever':
- Black Sabbath 'After Forever'
(From the 'Master of Reality' album)
(From the 'Master of Reality' album)
Doom-Metal generally avoids religious debates. This is a music genre, not a platform for theological debate. There may be one or two Doom-Metal bands who have members who chose to be Satanists but this is purely personal choice rather than a pre-requisite to being a Doom-Metal band member! In fact, there exist Christian Doom-Metal bands such as Paramaecium and Purgation which, likewise, don't actively advocate Christianity as a pre-requisitve for being part of a Doom band.
14) Does Doom-Metal promote suicide?
Absolutely not! This is probably the largest misconception about Doom-Metal. Doom-Metal does not promote suicide and does not lead to suicidal tendencies either. Suicide is often a precipitate of mental illness, such as depression. Whilst the debate about the true cause of depression is far from over, it is certain that music has no influence at all. It is generally assumed that depression (any one of a number of types), is caused by a mixture things. A lot of doctors see a problem with the serotonin and norepinephrine synapses that cause a chemical imbalance in the brain.
The fact that suicide and depression are linked has been common knowledge in the medical world for considerable time. "The majority of suicides are connected with mood disorders" (Back et al., 1990; Steer et al. 1993) as quoted from the book 'Abnormal Psychology in a changing world' - required reading material for many psychology students.
Sufferers of depression are in desperate need of support and help. Sacrificing Doom-Metal or any other music as the cause of suicide resulting from depression is nothing but a case of scapegoating. Too often children are neglected by their parents or have trouble fitting into a highly demanding and socially ordered society where individuality is an unwanted thing. To simply point at music as the root of all evil, so to speak, is a gross inaccuracy.
Doom-Metal is usually one of the few points of light in a depressed person's life. A mood disorder like depression is too often (incorretly!) perceived as the sufferer simply being "insane" and as such emotionally shunned to a large extent. Whilst the rest of the world judges them and makes them feel worse about themselves and most of all very misunderstood, Doom-Metal itself has a sad and depressive nature, and therefore offers solace to such people, depicting emotions to which they relate.
One last note on this subject relates to the fact that suicide is, unfortunately, an all too frequent occurance in our world. Over the past 10 years alone, cases of depression have risen to hitherto uncharted heights. Reasons aside, it is safe to assume that over 99% of all suicide cases involve people who have never heard of the Doom-Metal genre. In all of these cases the person's musical preference is ignored by parents, loved ones and most of all the media. However as soon as it becomes known the departed happened to enjoy Doom-Metal or metal in general (lets be honest, most people wouldn't know the difference if their life depended on it) the finger is immediately pointed at the music.
For more information refer to the following webpages:
Walkers in Darkness
An Introduction to Depression
Suicide and Suicide Prevention
15) Are Doom-Metal fans depressive people?
In answering this, we have to concede that this misconception is in part due to the image projected by Doom-Metal fans themselves.Doom-Metal probably draws a few more people that suffer from depression then other musical genres. But in general Doom-Metal fans enjoy life as much as the next person.
Doom-Metal fans come from all walks of life and can have highly differing views on life. The simple fact of the matter is that one person enjoys happy music, the other sad music. Doom-Metal does play host its fair share of embittered people, just as any genre does. But Doom-Metal is not a religion, it is simply a type of music enjoyed by a group of individuals; it doesn't offer spiritual instruction or a code of behavioural conduct!
If one were to walk into a Doom-Metal gig, one would be delightfully surprised to find a host of different personalities, just as at any other gig the world over!
16) Where can I find Doom-Metal albums?
Unfortunately this still poses some difficulties as it depends a great deal on where you live in the world. If you are a European resident there is a good chance you can find Doom-Metal in your local alternative or metal record store. Outside Europe, it tends to be a little trickier to find albums locally aside form picking them up at gigs.But the advent of the Internet and online shopping is changing this, albeit far more slowly that we would all like. There are a lot of good online mail-order services where you can order hard to find Doom-Metal albums (believe us, most of them are hard to find). A lot of labels sell the albums they release directly on the net.
Try these sites:
| Dark Symphonies | http://www.darksymphonies.com |
| Relapse | http://www.relapse.com |
| Displeased | http://www.displeased.nl |
| Hard 'N' Heavy Rockville | http://www.hnhrockvillemusic.com |
| EMP | http://www.emp.de |
| Earache | http://www.earache.com |
| Red Stream | http://www.redstream.org |
17) Do Doom-Metal fans have a dress code?
Sometimes it happens that a musical genre also gives rise to a certain informal dress code amongst its fans. This generally happens when a genre begins to serve as more then just good music, birthing a certain social function and in turn, a definitive lifestyle. Whether Doom-Metal encourages a particular lifestyle is debatable. If you ask around, there will definitely be support for the claim that it does, but equally, many simply enjoy the music for its own intrinsic value. But whatever one's opinion, Doom-Metal as a genre does not have a solidified, unified dress code as such.
Although some Doom-Metal fans will generally wear black clothing (and be confused with Goths because of it) or band T-shirts, this is by no means an indication that there is an active dress code. For every fan that wears black you will be able to find others that do not. The majority of Doom-Metal fans simply dress in accordance with what they find comfortable; from band shirts, to formal suits.
In case the thought had struck you, it is probably worth mentioning that long hair is by no means mandatory! Whilst often associated with the metal genre in general, a lot of fans do not have long hair. As with clothes, nothing is mandatory or frowned upon when it comes to hair length. Of course metal has an image but that is as far as things go; an image. There is no mandatory rule to live up to an image - the music and the love of the music remain paramount in terms of importance.
18) What are Sub-genres?
Here on doom-metal.com we use various names - sub-genres - to describe bands and music. Terms like "Tradional Doom", "Funeral Doom", "Death/Doom" are common place on our website and all constitute Doom-Metal sub-genres. We use these terms to quickly describe the sound of a band, and do not claim that these are widely used terms, that our descriptions are fool-proof or that there actually are subgenres. We merely use this to save having to repeat ourselves at length everytime we describe a band or album. To help you understand what we mean, the following descriptions have been compiled:Proto Doom
This genre name is used only infrequently but when it is, it describes the first bands that began playing "doomy" music. In essense, the forefathers of Doom-metal. This is often very rock inspired early metal or hard rock with a definate 70ties sound to it.
Examples: Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Bedemon.
Tradional Doom
This is the first generation of Doom-metal and includes not only the first bands to play doom-metal, but new bands who continue to play in this style as well. The music is generally slow and heavy with a truely 80ties heavy metal feel to it and often overflowing with Black Sabbath influences. A certain proportion of these bands also has a true rock & roll spirit to them and with newer bands this can overflow towards the Stoner genre. This sub-genre is often called "Old School Doom" or "Classic Doom" as well.
Examples: Candlemass, St. Vitus, The Obsessed, Solitude Aeternus.
Death/Doom
Frequently regarded as second generation Doom-metal, this is still the reigning Doom-metal genre if compared and contrasted with other genres in terms of number of fans and popularity. The advent of this sub-genre gave Doom-metal a new lease of life in the late 80s/early 90s. As the name indicates this is a mixture of Death-metal and Doom-metal, often using grunts and more agressive buildups, the general style shifting away from the Rock & Roll type of feel to something far darker, morbid and (sometimes) romantic. While grunts used to be the defining vocal style, these days this genre also sees a lot of clean vocals as well, The musical basis however often remains a mixture of Death and Doom.
Examples: My Dying Bride, early Paradise Lost, diSEMBOWELMENT, Morgion.
Funeral Doom
We use the term Funeral Doom to describe the most extreme split off of Death/Doom. These bands have taken the slowness and heaviness of Doom-metal to new extremes. Generally, the bands create very distorted and depressive yet dreamy music. Grunts or some totally distored version of that are also frequently used. These are the extremists when it comes to slowness and heaviness. The term comes forth from the way the music sounds as if it would fit a funeral or funeral proccession (often moving at the pace of a funeral march). Examples: Skepticism, Shape of Despair, Thergothon, Funeral.
Stoner/Doom
This is a double edged sword. On the one hand we use this to describe bands who mix in more groovy 70ties influenced Stoner Rock with (Tradional) Doom-metal but we also use it to describe ultra heavy psychadelic Doom. This is due to a lot of bands who play this extreemly heavy type of psychadelic doom describe themselfs both as Stoner and Doom. Most of these bands focus a lot on heavy riffing, psycadelic sounds and are inspired by Black Sabbath.
Examples: Electric Wizard, Sleep, Abdullah, High on Fire.
Sludge Doom
Somewhat similar to the aforementioned ultra heavy versions of Stoner/Doom. We adapted the use of this term due to its use by fans and bands. A lot of different bands seem to fall under this catagory that at times have little to do anymore with the sound other Doom bands create. Generally very raw sounding music with gut-wrenchingly heavy riffs and hardcore-ish vocals. A lot of these bands have a sort of boozy or spaced out feeling to them and most of them (but not all) are strongly influenced by Black Sabbath.
Examples: Eyehategod, Grief, Sloth, Crowbar.
Atmospheric Doom
A highly contentious child within the Doom family. Perhaps the only variation of Doom-metal that does not openly focus on heaviness. Bands that fall within this sub-division are still firmly rooted within metal and Doom-metal but try to paint "soundscapes", creating wonderfully misty images one would associate with fairytales and romantic stories. Due to its doomy nature this is generally accompanied by a huge dose of mistery and failure (no happy ends). Musically more mellow and dreamy than other Doom, female vocals are often used, as well as a great deal of keyboards and other additional instuments. However unlike Gothic-metal they so not generally sound optimistic and/or bombastic.Examples: early The 3rd and the Mortal, As Divine Grace, Chalice.
Drone Doom
It is questionable if this type of music is actually still music is the purest sense of the word. Pushing all the boundries of heaviness and slowness (far beyond anything done by Funeral Doom) creating "droning sounds" that are perhaps best described as the force of extreme gravity become music or the movement of tectonic plates deep in the earth's crust. Definatly no melody, but still Black Sabbath influenced. Often relying heavily on feedback and sometimes lacking vocals or even a rythem section.
Examples: Earth, SUNN 0))), Khanate.
Dark metal
Dark-metal can have many meanings. It is often used to describe, as the name might indicate, dark music within the metal genre. These bands are generally too much of a hybrid to classify because they mix in elements from Doom-metal, Black-metal, Death-Metal and even Darkwave. We often use the term to describe very bleak or suicidal sounding bands who mainly mix Doom-metal with Black-metal, often using insane screams and faster passages to accompany the Doomy music. Generally less heavy and more brutal or sucidal then other sub-genres.
Examples: early Katatonia, Deinonychus, Bethlehem, Cultus Sanguine.
Emotional Rock
As the name may indicate, emotional rock is not a subgenre of Doom-metal or metal for that matter. However, we use this to describe the music by a lot of older Doom-metal bands who have evolved towards a more emotional type of music without metal elements. Generally creating very sad rock songs with clean vocals.
Examples: new Anathema, new Katatonia.
The most important thing to remember is that these are just quick names given to describe a style of music. Most bands to not adhere to these definitions and even the bands we listed as examples often trancend them. These descriptions are put in place to offer a slight indication of the type of music you can expect when we use such a genre name.
19) What are the best albums to start with?
We often see this question posted on our forum, as well as being asked it directly. Unfortunately, it's practically impossible to answer. To begin with the Doom-metal genre is so diverse that there is a big chance you will like some sub-styles but loath others. Obviously, there is also the fact that each person has their own individual view as to which albums are considered to be classics. But in order to attempt an answer, we will simplify things a bit and say there are two really different styles of Doom; Tradional Doom and Death/Doom.If you are a tradional Doom-metal fan the following bands and/or albums are worth checking out as a good starting point:
Black Sabbath - the first 4 albums
Candlemass - 'Epicus Doomicus Metallicus' and 'Nightfall'
Electric Wizard - 'Dopethrone'
High on Fire - 'The Art Of Self Defense'
Obsessed, the - any
Pentagram - 'Relentless'
Solitude Aeternus - 'Into the Depths of Sorrow' and 'Beyond the Crimson Horizon'
St. Vitus - 'Born to Late' and 'Mournful Cries'
Unorthodox - 'Balance of Power'
Witchfinder General - 'Death Pentalty'
If you are a Death/Doom-metal fan the following bands and/or albums are worth checking out as a good starting point:
Anathema - 'Pentecost III'
Avernus - 'Sadness'
diSEMBOWELMENT - 'Transcendence Into the Peripheral'
My Dying Bride - 'Turn Loose the Swans'
Paradise Lost - 'Gothic'
Saturnus - 'Paradise Belongs to you'
Skepticism - 'Lead and Aether'
Thergothon - 'Stream from the heavens'
Unholy - 'Second Ring of Power'
Winter - 'Into Darkness'
Other essentials:
3rd and the Mortal, the - 'Tears Laid in Earth'
Burning Witch - 'Crippled Lucifer'
Deinonychus - 'Ark of Thought'
Earth - any
Theatre Of Tragedy - 'Velvet Darkness they fear'
Tiamat - 'Wildhoney'
Note that this is just the first run in a very long ladder! and that there are countless other great classic bands and albums out there. However we can not list every single great doom band album here. This is just a first step for a begining fan.