Doom Metal

One of the earliest forms of heavy metal, doom is just what one might expect from the name--metal inspired by pessimism, desolation and despair. Ponderously slow and droning, doom evokes the lethargy of the truly depressed.

Musically, doom metal is downtuned, inspired by the sludgy sound of early Black Sabbath releases, with loud, slow guitar riffs punctuated by drums. Traditional doom groups use clean vocals, although later bands known more commonly as doomdeath bands have incorporated growling, death metal style vocals into doom music. Due to its simple, very basic nature, doom has become a natural starting point for bands to fuse with a wide variety of other influences, from ambient and folk music to progressive rock and jazz.

Doom metal is rich in history, with Candlemass's 1986 Epicus Doomicus Metallicus being considered the landmark genre-defining classic. At the time, the heavy metal scene was dominated by thrash metal and speed metal, with the emerging doom metal genre being relegated to the underground, mocked by many "true metal" fans. Perhaps this isolation fostered the inspiration of bands singing about solitude and suffering; as a result, many doom bands established the use of Christian imagery as a common aesthetic of doom metal. This theme was first adopted by Christian doom acts like Trouble but was subsequently used by contemporaries Candlemass and St. Vitus, and has been carried on by other major influences in the genre like Paradise Lost and Reverend Bizarre.

Look for more doom metal bands to be added to Darktronica in the months to come; for now, expect most doom bands reviewed to be in the doomdeath camp, as that subgenre has more in common with the gothic metal style that is most in keeping with this site's mission. Darktronica favorite Anathema was one of the pioneers of the doomdeath style, along with Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride, although they have steadily progressed to a more atmospheric, gentler rock sound.

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