One of the first bands incorporating those elements was Winter, a name that was later grouped into the “big names” of this branch together with Anathema, My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost, that used a more poetry-themed imagery and romantic elements (as in the meaning of the romantic and also tragic literature of 1800s) and also focusing more on melancholy.īut this even darker and slower music wasn’t enough though, and more extreme genres were born as well: one of those extreme-beyond-the-extreme was funeral doom, that was even slower and darker, with the instrumentals being heavily influenced and becoming similar to a guitar ambient act but way, way darker. One of the first bands experimenting with new elements was the band Cathedral, that mixed more groovy elements to the slow playing of the genre.īeyond them, in the 1990’s there was the birth of death/doom, that mixed elements of death metal such as growls and harsh vocals into the slow, dark and heavy sound of the genre (where most of the singers were using mostly clean vocals in the songs). FAR FROM THE ORIGINSĪs most things, after a first period of tradition and “classic”-styled stuff in this genre, things started to become more experimental and branching into lots of different areas in the 90s (but after all, this isn’t 100% true as also the Sabbath and the first band were also experimenting and driving far away from their hard-rock/blues rock roots, as the first ones experimenting in that). This decade was the time when the foundations and the standard of this sound were born, and is now called “traditional” doom metal (or also only doom metal, as it is the subgenre in its core, with a style that was still similar and influenced by Black Sabbath’s peculiar sound). The label of this genre (and also the distinction as a different and independent act) appeared only in the 80’s (or, better said, from late 70’s as well) thanks to the bands that are now considered the first in this subgenre: Trouble, Saint Vitus, Candlemass (with their breakthrough album “Epicus Doomicus Metallicus”), Pentagram and Witchfinder General. This metal subgenre is universally recognised as a style started by Black Sabbath, considered pioneers of the heavy metal genre as well, that took the blues guitar style and added a dark nuance and feel.Īs for heavy metal, though, Black Sabbath wasn’t considered nothing more than hard rock at the time, because the distinction and the definition would have come only later: for this reason, their music is considered a heavy (pun intended) influence for the birth of the doom genre, as well as the metal music in general. In short, we can definitely answer one of the first questions when you hear about this obscure genre, “is doom metal extreme?”, with a loud “hell yeah”. Other common themes are also related to mental illness (paranoia and depression), burst of emotions such as anger and melancholy and in general a pessimistic view of life. It is also often grouped together with other subgenres such as black and death metal and sometimes with stoner metal, but beyond those this style is very particular and also easily recognisable, thanks to the very dark tone (both in the instrumental parts and in the lyrics, that try to communicate a sense of doom, as the name itself says, and despair, with topics such as drugs, religious images, apocalyptic scenes, horror and also epic stuff but in a darker way than power metal and other epic genres). This term is used to describe one of the extreme subgenre of metal music, that heavily focuses on a slow tempo, as well as heavy chords, a very melodic component and a big focus on the bass and the instrumental.
Have you ever come across the term “Doom metal”?
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