Doom Metal

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Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much 'thicker' or 'heavier' sound than other metal genres. Both the music and the lyrics intend to evoke a sense of despair, dread, and impending doom. The genre is strongly influenced by the early work of Black Sabbath, who formed a prototype for doom metal with songs such as "Black Sabbath" and "Into the Void". During the first half of the 1980s, a number of bands from England (Pagan Altar, Witchfinder General) and the United States (Pentagram, Saint Vitus, Trouble) defined doom metal as a distinct genre.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_metal

Sub-genre collaborators (+ child sub-genres and shared with Stoner Metal and Drone Metal):
  • Nightfly (leader)
  • MorniumGoatahl

doom metal top albums

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TRIPTYKON Melana Chasmata Album Cover Melana Chasmata
TRIPTYKON
4.53 | 17 ratings
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SAINT VITUS Die Healing Album Cover Die Healing
SAINT VITUS
4.58 | 13 ratings
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MY DYING BRIDE The Dreadful Hours Album Cover The Dreadful Hours
MY DYING BRIDE
4.45 | 34 ratings
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SPECTRAL VOICE Eroded Corridors of Unbeing Album Cover Eroded Corridors of Unbeing
SPECTRAL VOICE
4.61 | 10 ratings
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THE RUINS OF BEVERAST Exuvia Album Cover Exuvia
THE RUINS OF BEVERAST
4.52 | 13 ratings
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TROUBLE Run to the Light Album Cover Run to the Light
TROUBLE
4.50 | 13 ratings
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PENTAGRAM Review Your Choices Album Cover Review Your Choices
PENTAGRAM
4.59 | 8 ratings
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KHEMMIS Hunted Album Cover Hunted
KHEMMIS
4.65 | 6 ratings
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PARADISE LOST Medusa Album Cover Medusa
PARADISE LOST
4.37 | 26 ratings
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CELTIC FROST Monotheist Album Cover Monotheist
CELTIC FROST
4.33 | 43 ratings
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REVEREND BIZARRE In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend Album Cover In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend
REVEREND BIZARRE
4.44 | 12 ratings
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WARNING Watching From a Distance Album Cover Watching From a Distance
WARNING
4.45 | 11 ratings
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This list is in progress since the site is new. We invite all logged in members to use the "quick rating" widget (stars bellow album covers) or post full reviews to increase the weight of your rating in the global average value (see FAQ for more details). Enjoy MMA!

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The Calling Quiet
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Abyssal
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HEXER
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The Weight of Remembrance
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Second Death
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Cold Slumber
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WEAVING SHADOWS
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Demo
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GUTTERED
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Demo
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SEPSIS
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Pale Light And Sunless Waters
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The Coral Tombs
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.​.​.​In the Absence of Light
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GRIEF SYMPOSIUM
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The High And Mighty
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DOZETHRONE
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Dusk
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CARNWENNAN
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doom metal Music Reviews

KATATONIA Brave Murder Day

Album · 1996 · Death-Doom Metal
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SilentScream213
There’s so much I could say about this incredible album, and I could never do enough to sing its praises, so instead I’ll relay a personal story.

Many, many years ago now, I lost a very dear friend. Not that they died, no; they chose to go down a dark path I could not follow. And that was almost worse, because there was no closure, no finality to it, and it all ended in a very sad, painful way.

My life after that event was quite dark for quite some time. Hopelessness and lack of trust clouded my view of everything, and once solid goals started to appear meaningless. I continued moving forward simply because.

Enter Brave Murder Day. I had previously heard Katatonia’s debut and their 2 prior EP’s, and while I thought they were good, they were far from incredible releases. I thus put on Brave Murder Day as I was going to sleep one night with no expectations.

Brave immediately captured my attention – no, it would be more appropriate to say that it stole my breath and held it for all 10 of its forlorn minutes. Not only was this nothing like Katatonia’s previous work, it wasn’t like anything I’d heard before (nor have I since). This was the purest form of auditorial depression I’d ever heard. It actually frightened me, as vulnerable as I was at the time. Safe to say my chances of sleep had been murdered.

I kept listening to the album day after day, and it felt awful, in a way. It took me to the darkest depths of the low I was already in and forced me to sit in pitch black. There was no running and no numbing that could escape that dreadful feeling once these twisted chords created that inescapable rainroom.

And yet… comfort. Genuine comfort. Someone else understands this. Someone else captured this feeling. Someone else took this horrible darkness and created art. Someone else felt this and kept going.

And that is why I love Metal, but more importantly why I adore Doom Metal. The genuine darkness and melancholia behind it is so comforting when you just need to know you aren’t alone, and you can survive, and you can make beauty even with your darkness.

Anyway, time passed and I shelved this album for over half of 12 years, simply because it remained incredibly effective at bringing me right back to that place. I’d listen to a track every once in a while when the mood fit, but it had been so long since I have listened to the album in full. Until now, that is, listening as I write this… I can handle it now, but lord, does it remain very effective. One of the greatest albums of all time, or should I say… of Endtime.

ANATHEMA Eternity

Album · 1996 · Doom Metal
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SilentScream213
Eternity is somewhat of a transitional album in Anathema’s discography (though what isn’t, with how often they changed sounds). This one is quite a big shock though, coming from the Death Doom of The Silent Enigma. Here, Anathema have completely fused Doom and Gothic Metal, and added in liberal amounts of Progressive Rock and ethereal ambience. And that last bit is very important; in stark contrast to The Silent Enigma’s deathly, ominous shadow of despair, Eternity is an ethereal, atmospheric, bittersweet cry of passion.

Although still very doomy and quite heavy in places, Eternity is elegant and airy. This is so well displayed in the intro and following track Angelica. Familiar, plodding Doom drumming and chords back an otherwise heavenly, melodic piece of music, as a slow lead guitar melody weaves through its golden air. The vocals are another important part; so poignant, full of passion, grief, and love. The rest of the album follows a similar pattern, combing the familiar Doomy drumming, guitar chords and general atmosphere of melancholia with nearly the polar opposite in graceful synths and gentle lead melodies, always contrasting this bitter sense of loss with unending love and hope. This was really a landmark release in the more melodic strains of Doom and Gothic Metal.

This one doesn’t get as much love as either the album before nor the many after, and I will never understand why. It was such a unique, unforeseen progression of the Gothic Doom genre and remains a unique and beautiful release. The album sounds super dated, especially because of those cheesy synths, and I LOVE it that much more for it. Even the album cover. It just screams this 90’s aesthetic. Wonderful, wonderful album.

AHAB The Divinity of Oceans

Album · 2009 · Funeral Doom Metal
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UMUR
"The Divinity of Oceans" is the 2nd full-length studio album by German doom/death metal act Ahab. The album was released through Napalm records in July 2009. It´s the successor to "The Call of the Wretched Sea" from 2006. The latter is a concept album telling the story of the hunt of the great white whale "Moby Dick" (Herman Melville´s novel from 1851). The fascination of stories of the ocean is continued on "The Divinity of Oceans", which is another aquatic themed concept release. This time telling the real life story of "The Essex", an American whaler from Nantucket, Massachusetts, which was sunk by a sperm whale in 1820. A real life event which inspired Melville to write his novel. So there is definitely some conceptual continuity at play here in terms of themes.

The story is quite dark and bizarre, and definitely fit for a metal album, as the surviving men had to abandon the shipwreck of the Essex and sail around 4.000 miles in small whaling boats, with little fresh water and food. The men died one by one of starvation and thirst, and the remaining men had to cannibalize the corpses to survive. It even came to the situation being so dire, that they had to draw lots, to determine which of the still living men had to be sacrificed for the others to eat. Yes real life horrors perfectly suited for a death/doom metal release.

Stylistically the material on "The Divinity of Oceans" continue the slow, doomy and crushingly heavy death/doom metal style of "The Call of the Wretched Sea (2006)". Ahab have honed their songwriting craft and playing skills since the debut album though, and the riffs are generally stronger and the tracks more varied and dynamic than before. The main vocal style on the album are deep unintelligible growling, but there are several sections featuring clean vocals on the album too, and they work very well, providing an extra melancholic atmosphere. Atmospheric is actually the primary word I´d use to describe "The Divinity of Oceans". It´s both an ultra heavy and at time pretty brutal and dark release, but above all it´s atmospheric and succeeds in painting pictures in the listeners mind of the desperation of the shipwrecked sailors.

As with most releases in the most slow building and slow paced part of the doom metal genre (what many people refer to as funeral doom), it takes patience and the right mood to sit through an album like "The Divinity of Oceans". To take in the massive doses of heaviness but also to savor and appreciate the more mellow and melancholic atmospheric sections. To give the artist the time to tell their story.

"The Divinity of Oceans" features a heavy, dark, and detailed sound production, which suits the material perfectly. So upon conclusion it´s a high quality sophomore album by Ahab and to my ears a step up in quality from the otherwise great debut album. A 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved (and may even be a little too conservative. I can highly recommend this album).

ABYSMAL DAWN Bewitched

Single · 2020 · Doom Metal
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UMUR
"Bewitched" is a single release by US, Los Angeles, California based death metal act Abysmal Dawn. The single was released through Season of Mist, and made available for free as a flexi disc single in June 2020 where it came free with the New Noise Issue 52 magazine. The track was subsequently included as one of four tracks on Abysmal Dawn´s February 2022 "Nightmare Frontier" EP.

"Bewitched" is a cover of the Candlemass song from their 1987 "Nightfall" album. Abysmal Dawn usually play a technically skilled type of US death metal (somewhere between Morbid Angel And Death), but they opted to cover "Bewitched" in a relatively true to the original version. lead vocalist/guitarist Charles Elliott even imitates Messiah Marcolin´s semi-operatic clean singing, which is so convincing that I was actually in doubt if it was the Swedish singer himself who guests on the track. The death grows are only used as backing vocals on certain sections of the song.

"Bewitched" is an ultra heavy doom metal song featuring an epic atmosphere, and Abysmal Dawn pull it off covering the track pretty well. There´s nothing groundbreaking or particularly interesting about the cover other than it sounds good and the playing and the production are of a good quality, so it´s not a cover where Abysmal Dawn put much of their own spin on the composition. For what it is, it´s still a good quality single and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

MY DYING BRIDE Macabre Cabaret

EP · 2020 · Doom Metal
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Warthur
For some bands - especially once they have become as established as My Dying Bride are - EPs are an afterthought, if they're even bothered with at all. However, for my money a My Dying Bride EP is always worth at least a cusory listen, because right from the start of their career their EPs have accounted for some of their best material. Take Macabre Cabaret - produced by the same lineup as The Ghost of Orion (and likely a product of the same sessions), I actually think it has a mild edge on that studio album, with a more immediate and gripping sound and some wonderfully pensive moments.

doom metal movie reviews

PARADISE LOST Live Death

Movie · 2004 · Death-Doom Metal
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martindavey87
Considering this was actually released on VHS in 1990, Paradise Lost must surely overestimate the passion and loyalty of their fan club. Filmed in Bradford in 1989 to coincide with the band’s debut album, this is a 30-minute video of the band playing on stage. They barely move around, you barely see glimpses of the crowd, and in fact, you barely see vocalist Nick Holmes’ face due to his shaggy hair constantly covering it.

I’m not really a fan of their earlier, death metal growly material anyway, but even if I was, this video isn’t enjoyable or interesting to watch at all. Re-released in 2004 on DVD, this isn’t worth the 50p I spent on it if not for the fact that I do, in fact, actually like this band, and have a compulsive obsession to own everything a band puts out.

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