Doom metal

[1] Guitarists and bassists often down tune their instruments to very low notes and make use of large amounts of distortion, thus producing a very "thick" or "heavy" guitar tone, which is one of the defining characteristics of the genre.

[8] 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,[2] 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.

[8] 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),[9] Frank Ferrara (Bang), Bobby Liebling (Pentagram),[8] and Zeeb Parkes (Witchfinder General).

Influenced by notable blues musicians like Robert Johnson and Son House,[1] normally they are gloomy and pessimistic,[9] including themes such as suffering, depression, fear, grief, dread, death, and anger.

While some bands write lyrics in introspective and personal ways, others convey their themes using symbolism – which may be inspired by occult arts and literature.

[8] In the early 1970s, both Black Sabbath and Pentagram (also as side band "Bedemon") composed and performed this heavy and dark music, which would in the 1980s begin to be known and referred to as doom metal by subsequent musicians, critics and fans.

[1] Joe Hasselvander, Pentagram's drummer also cited bands like Black Widow, Toe Fat, Iron Claw, Night Sun, and Zior as pioneers of the doom metal sound.

[17] Early doom metal was also influenced by Japanese psychedelic rock albums, such as Kuni Kawachi & Friends' Kirikyogen and Flower Travellin' Band's Satori.

That same year, American band Cirith Ungol (formed in 1971) released their second studio album, King of the Dead—regarded by many as an early influence on doom.

[27] 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.

[47] The Pacific Northwest region – primarily Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia – has been host to a growing scene of doom, sludge,[50] and stoner metal[51][52] since the 1990s.

[58] Notable bands include Kyuss,[59][60] Queens of the Stone Age,[55] Dali's Llama,[61] Slo Burn,[62] and Brant Bjork.

[79] Examples of blackened death-doom bands include Morast,[79] Faustcoven,[79] the Ruins of Beverast,[79] Bolzer,[79] Necros Christos,[79] Harvest Gulgaltha,[80] Dragged into Sunlight,[81] Hands of Thieves,[82] and Soulburn.

[83] 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.

[84] Death-doom was pioneered by bands such as Winter,[85] Disembowelment,[85] Paradise Lost,[85] Autopsy, Anathema, My Dying Bride[85] and Novembers Doom.

[1] Typically, electric guitars are heavily distorted and dark ambient aspects such as keyboards or synthesizers are often used to create a "dreamlike" atmosphere.

One of the main characteristics are the vocals; vocalists typically employ clean, operatic, and choral singing, accompanied by keyboarding and drumming performed in a bombastic fashion in order to evoke an "epic" sensation.

[64] Examples of prominent epic doom bands include Candlemass,[98] Solitude Aeturnus,[99] Solstice,[100] While Heaven Wept,[97] and Doomsword.

[102] Bands labelled as gothic-doom include Weeping Silence,[104] the Foreshadowing,[103] Grave Lines,[105] Artrosis,[106] Ava Inferi,[107] Draconian,[108] and Type O Negative.

[118] Sludgecore further combines sludge metal with hardcore punk, and possesses a slow pace, a low and dark pitch, and a grinding dirge-like feel.

[119] Bands regarded as sludgecore include Acid Bath, Eyehategod, Soilent Green,[120][121] Black Sheep Wall, Admiral Angry, and The Abominable Iron Sloth.

[94][126][127] Stoner metal is often heavily distorted, groove-laden bass-heavy sound, making much use of guitar effects such as fuzz, phaser, or flanger.

Some bands who play traditional doom metal are Orodruin,[140][141] Reverend Bizarre,[142] Witchcraft, Saint Vitus,[9] and Count Raven.