The Doomgaze Thread

So RYM has a new subgenre called "doomgaze" which is a subgenre of post-metal. It's description reads as follows:

"Doomgaze is a subgenre of Post-Metal that mixes common characteristics of Shoegaze (such as vocal and guitar effects, abundant use of reverb, and emphasis on “waves of sound”) with the slow nature and gloomy atmosphere typically associated with Doom Metal. Long-form and mid to slow tempo song structures, textured washes of guitars, dreamy/ethereal vocals, cathartic performances, and the ethos of Drone Metal come together to define the overall sound of doomgaze.

Inspired by the crescendos and repetition of Swans, the tom and crash heavy, almost tribal, drumming of Neurosis, and the experimental guitar work of My Bloody Valentine, lone artist The Angelic Process pioneered the genre with the release of ...And Your Blood Is Full of Honey. The sounds and ideas present on that EP were further established by Justin Broadrick’s newfound project, Jesu, and their debut EP, Heart Ache. Canadian duo Nadja are also considered one of the core artists in the development of doomgaze, while leaning more wholeheartedly towards drone metal.

As Jesu’s projects received less acclaim and attention, with The Angelic Process’ tragic end, alongside the diminishing output from Nadja, doomgaze’s presence died down rapidly as the founding bands crumbled or lost attention. A couple of years passed with much inactivity, until popular Post-Rock collective This Will Destroy You used the term to describe their album Tunnel Blanket (which incorporated many of the components of doomgaze). With their usage, the term garnered more widespread attention, and, soon after, a slow rekindling of the genre began.

While the forerunners of the genre would commonly mix doomgaze with drone metal, later artists would feature more limited use of drone metal, but still retain a tight connection with the sound that the originators fabricated. Bands such as Planning for Burial, Holy Fawn, and later Lantlôs brought this new take to the genre, expanding the sound palette and reach of the genre considerably, bringing more ubiquitous acceptance of ‘doomgaze’ as a label."

Does this sound like yet another pointless subgenre for RYM or is the new point of differentiation a critical missing piece in the metal puzzle?

The only release I've listened to that is considered doomgaze in RYM is the EP Silver by Jesu, and that one I thought had more of a sludgy post-metal sound. Other than that, I've never even heard of doomgaze until the subgenre came up in RYM, so I can't really say much about it.

I've never thought of The Angelic Process as being particularly doomy. I am pleased that they're now being placed within the post-metal spectrum though as they were never a drone metal band.

As much as I loathe the overuse of subgenres, I'm not too sure about this one to be honest. There are definitely bands who would be considered doomgaze who don't fit comfortably into the doom or drone metal genres, but are conversely too doom-like to be considered merely post-metal and, for our purposes, reside outside the Fallen. A dual tagging here of doom / drone with post-metal may be sufficient, as was the approach decided on for atmospheric sludge metal.

I'd add that Ben & I feel that we should really be steering away from subgenres that are simply a combination of two existing genres, particularly when they cross clans, as it needlessly complicates things. If a post-metal release is doomy enough for The Fallen then it should receive a genre from The Fallen on top of its Post-Metal tag. If not, then I'd suggest that it's not worth mentioning in its tagging. The Angelic Process is an interesting test case. This is an excerpt from my review of their highly celebrated "Weighing Souls With Sand" album:

"'Weighing Souls With Sand' is most commonly referred to as drone metal. I can see why but it's never seemed to me to be a very accurate label to be honest. There's a lot more going on here than there is in your average drone metal release, particularly from a melodic point of view. The noisy analogue hiss that shrouds most tracks reminds me a lot of the noisier works of ambient artist Tim Hecker while the huge crescendos indicate a love for post-rock artists such as Sigur Ros. There is most definitely a shoegaze element at play here too with a lot of these tracks seeing Kris strumming open downstrokes repeatedly in a melancholic fashion that reeks of My Bloody Valentine's classic 'Loveless' album. The droning bass notes take my mind more towards the ambient variety of drone only more from a textural point of view than a stylistic one. Overall I find that the post-metal tag is the more appropriate way to label the album & I'd feel much more comfortable if 'Weighing Souls With Sand' was separated from the drone metal charts as it inevitably fairs quite well but doesn't sound anything like the records scattered around it."

So, I obviously felt that it has very little to do with the drone metal subgenre that it was continually being associated with at the time but possesses an obvious shoegaze component. There was also no mention of a doom metal component & I was comfortable with the release sitting under the post-metal genre which is quite telling when it comes to the topic of discussion here. Unless anyone can present a strong case to the contrary, my immediate suggestion is that we leave releases tagged on RYM as Doomgaze under the generic Post-Metal genre.