Doom Metal-The Early Days. My Journey and Synopsis.

I just finished writing my review for Witchfinder General's Free Country. These are some of my conclusions and opinions.

1). Early Funeral Doom DRAGS. My Dying Bride is one of my favorite bands, but even Turn Loose the Swans can become a chore. 

2). Again Funeral Doom related: It seams that bands of that era either went the minimalistic path laid by Skepticism and Thergothon, or they went in the more melodic direction laid by Katatonia and My Dying Bride. Obviously I much much prefer the later. 

3). The beginnings of Doom Metal were a bit rough. Even with familiar and beloved bands, I found myself trying to not to write "this is kinda rough but they get much better later" over and over.

4) The Gems of the list are : 
Candlemass: Epicus Doomicus Metallicus
Katatonia: Dance of December Souls
Septic Flesh: EEONTPON
Obsessed: The Church Within
Tiamat: In a Dream

There ya have it. 

I agree that funeral doom is quite literally doomed to constant repetition.  It's been a bit difficult to find an album in the genre I that really amazed me, considering I need constant invention and consistency balanced to give something a great rating.  There are only two funeral doom albums that ever made it to my top 100 metal albums: Antithesis of Light by Evoken and Metamorphosis by Esoteric.

But I really do admire doom's diversity overall.  Some metal genres only have so much they can work with, but doom's all over the spectrum with its own variants like trad and funeral as well as how it easily incorporates itself into death, stoner, gothic and even black sometimes.

The latest offering from My Dying Bride, "A Mortal Binding" is really good. Check that one out.