The Death Doom Metal Thread

diSEMBOWELMENT - "Transcendence Into The Peripheral" (1993)

The greatest death doom metal release of all time in my opinion & also the best metal release to ever come out of my home country of Australia.

5/5

Katatonia - "Brave Murder Day" (1996)

Stunningly melodic Swedish doom/death featuring Opeth's Mikael Akerfeld on vocals. This was a huge record for me during the most difficult time of my life where my emotions were all over the place. It really hit me right where I needed to be hit at the time. Admittedly it hasn't aged as well as I thought it might have (i.e. the song structures are very pieced together & the snare sound is quite similar to hitting a matchbox) but those superlative melodies, beautifully composed harmonies & Mikael's aggressive vocals make this an essential release for the subgenre.

For fans of: early Paradise Lost, early Anathema, October Tide

4.5/5

This morning I decided to continue with my Top Ten subgenre lists theme of recent weeks with my Top Ten Death Doom Metal Release Of All Time so here it is:

01. diSEMBOWELMENT – “Transcendence Into The Peripheral” (1993)

02. Anathema – “Serenades” (1993)

03. My Dying Bride – “Turn Loose The Swans” (1993)

04. Anathema – “The Silent Enigma” (1995)

05. Katatonia – “Brave Murder Day” (1996)

06. My Dying Bride – “Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium” E.P. (1992)

07. Mar de Grises – “Streams Inwards” (2010)

08. Daylight Dies – “A Frail Becoming” (2012)

09. My Dying Bride – “The Thrash Of Naked Limbs” E.P. (1992)

10. Anathema – “Crestfallen” E.P. (1992)

https://metal.academy/lists/single/131

OK, I'll bite. DDM primary on Rob Your Mates required:

1. Winter - Into Darkness (1990)

2. Rippikoulu - Musta seremonia (1993)

3. Cianide - A Descent Into Hell (1994)

4. Monolithe - Monolithe III (2012)

5. Epitaphe - I (2019)

6. Ceremonium - Into the Autumn Shade (1995)

7. Coffins - Buried Death (2008)

8. Sempiternal Deathreign - The Spooky Gloom (1989)

9. Convocation - Ashes Coalesce (2020)

10. Atavisma - The Chthonic Rituals (2018)

Sorry, I know it's considered sacreligious not to have MDB, Anathema et al on a death doom list, but I do genuinely struggle with the whole gothic death doom schtick (in case you hadn't noticed)!

I've also not included any albums that are principally considered funeral doom, so no Evoken and the likes.

OK, I'll bite. DDM primary on Rob Your Mates required:

1. Winter - Into Darkness (1990)

2. Rippikoulu - Musta seremonia (1993)

3. Cianide - A Descent Into Hell (1994)

4. Monolithe - Monolithe III (2012)

5. Epitaphe - I (2019)

6. Ceremonium - Into the Autumn Shade (1995)

7. Coffins - Buried Death (2008)

8. Sempiternal Deathreign - The Spooky Gloom (1989)

9. Convocation - Ashes Coalesce (2020)

10. Atavisma - The Chthonic Rituals (2018)

Sorry, I know it's considered sacreligious not to have MDB, Anathema et al on a death doom list, but I do genuinely struggle with the whole gothic death doom schtick (in case you hadn't noticed)!

I've also not included any albums that are principally considered funeral doom, so no Evoken and the likes.

Really interesting list mate. That Winter record was a strong contender for my list however it's just been too many years since I lastrevisited it so I couldn't quite decide where the level of my adoration sits for it these days. Cruciform's "Paradox" demo would have been a strong contender too but I wanted to create a list in our Public Lists section so could only select proper releases.

My Dying Bride - "Turn Loose The Swans" (1993)

It's been many years since I revisited this old favourite so I was interested to see if it would still leave me lying in a pool on the floor in the same way as it did during my formative years. Well the answer to that question is that it certainly does but not quite as much as it once did which is mainly due to the overly-theatrical clean vocal moments like we hear in the opening track "Sear Me MCMXCIII" where Aaron is consciously trying to be the most dark, emotional & generally gothic person on earth. When the band hit their straps though (as they do in the classic three track run that includes "The Snow In My Hand", "The Crown Of Sympathy" & the title track) there are very few doom-related bands that can compete with them & the growly vocal stuff is always much appreciated. There are occasional moments when the violins get a little too cheesy but these are generally balanced out by some super-dark riffs of pure doom & order is well & truly restored. I guess my musical radar just isn't quite asin tune with the more gothic end of metal as it once was but I still think this is My Dying Bride's best full-length & it remains in my top three for the doom/death genre overall although it may have  slipped back into third position now.

For fans of Saturnus & early Paradise Lost/Anathema.

4.5/5

Katatonia - "Dance of December Souls" (1993)

To be honest, I've never understood the unanimous praise that Katatonia's debut full-length seems to inevitably draw. Sure, it's got some lovely melodies & creates a uniquely sombre atmosphere at times but is it really a genuine classic? I don't think so. The musicianship is pretty amateurish, the vocals are lacking in power & control, the arrangements are pretty loose, it's lacking in heaviness for a doom release & Dan Swano's keyboards are cheesy as hell for the most part. Somehow though, the overall package seems to draw me in just enough to qualify for a pass mark. I think the first couple of proper songs taint my impression a bit as they both sound pretty lethargic & this is exacerbated by the fact that the closer is absolutely awful but there's a lengthy four track run in between that I really enjoy & it just does enough to overcome my concerns. In fact, you can pretty easily see where a classic like "Brave Murder Day" came from during that stronger period & perhaps that fact alone is enough to command a 3.5/5 rating from me. I have to say that I've never understood the links to melodic black metal though. There's approximately one minute of black metal here if you look closely. There's a lot more of the gothic component which would stay with Katatonia for most of their career. Overall, I'd suggest that "Dance of December Souls" is a mildly enjoyable if inessential & overrated release that kicked off a consistently high quality discography.

For fans of October Tide & early Paradise Lost/Anathema.

3.5/5

Anathema - "The Silent Enigma" (1995)

The 1995 sophomore album from Liverpool-based doom/death exponents Anathema was a hugely influential release for me personally. Ben & I had gotten aboard the Anathema train very early on with their debut album "Serenades" having become nothing short of iconic in our household but "The Silent Enigma" brought with it some significant changes. Front man Darren White had departed with guitarist Vincent Cavanagh having taken over the vocal duties which had given the band a decidedly more gothic edge in comparison to their more deathly roots. In fact, I'd suggest that Anathema were no longer a death/doom band by this stage & were more of a gothic/doom one. The other change was the incorporation of more atmospherics. Theses sections definitely require a bit of patience as they're often drawn out but the pay-off is significant with the whole album possessing an immeasurable beauty. You'll rarely find a more emotionally charged metal release & it set the groundwork for Anathema's transition away from metal altogether over the next few albums.

For fans of Katatonia, Paradise Lost & My Dying Bride.

4.5/5

P.S. I've moved this release up a couple of notches in my Top Ten Death Doom Metal Releases Of All Time to number four ahead of Katatonia's "Brave Murder Day" & My Dying Bride's "Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium" E.P. after this revisit.

Paradise Lost - "Gothic" (1991)

I can distinctly remember the impact that this album made on the extreme metal scene at the time & rightly so but I have to admit that I've never rated it as highly as most death/doom fans seem to. There are some great atmospheric moments here but it does still sound like a work in progress to me rather than the finished product. The introduction of gothic elements such as female vocals & symphonics add a lot of interest however the gothic parts don't always hit the spot for mine. Gregor Mackintosh's guitar skills were still very basic at this stage too. He spends far too much time floating in & out of key for my liking as he clearly had no theoretical understanding of music. It's pretty amazing that he manages to hit such transcendent melodies at times when you take that into consideration, Nick Holmes death growls are outstanding & are probably the highlight of the album for me personally.

The album kicks off really well with the gothic-inspired title track (arguably the best & most ambitious piece on the album) & the more traditionally focused death metal number "Dead Emotion" being fine examples of the band's atmospheric skills but I find the two tracks that follow (i.e. "Shattered" & "Rapture") to be decidedly flat which means that the rest of the album is spent trying to recover (which it admittedly does reasonably well). "Eternal", "Angel Tears" & "Desolate" are all very strong but overall I'm left feeling a touch underwhelmed for such a highly regarded & important record. Perhaps it's that Paradise Lost aren't all that special at the classic death metal sound that makes up part of the album & I'm not the biggest gothic metal fan in the world either. Still... there's no argument from me when it comes to the unique atmosphere that Paradise Lost were able to create here & I enjoy the experience whenever I return to "Gothic"

3.5/5

Am I the only one who thinks that there should be more acknowledgement of the two distinct types of death doom metal. There seems to me to be a world of difference between the gothic style of death doom practiced by MDB et al and the more heavily (heavenly) death metal vibes of Cianide, Rippikoulu, Asphyx, Atavisma and Coffins. Is a fan of My Dying Bride, Katatonia, Draconian and Paradise Lost necessarily going to get off on Autopsy and Winter? I'm not saying they wouldn't, but surely there is enough of a separation in overall sound and atmosphere to justify a gothic or maybe even melodic death doom tag. They sound as different to me as black metal and melodic black metal do, so if the purpose of tagging is to direct fans of a certain style to further releases or bands they might like why should these two quite differing styles be lumped together.

Anyway it's just a thought, I'm trying to take my mind off the imminent destruction of the European way of life by focussing on the important issues!

Am I the only one who thinks that there should be more acknowledgement of the two distinct types of death doom metal. There seems to me to be a world of difference between the gothic style of death doom practiced by MDB et al and the more heavily (heavenly) death metal vibes of Cianide, Rippikoulu, Asphyx, Atavisma and Coffins. Is a fan of My Dying Bride, Katatonia, Draconian and Paradise Lost necessarily going to get off on Autopsy and Winter? I'm not saying they wouldn't, but surely there is enough of a separation in overall sound and atmosphere to justify a gothic or maybe even melodic death doom tag. They sound as different to me as black metal and melodic black metal do, so if the purpose of tagging is to direct fans of a certain style to further releases or bands they might like why should these two quite differing styles be lumped together.

When I was still listening to death-doom, I thought of the subgenre as 3 distinct types; melodic (My Dying Bride, Katatonia), gothic (Draconian, Paradise Lost), and DEATH-doom (Autopsy, Winter). It makes a lot of sense, and if I really was into the doom side of death-doom that marked the former two categories, I wouldn't like the death side as much (and I've never had). Two metal genres can be combined as one, but what matters is which side gets more of the spotlight. So yeah, you're not alone there, Sonny.

Am I the only one who thinks that there should be more acknowledgement of the two distinct types of death doom metal. There seems to me to be a world of difference between the gothic style of death doom practiced by MDB et al and the more heavily (heavenly) death metal vibes of Cianide, Rippikoulu, Asphyx, Atavisma and Coffins. Is a fan of My Dying Bride, Katatonia, Draconian and Paradise Lost necessarily going to get off on Autopsy and Winter? I'm not saying they wouldn't, but surely there is enough of a separation in overall sound and atmosphere to justify a gothic or maybe even melodic death doom tag. They sound as different to me as black metal and melodic black metal do, so if the purpose of tagging is to direct fans of a certain style to further releases or bands they might like why should these two quite differing styles be lumped together.

Anyway it's just a thought, I'm trying to take my mind off the imminent destruction of the European way of life by focussing on the important issues!

I guess it comes down to the same old question. What is Death Doom Metal? Is it simply bands that mix death metal and doom metal together? Or is it an actual style / sound of metal music? If it's the former, then you could argue that bands like Asphyx might belong. If it's the latter, then they have no place at all under the current death doom subgenre.

Either option has major flaws to be honest. I mean disEMBOWELMENT don't sound anything like My Dying Bride, nor do they sound anything like Coffins. But they definitely mix death metal techniques and doom metal.

I know I've said it before, but if I had A LOT more time, I'd attempt to rebuild the metal branching tree, and I'd start by trying to identify "sounds" within each genre. Giving them names would be the last thing that I'd do, and I'd want them to capture the essence of the sound without encouraging the inexperienced to use them incorrectly. Would it work? Probably not. There'd be way too many bands / releases that don't belong anywhere, potentially creating an endless list of subgenres. It would be fun to try though.

If / when that failed, I'd explore the idea of having only top level genres, with a bunch of descriptive tags to help separate them. What would happen if we only had Doom Metal, Thrash Metal, Heavy Metal, Death Metal, Black Metal etc., and then a bunch of descriptive tags that could be attached to them (Melodic, Brutal, Technical, Progressive, Gothic, Industrial, Symphonic etc.)? I can really see that working for a lot of the genres. Is this a death metal album? Yes. Is there a dominant descriptor that could be applied to it?  Yeah, it's got a high Symphonic aspect. Cool... it's a Symphonic Death Metal album! Again, probably wouldn't work, but it would be fun to think about.

I haven't answered your question at all. Sorry about that.

Am I the only one who thinks that there should be more acknowledgement of the two distinct types of death doom metal. There seems to me to be a world of difference between the gothic style of death doom practiced by MDB et al and the more heavily (heavenly) death metal vibes of Cianide, Rippikoulu, Asphyx, Atavisma and Coffins. Is a fan of My Dying Bride, Katatonia, Draconian and Paradise Lost necessarily going to get off on Autopsy and Winter? I'm not saying they wouldn't, but surely there is enough of a separation in overall sound and atmosphere to justify a gothic or maybe even melodic death doom tag. They sound as different to me as black metal and melodic black metal do, so if the purpose of tagging is to direct fans of a certain style to further releases or bands they might like why should these two quite differing styles be lumped together.

Anyway it's just a thought, I'm trying to take my mind off the imminent destruction of the European way of life by focussing on the important issues!

I guess it comes down to the same old question. What is Death Doom Metal? Is it simply bands that mix death metal and doom metal together? Or is it an actual style / sound of metal music? If it's the former, then you could argue that bands like Asphyx might belong. If it's the latter, then they have no place at all under the current death doom subgenre.

Either option has major flaws to be honest. I mean disEMBOWELMENT don't sound anything like My Dying Bride, nor do they sound anything like Coffins. But they definitely mix death metal techniques and doom metal.

I haven't answered your question at all. Sorry about that.

Actually Ben you have answered the question and quite succinctly indeed. So if I understand your reply, the melodic and gothic-toned variant (to use a topical term) should be tagged as death doom as it has a distinct style separate from death metal to a degree and the Coffins, Hooded Menace, heavily death metal based style would best  be tagged as both death metal and doom metal separately and the death doom tag discarded for these releases. That actually makes a huge amount of sense. The implication of this for Metal Academy and the clans of course, is that Draconian, Katatonia and the likes would reside solely in The Fallen and Cianide and Ripikkoulu would have both Fallen and Horde residency. I like this solution as it removes confusion and would better serve those looking for music in either style.

So to this end, on the releases page where you can select the clan and genre, if you select multiple choices, ie Fallen and Horde releases or death and doom metal, could we have an option for the results to display only releases that have both the selected genres and/or clans as at the moment it only displays releases that fit either criteria. This would also work for discovering stuff like blackened thrash or blackened death metal etc. and would give the release search function a greater flexibility.