How did you first encounter this music? - The Fallen Edition

Tell us about your first encounters with the Doom Metal, Drone Metal, Gothic Metal, Sludge Metal & Stoner Metal subgenres. How did you lose your Fallen virginity?

Doom metal - Black Sabbath were obviously the first place that I heard a doomier variety of metal however the full-time I heard anything from the full-time doom metal outfit was through Candlemass' "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus" record some time in the very late 80's when I heard "Solitude" being played on a late-night metal radio program. I have to admit that it didn't really click with me initially & would take a fair while to sink in, although admittedly "Solitude" is not one of my favourite Candlemass songs & I wouldn't be sold on the band in general until much later on anyway. The more epic feel to their sound initially took me a little bit too far outside of my musical comfort zone. Pentagram's debut was the first doom release I heard that clicked with me straight away & that came to my attention through hearing "Sign Of The Wolf (Pentagram)" on the same show a week or two later. Not a particularly doomy example of the Pentagram sound it has to be said but it gained my attention & Pentagram's close affiliation with the more traditional Black Sabbath sound really appealed to me so it wouldn't be long before I was completely infatuated with the slower, drearier variety of metal.

Drone metal - My first drone metal experience was through Earth's "Extra-Capsular Extraction" E.P. in the early 90's (possibly on underground metal radio once more) & I found it intriguing right from the start with subsequent listens seeing me becoming more & more enamored with the repetitive sound that would put me into a trance-like state. I've always been a fan of the more deep & cerebral styles of music (ambient, techno, etc.) so drone metal & I were always going to work together.

Gothic metal - I picked up the Paradise Lost "Icon" digipack at the time of release back in 1993 & was expecting more of that doom/death they'd been dishing out for the past three albums. Little did I know that I'd end up finding the best material of their career to take the form of this new gothic metal sound.

Sludge metal - When I was in high school there was only one other true metal fan in my year & we used to trade our music & go to gigs together quite regularly. Some time in 1991 he ripped me a copy of Fudge Tunnel's "Hate Songs In E Minor" & told me to keep an open mind because I was generally into thrash/death/black/doom metal. Well that little record really impressed me & it wasn't far away from my tape deck for a few months afterwards. That HUGE wall of guitar noise playing those HUGE riffs!!

Stoner metal - I was an absolutely massive fan of the monumental doom classic that was Cathedral's "Forest Of Equilibrium" debut. But when I picked up their follow-up two years later in 1993 I was left with a feeling of "What in the actual fuck is this?". It was much groovier affair with a stronger focus on psychedelia & I have to admit  that I struggled with it initially. Repeat listens eventually saw it breaking through my defenses but it would never be a big record for me in much the same way that the stoner metal subgenre would rarely impress me as much as pure doom.

Doom metal? Yeah, probably Sabbath, myself.

Gothic metal would be either Cradle of Filth and Type O Negative...hard to say exactly which I heard first.

Drone would be Sunn O))) of course. Was interested in hearing what the hell drone metal was, heard Báthory Erzsébet on YouTube, and was totally enthralled by what I had heard.

Stoner metal, would definitely be Corrosion of Conformity. My dad got me In the Arms of God for Christmas one year (maybe my birthday) and it's to this day probably my favorite in the genre (although it isn't one of my favorite genres anyway, but that's a damn good album).

Sludge metal is definitely Mastodon lmao

Sludge metal is definitely Mastodon lmao

Hahaha this

Candlemass was the other big Fallen gateway band for me. 

I saw "Doom Metal" listed as a subgenre on Wikipedia and had never heard of it, so I looked up the first Doom Metal band on YouTube and it happened to be Candlemass. I was immediately transfixed by the slow, sinister riffs and general macabre atmosphere. 

A bit later, bands like Theatre of Tragedy, Woods of Ypres and Cradle of Filth would get me into the Gothic side.

Doom Metal: With continuing the trend of not counting Sabbath, the first Doom album I sought out to specifically check out the genre was Esoteric's Epistemological Despondency, and I remember not liking it all that much. It was an hour and a half of boredom as I worked on an assignment in the library at college. What ended up converting me was Mirror Reaper from Bell Witch. That album still stands as one of my favorite of all time and made me appreciate Doom and Funeral Doom much more. Pallbearer's Heartless was another one that gave me an appreciation for the more classic style of Doom Metal. 

Drone Metal: I've never been a fan of the Drone style, so I never sought it out. I did get a recommendation from a guy for The Angelic Process, so I checked out Weighing Souls With Sand, which is apparently a pretty massive release for the genre. While I understand the appeal and enjoyed the experience, I doubt I'll be returning to Drone too often. 

Gothic Metal: It took me a while to remember this, but it was Lacuna Coil's Comalies that was a big part of my early listening rotation on the way to school. And it's still the only Lacuna Coil album I actually like. 

Sludge Metal: Mastodon and Ghost Brigade were my two favorites. I remember thinking I hated Mastodon after hearing "Colony of Birchmen" and the Leviathan album, and my turning point was hearing Once More 'Round the Sun. Obviously I enjoy Leviathan much more now, but it took a while. 

Stoner Metal: Kyuss - Welcome to Sky Valley. I remember finding this on Itunes and blasted it on my good old Ipod Nano on the bus to school. I don't know how it came up in my Itunes recommended, but man am I glad it did. Such a good album. 

My brother who is usually a rock fan, at one point was listening to gothic metal band Lacuna Coil. I was still in my epic metal taste (power/progressive/folk), and didn't intend to make my music interest go goth. But then I found out that band's female vocalist Cristina Scabbia was in one of my favorite albums at the time, progressive metal opera album The Theory of Everything by Ayreon, and that's what made me interested in Lacuna Coil. Other gothic metal bands that entered my epic metal arsenal included The Gathering, Anathema, and Theatre of Tragedy (including those bands' post-1998 industrial/alt-prog rock material for the sake of completion). After my grand switch to a heavier modern side of metal, I guess you can say I regained my Fallen virginity, then lost it again when I became interested in Tiamat and a few other gothic metal bands later. The gothic part of my metal taste is kinda off-and-on, which is why The Fallen isn't one of my top 3 clans. I'm pretty much more interested in being a metalhead than a goth...