![]() But what needs remembering is the intent. The line between doom and death metal can seem to some as simply a matter of tempo. ![]() But even as an opening throw, here they proved that few do doom quite as well as they. Candlemass would go on to further define epic doom on albums like the peerless Nightfall and Ancient Dreams, as well as giving ex- Bathory drummer (and future video director for Madonna, Lady Gaga, Metallica and Beyonce) Jonas Åkerlund his first job directing the video for Bewitched. Solitude is written from a place of utter misery – each verse ends ‘ Please let me die in solitude’, the chorus is a funereal ‘ Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, and dust to dust’, while its parent album is dedicated to “hatred, bitterness, pain, depressions, and hangovers” – but its downlifting riffs are pure majesty. And with the album’s title, the Swedes created a new form as well: epic doom. Saint Vitus, Trouble, Witchfinder General and the rest who came before had the tag applied retrospectively, but here is a line being drawn where influence becomes intent. In a similar fashion to Judas Priest’s British Steel being one of the first records to be heavy metal not by tag or accident, but by full, wholehearted desire to be, it could be argued that Candlemass’ Epicus Doomicus Metallicus is perhaps the first doom album on purpose. Among those who got in on the action at the time, seeing the band in DIY punk venues in Virginia as a teen, was one Dave Grohl, who would go on to salute Wino by inviting him to be part of his Probot, alongside Trouble's Eric Wagner among other underground legends. And that’s before we mention Dave Chandler’s enormous, slugging riffs that, like Iommi and Hendrix before him, are deceptively simple in appearance, but all those who copy will never quite manage to get quite right. But then his proud declaration that ‘ I’ll never be like you’ turns this into a hymn for disenfranchised outsiders, boozers and weirdos everywhere. The metal crowd ‘ say my songs are much too slow’, as singer Scott 'Wino' Weinrich laments here, while the punk crowds who would see them on tour with Black Flag would ‘ talk about my length of hair, and the out of date clothes I wear’. And as befits the title-track of their third album, they never quite fit in anywhere. Next to Sabbath, few bands have proven quite so important to doom as Saint Vitus. Not only would this be unearthed and reissued in the 2000s, it would kickstart a reigniting of the band, new music, and legendary status, until the tragic passing of Terry in 2015. That it shines again is fantastic, because Alan Jones’ riffs are towering things of which Tony Iommi would be proud, while their occult lyrics and the fact that singer (and Alan’s father) Terry Jones would be carried onstage in a coffin gave them a genuinely mysterious atmosphere. The title-track from 1981’s Judgement Of The Dead is now rightly heralded as essential, classic doom, but for a good 20 years it was lost to all but the very deepest parts of the underground. One thing you will learn from this list: many, many of the bands who would go on to become highly influential cornerstones of doom had to age and mature before finally getting the respect they deserve from a generation after their own, their names often surviving on bootlegs and the enthusiasm of a handful of dyed-in-the-wool doom maniacs. So come, children of the grave, and feel the doom… There's a lot of different sounds, but all share, in some way, a common dark thread. Here, then, we chart the history of doom through its key songs by its key players. Phil Anselmo is an absolute doom fanatic. Ghost learned valuable skills from fellow Swedes Candlemass. Dave Grohl last appeared on the cover of Kerrang! wearing an Obsessed shirt, while James Hetfield proudly sports a Witchfinder General one. ![]() Often a truly underground thing full of lost relics and hidden gems, the influence of doom metal stretches far further than its small success stories suggest. From the "scary music" idea Sabbath had in 1970, through to bands who took that idea and really ran with it, to funereal dirges and explorations of doom where it feels like you're on a different planet to Sabbath altogether, doom is a genre as wide as it is long. But also because its history stretches so far back, and splinters into so many different tangents. Literally, you could, given its frequently slow tempos naturally leading to songs of notable length. You could spend a very long time telling the story of doom.
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