History of doom metal

Together with heavy metal, doom metal is the oldest form of metal music, rooted in the music of early Black Sabbath, which is often considered as one of the first metal bands amongst many metalheads. Although in the beginning of the 1970s both Black Sabbath and the American Pentagram performed a kind of music that could be considered early doom metal, neither band is generally considered an actual doom metal band. From the late 1970s to mid 1980s, bands such as Trouble, Saint Vitus and Witchfinder General contributed much to the formation of doom metal as a distinct genre. The form of music played by these artists can be described as being rooted in both the music of Black Sabbath and, especially in the case of Witchfinder General, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The slowness of their music is often seen by some as a reaction to the contemporary trend of constantly increasing speed in the 1980s - thrash metal and speed metal.

Doom metal first became widely recognized within the metal scene with Sweden's Candlemass, who are hailed in the mainstream metal press as one of the most important and influential doom metal bands; their 1986 album Epicus Doomicus Metallicus is considered a genre-defining release. According to the proponents of the classic doom metal style, the most prototypical doom metal band would be Saint Vitus, who released their self-titled debut album in 1984 - two years before doom metal as a genre was recognised in the mainstream metal press. Saint Vitus still remains one of the most legendary and influental bands within the genre.

Doom metal developed further in the early 1990s. The breaking point and probably the most influental doom metal band from the early 1990s to the present was Cathedral, especially their debut album Forest of Equilibrium(1991). Although it was a traditional doom release, this album opened a wide range of possible influences and directions for the coming doom metal bands.

A few death metal bands bordered the line of doom metal by slowing down their playing style, such as Sorrow or Paradise Lost on their debut. A number of bands started combining the original doom metal style that was pioneered in the 1980s with influences from death metal and other forms of extreme metal and even hard core. The first band who mixed doom with death metal may have been the heavily Celtic Frost-influenced Winter, although this style known as death/doom later became generally associated with and made popular within wider heavy metal audience by three British bands: Paradise Lost(old), My Dying Bride and old Anathema.

Although classic doom and death/doom have remained central to the present, during the 1990s the doom metal genre developed in much further styles. In the early 1990s European bands such as Thergothon and Funeral moved the basis of death/doom to the extreme. This utterly slow and often very dark style is now known as funeral doom. At the same time, American bands such as Crowbar and Eyehategod mixed certain doom metal with a lot of hardcore and even some punk influencies and created another new faction within the doom metal scene: sludge doom. Also, the band Earth (Seattle band, not to be confused with early name of Black Sabbath) pioneered the rise of drone doom, as the slowest and the most minimalistic form of doom.

A number of bands, such as The Gathering and Theatre of Tragedy took the mellower side of Paradise Lost, and started with a lot of experimentation with female vocals and keyboards and created the generally more accessible genre of gothic metal. Although this genre is generally considered to be inspired by some doom metal bands, it is not considered as doom's subgenre, but as a genre for itself. Gothic metal was seen as a mix between metal and gothic music (which is actually fairly opposite to doom metal).

Also, it has been argued that a nexus exists between doom metal, stoner rock and psychedelic music, although each of these genres have developed on their own. The stoner rock bands like Kyuss, Fu Manchu, Monster Magnet and Queens of the Stone Age share with doom metal a heavy sound and a strong Black Sabbath influence, but generally have a different objective: whereas doom metal aims for dark and moody themes and atmosphere, stoner rock aims for a groovy "feelgood" and psychedelic sound. A number of doom metal bands, however, such as Cathedral(mid) and Sleep, have combined doom metal with psychedelic influences, thereby creating a style which can be considered a hybrid form of doom metal and psychedelic rock.

Nowadays, the original brand of doom metal with clean vocals is usually labelled as a "traditional doom." One of the most important traditional doom bands in the past few years was Finnish Reverend Bizarre. Another band that plays in this style is Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi's solo project Iommi with former Deep Purple/Black Sabbath vocalist Glenn Hughes on vocals/bass guitar