"Doom Doesn't Exist" - whatever dude !

The original post from some idiot on the Metal Archives Board -

"1. There is no base form of doom metal. Other genres, such as black metal, death metal, or thrash metal, have bands which can be described accurately without any modifiers. Doom has no such privilege; all bands are some variety of combination or subgenre. Death/doom, black/doom, traditional doom; there is no one variety of 'doom metal' which is the standard from which everything else extends. 2. In the case of these fusion-style doom bands, every band which can be labeled doom can just as easily be placed in the other genre with which they fuse doom. Older My Dying Bride is simply melodic death metal while newer material is gothic. Winter is a very slow, Autopsy-derived death metal band. All traditional doom bands are simply Sabbath-derived heavy metal slowed down. Not only is there no base form of doom, there's no band in doom which can't be lumped just as easily into another category. The notable possible exception to this is funeral doom, but with a bit of finagling most of those bands could likely fit into black, death, or sludge. Drone is simply at extension of ambient music.

3. Doom has no basic canon of distinguishing elements apart from slowness and, to some degree, mood (and even that is questionable). All other genres of metal such as death, black, or thrash have basic, canonical elements which more or less remain similar throughout the reaches of the genre, but apart from a general slowness of tempo, there is nothing to link Cathedral to My Dying Bride to Skepticism. Even the mood, typically regarded as 'depressing', varies greatly; numerous stoner/doom bands don't have that atmosphere, and many death/doom bands such as Winter go in a more misanthropic direction. Does anyone have thoughts on this idea?"

* A reply from Derek Edward Kellington


I decided I would take a walk through whorespace a couple weeks back, and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this article. It has been some time since I have been able to get down on doom metal. Its amazing what the arrogance and ignorance of others will do for you. At least this is how I'm feeling at the moment as I am listening to Blood Farmers for the first time since I can remember. So to begin with my little rant here, I shall start quoting. "1. There is no base form of doom metal. Other genres, such as black metal, death metal, or thrash metal, have bands which can be described accurately without any modifiers.

Doom has no such privilege; all bands are some variety of combination or sub genre. Death/doom, black/doom, traditional doom; there is no one variety of 'doom metal' which is the standard from which everything else extends." This I find to be very troubling. This whole paragraph describes exactly what is wrong with your "hardcore" fans as well as with the Big 5 (your major labels in the music industry). You MUST sound a certain way, and you MUST sound similar to the flavor of the week. Its this kind of narrow mindedness that destroys music. Its this kind of temperament that see's many truly astounding and innovative bands go completely unnoticed. "2. In the case of these fusion-style doom bands, every band which can be labeled doom can just as easily be placed in the other genre with which they fuse doom. Older My Dying Bride is simply melodic death metal while newer material is gothic.

Winter is a very slow, Autopsy-derived death metal band. All traditional doom bands are simply Sabbath-derived heavy metal slowed down. Not only is there no base form of doom, there's no band in doom which can't be lumped just as easily into another category. The notable possible exception to this is funeral doom, but with a bit of finagling most of those bands could likely fit into black, death, or sludge. Drone is simply at extension of ambient music." This statement only further points out the arrogance of "hardcore" behavior. I am not going to deny what he has to say about My Dying Bride or Winter. But I do wish this guy would listen to a little bit of doom metal before he tries to debunk it.

Knowing of two bands labeled as doom does not give one extensive knowledge to be a connoisseur or critic. If he truly knew what doom metal was, he would not be calling upon traditional doom like its a new sub genre of metal, when in fact it predates the true origins of death metal and black metal by a decade. Bands like Witchfinder General, Saint Vitus (previously Tyrant circa 1979) Pagan Alter, Trouble, Obsessed the reincarnation of Pentagram and a handful of others are your pioneers of doom metal. They are the basis of the genre. All these bands predate all your big important names to metal. Surely we all know that Slayer wasn't kicking out the jams in the 70's. Even Iron Maiden at the time wasnt a metal giant. Nay, they sound quite a bit like the origins of Pentagram mixed with Thin Lizzy. You want to talk about easily lumping a band into another category? Venom is a large part of the origins of thrash, yet their album "Black Metal" is influential enough to describe a sub genre itself. Shame on you Cronos! Make up your fucking mind!

Yes, one can say that it all is just Sabbath derived riffs. Of course it is. All metal is Sabbath derived. If you want to get pissy about it, there is only one kind of music when it comes to metal. THE BLUES! Come on now. Think about it. Sit down and really listen to the first Sabbath album. While your at it, break out Zeppelin I. Both have blues covers. Both have blues original scores. Both bands have blues roots (Earth anyone?) So this is to say that heavy metal doesn't exist? Its just the blues? Rightly so. Lets not forget the HUGE jazz influence behind Sabbath.

You think Geezer was the first to play his bass like that? I'm afraid those aren't walking bass lines like you hear in the blues. Ward and Bonham were the first drummers to beat the shit out of their kit? Im afraid assault and battery of the drums predates even Keith Moon. The power chord surfaced in the 50's. The diminished 5th is a jazz trademark. Why do you think Christians hated jazz so much? It would appear that all of a sudden borrowing in music is a bad thing. Well, we had better eliminate music altogether then. "

3. Doom has no basic canon of distinguishing elements apart from slowness and, to some degree, mood (and even that is questionable). All other genres of metal such as death, black, or thrash have basic, canonical elements which more or less remain similar throughout the reaches of the genre, but apart from a general slowness of tempo, there is nothing to link Cathedral to My Dying Bride to Skepticism. Even the mood, typically regarded as 'depressing', varies greatly; numerous stoner/doom bands don't have that atmosphere, and many death/doom bands such as Winter go in a more misanthropic direction. I agree that there isn't much that can link Cathedral to My Dying Bride to Skepticism, and to me this is fucking awesome! Variety! No wonder doom metal is so appealing to me. My musical taste is extremely diverse. At one moment I will be listening to Sleep.

I then can get down and bust out some Stevie Wonder. How about some Gregorian Hymns? Bach's pipe organ works? Miles Davis? You gotta be able to get down on Miles! Richard Wagner? (thanks Indy!) Cheers by the way to the writer of the article that has inspired this rant for being able to produce two more doom metal bands that however influential and important they are to the genre have no baring on its origins. All these bands surfaced a decade after the genre took hold. All these bands did was practice Darwinism. Evolution? So please, someone take the gore paint and bloody dagger away from this guy. Take away his gauntlet. Give him a joint as he is taking life too seriously (Bill Hicks?).

But I guess I can't blame the author. This is typical North American behavior to music, namely heavy metal. If it aint fast, it ain't metal. Even Buzzo recognized this, and where would metal be without him? You don't have to like his music, but you have to give props to one of the most influential bands of our time no matter how little recognition Melvins get. It's the whole aspect of speed in metal that see's our most beloved bands tour over sea's to get an audience. Sleep doing three reunion shows in Europe? Saint Vitus? Hell, Sons of Otis wont even play Canada cuz no one shows up at their shows (Sons of Otis review coming soon. a lot to be said there), and they are Canadian. So basically what I took from the article that inspired such a rant is that narrow mindedness is key in music genres.

They must sound similar to each other, and they shouldn't be innovative nor expressive. Keep exploration out of music please. *** Note to the reader. Put down your Revolver magazine and search music for yourself. Fuck the flavor of the month. Do your research. Find the bands that are trudging away in the trenches, for they are the true warriors of metal. The privates that are shot in the line of duty to be all but forgotten with no purple hearts awarded for their bravery. Many bands have withered away without recognition, and this truly is a pity.*** Derek Edward Kellington May 19, 2009