UPDATE. Thanks to an awesome reddit user, the scan of the original article as well as the text in Word document is now downloadable:
here.
A DOOM METAL MANIFESTO
as it was formulated by the hon. Earl of Void
within Reverend Bizarre’s Holy Parish of Doom
as the long winter of 2002 was closing to its end.
:::LET
THERE BE DOOM
The
background, or the moving force, behind the slowness and the
heaviness of doom metal music has traditionally been the painful
burden of the human race; realizing not only the imminence of our
doom – that is, both the moral and the physical decay and,
eventually, destruction of this earth – but also the role we
ourselves have been (and still are) playing in this. It’s a dark
world, as the legendary Saint Vitus put it, and reflecting and
dealing with this darkness was a task doom metal bands originally
took upon themselves. The roots of today’s doom metal music can be
traced back in the dark heavy rock/proto-metal bands of the late 60s
and early 70s. Both Blue Cheer and Black Sabbath, probably the most
influential forefathers of the would-be doom metal genre, began their
crusades by clearly distancing themselves from the light-hearted
flower power contemporaries. For instance, Blue Cheer’s
nihilistically lifeless performances and, for the time being,
extremely heavy sounds have been described as quite different to the
messages of universal peace and love the hippie generation was famous
for. But it was not until Black Sabbath released their self-titled
debut album (1970) that the foundation for the doom metal genre was
laid. The very first minutes of “Black Sabbath,” the title track
opening this groundbreaking album, lay bare the essence of doom,
Tony Iommi’s crushingly heavy guitar walls combined with Bill
Ward’s slowly proceeding beat and Ozzy Osbourne’s desperate wails
are the most imitated formula in the history of doom metal. But it
did not rest in the sound alone, as another major contribution to
Sabbath’s doomed atmosphere was the appropriation of Christian
symbolism, ranging from the general markers of death to the
prophetical tales of deceit of the Old Testament. As a consequence,
the Christian cross became the ultimate icon of doom metal. It should
also be kept in mind that in the case of Black Sabbath and their
followers, the Christian symbolism was often just an attempt to
create a “Hammer horror” type image, a foreboding Gothic late
Victorian feel, to complement the music. Still, while many doom metal
bands have managed to remain at a relatively safe distance from truly
committed religious practice – at times by even appropriating both
Christian and Satanist themes in their lyrics and imagery – there
have also been several well-known doom bands on a genuinely Christian
mission. The use of Christian symbolism thus keeps confusing many
metalheads not closely familiar with the genre. As years passed by,
the Sabbathian sound and imagery was shamelessly utilized by the
band’s followers all around the Western world; the British
Witchfinder General, the American Saint Vitus, and the Swedish Count
Raven, to name just a few. Still, it took another Swedish doom metal
band, namely Candlemass, to force this formula down the throats of
the general heavy metal public.
:::MORE
TALES OF CREATION
Some
people claim there was no doom metal prior to Candlemass’ debut
Epicus Doomicus Metallicus (1986), an album often considered
to have coined the term in the first place. But this album did not
really give a name to doom metal in general – only to epic
doom metal, just as the title itself suggests. The more traditional
vein of doom had thrived in the metal underground long before
Candlemass finally made it widely public; bands like Pentagram
(starting as early as 1971), Trouble, The Obsessed, Witchfinder
General, and Saint Vitus (who actually refined the entire style in
the early 80s) already had a strong following by the time Epicus
Doomicus Metallicus took the metal crowd by storm. A style
nowadays known as doom metal, then had flourished in the tradition
kept alive by a number of bands, regardless of whether or not it was
widely considered a distinct heavy metal subgenre. Also, according to
my knowledge, Witchfinder General had been described as doom metal
already in the beginning of the 1980s, in an early issue of the heavy
metal magazine Kerrang! Very soon the label was given to bands
like Pentagram, Trouble, and Saint Vitus as well, and thus a
recognizable doom metal genre was born. Nevertheless, dismissing
Black Sabbath – to which even Ozzy Osbourne himself later on
referred to as ‘doom music’ – as a mere prototype of
doom is a largely controversial issue. Their early masterpieces such
as “Hand of Doom” (which many actually consider the origin of the
term doom metal), “Iron Man”, “Children of the Grave”, and so
on are prime examples of doom as we see it today, and only few
later-to-come followers of this vein have contributed anything
genuinely new and “original” to the genre. Surely, Black Sabbath
and their dark contemporaries were never as narrowly oriented in
their musical style as many of today’s so-called doom metal
musicians insist doom should be. But what these modern gloomsters
seem to have somehow forgotten is the fact that life is never plain
downhill. You cannot reduce the complexity of human emotions to mere
depression, and, in time, such attempts usually end up disturbingly
affected. Sincerity – let alone the lack of it – is something
music is very good at conveying, and it is precisely this aspect of
doom that many consider the ultimate marker of true doom metal. In
other words, a different song or two does not make a band less doom.
Come to think of it, even Candlemass were in this sense no doomier
than their predecessors. Just like Black Sabbath had their more
progressive moments and The Obsessed their punk rock roots, neither
were Candlemass ever all the way “100% pure” doom metal; they did
have their tender moments as well, not to mention the technical power
metal spurts with double bass drum workouts. Thus, if Black Sabbath
can be labeled as heavy metal today – and I’m certain no one
would call them plain proto-metal any more – when was the exact
moment their music turned from proto-doom to actual doom?
:::THE
FALSE PROPHETS
With the
well-deserved success of Candlemass, the term doom metal was quickly
taken into larger use in the mainstream heavy metal media. This led
to several misunderstandings, as doom suddenly became the word for
nearly anything that was deemed too slow for the listeners to handle.
Hence, doom did not necessarily mean strength any more, standing
straight under the weight of the world, but, on the contrary, it
became a synonym for boring. Very soon, this negative approach to
doom music was utilized by a new generation of metal musicians, who,
apparently, had no other name for their extremely slow style. Of
course, most of these bands did not themselves label their music as
doom; it was, again, the media. Stated Winter, one of the first bands
associated with the death/doom genre, in the liner notes to their
debut album Into Darkness (1990): “Winter refuse to be
labeled. On the surface it would be easy to mistake them for a death
metal/thrash metal band, but in no way are they affiliated with that
genre of music or the pretentious attitude that sometimes comes with
it.” What is clear, they obviously had no idea that someone might
actually mistake Winter for a doom metal band. In the case of
many bands in this new genre, the actual music seemed to consist of
slowed-down death metal, but with just as many the entire atmosphere
came from the gothic genres, as did their aesthetics and melancholy
and mourning as well. With both, however, the “grunting” vocal
styles were adopted directly from death metal. Of course, there were
also bands that soon, if not from the very start, incorporated in
their music clean female vocals and violins or other Western
classical instruments as well. This, however, at the same time often
took away a great deal of their overall heaviness, and eventually
many of them – e.g. Paradise Lost, Anathema, Theatre of Tragedy,
and Katatonia – even ended up switching to more or less
conventional gothic rock/pop. Thus, apart from the slowness, these
bands did not really seem to have anything in common with doom metal;
doom has its defining traits buried deeper in the song structure, the
overall atmosphere of the music, and in the entire doom culture
surrounding the music. The style of composition is very traditional
in doom metal, relying strongly on harmony, in many cases even the
blues scale (not always, though), etc., whereas the new bands –
e.g. Winter, Thergothon, Unholy, and early My Dying Bride – either
were more experimental or just applied directly the disharmonic
elements and structures of thrash and death metal. Furthermore,
whereas the bleak atmosphere of doom metal had traditionally been
strongly influenced by the hardships of a working class life, the new
generation found their inspiration increasingly in high cultural
philosophical investigations and the angst of the Romantic Genius.
Even today, some people think that slow, dark, heavy, and depressing
metal of any kind can be doom. This is not true, of course, since
doom is always much more than mere music, as many doomsayers have
pointed out. To illustrate this aspect further, let us consider
Cathedral, a highly influential band in the early 90s, which some
people locate in the traditional doom genre and others in the
“doom/death” vein. The main reason for the controversy around
Cathedral is probably caused by Lee Dorrian’s vocal style. Prior to
Cathedral, Dorrian fronted a widely acclaimed grindcore band named
Napalm Death. In Cathedral, however, his output was never simple
death metal growls; instead, Dorrian actually used quite a lot of
melody in his singing. Although his style was by no means as clean as
that of his fellow doomsayers, I definitely see him firmly engaged in
the Sabbathian tradition of doom metal. Moreover, neither the riffage
nor the drumming on Cathedral’s early albums resemble the music of
the bands mentioned earlier in this chapter. Hence, the only thing
linking Cathedral to the new “doom/death” style seemed to be
nothing more than the band’s overwhelmingly slow tempo. Of course,
some likeness can be heard in the vocal styles as well, especially if
compared to doom metal bands using exclusively clean and even
high-pitched vocals. In honour of the slow death/avant-garde metal
scene, let it be mentioned that they really came up with something
new. Not following the Black Sabbath vein, they still ventured to
play very slow and sorrowful metal. With no better knowledge, the
crowds, ignorant of the intention of the musicians themselves,
mistook this new style for another slow vein of metal – i.e. doom.
Sadly, this confusion has stuck until today.
:::FEET
FIRMLY ON THE GROUND
In the
early 90s, the doom scene witnessed another confusing development;
the psychedelic rock revival had brought about a new hybrid style,
which soon, again in the novelty-hungry media, was named stoner rock.
Stoner rock had its roots in some of the same early heavy rock bands
with doom metal, like Blue Cheer and Black Sabbath, but while doom’s
source of inspiration was the darker side of life, stoners chose to
put all this aside by concentrating mainly on the escapist fantasies
of the stoned hippie generation. With media coverage, the psychedelic
trend grew stronger and stronger, which, it seems, eventually tempted
even some very dark doom metal bands to make changes in their line.
After years of unrewarding roiling in the underground, here was
finally a chance to make something out of their work. But the change
from visions of impending doom to visions of cosmic consciousness was
a bit too much for the die-hard doomsayers who saw bands and labels
suddenly switching camps as mere commercial sell-outs – after all,
cosmic vibes and magic carpet rides are not the first thing that
comes in mind when thinking of what the word ‘doom’ really stands
for. In stoner rock, doom’s iconography of death and destruction
was replaced by things like mushrooms, space travel, and half-naked
women. Likewise, whereas the starting point of doom had traditionally
been tales of human suffering, stoner rock became more concerned with
fast cars, good trips, and positive vibrations in general. The actual
music relies mainly on groove, although the tempo can vary a lot.
While the more popular mainstream stoner rock is often plain up-tempo
retro rock with only few if any slower parts, the more underground
stoner can get extremely slow as well. This slowness, however, seems
to differ from doom metal’s slowness in that is usually lacks the
utter heaviness of doom. Also, instead of seeking the saddening
impact extremely slow music may have on the listener, stoner slowness
often stems from and/or is meant to enhance the impact of the
musicians’ altered sense of time caused by drug-taking. Another
style commonly associated with both doom metal and drugs is sludge,
also known as sludgecore, sludge doom, etc. sludge started off as a
very raw mixture of doom metal and hardcore, and the style is
characterized by shrieking vocals, piercing guitar feedbacks, and
generally rough production. While stoner usually approaches drugs by
celebrating them quite uncritically, sludge, in its overall
negativity, has wallowed in the darker sides of drug addiction as
well. Thus, considering sludge’s negative outlook on life in
general, the relation between sludge and doom would be, at least in
my opinion, a lot closer than that of stoner and doom. The main
difference between these two styles is that while doom as a genre can
be situated in heavy metal, sludge is more often associated with
hardcore punk.
:::THE
CURSE OF DOOM
Doom metal
has always tended to be underrated due to its refusal to join the
Western continual progress bandwagon. But in this world of constant
changes and ever-so sudden developments, it is good to have something
familiar and safe at hand. To many doom fans, this is exactly what
doom metal has always been about. Witchfinder General, Count Raven,
Iron Man… All of these bands were, in their time, criticized for
being mere uninventive Black Sabbath copycats. Unfortunately, what
their critics did not seem to realize was that it was precisely this
recognition of tradition in which the strength of these bands lied.
In other words, if making “progress”, pushing forward, and
relying on the novelty value alone is all that music is about, then
why are there still people playing and listening to e.g. classical
music and folk songs? Plain and simple: because they love it. And
just because art music developed into highly experimental
noisescapes, and rock’n’roll into elitist displays of technical
virtuosity, this does not mean everyone should forget Bach and
Tchaikovsky nor The Beatles and Budgie. Still, this seems to be the
trend within many modern metal scenes, definitely not least within
the so-called death/doom and gothic doom genres (nowadays also
referred to as ‘nu-doom’), in which 80s heavy metal music is
often ridiculed for is assume out-of-date simplicity and, to put it
straight, stupidity. Furthermore, I personally find it rather
contradictory that while some people in the metal scene demand
constant progress from bands and musicians and belittle those who
keep doing the same kind of stuff year after year, still the same
people are often the first to dismiss e.g. nu-metal and other more or
less new forms of metal as completely unworthy excuses for music.
Obviously, then it is not about progress in itself, but about
progress only as people see fit.
:::WORDS
TO END ALL WORDS
Even
though many today question the need for labeling and categorizing
metal/music styles in general, the debate on what is and what is not
doom shall go on, that I am certain of. And, come to think of it, how
could we not label, how could we not categorize? The argument most
often heard against categorizing music is the fact that you will know
whether you like something or not only after you have listened to it
yourself; no labels are needed – “music is just music.”
Unfortunately, this is also the weakest possible argument, as no one,
in reality, can get to listen to everything. It is not just a
matter of time, but of resources and possibilities in particular;
everyone does not have an Internet access through which to listen to
sound samples of promising bands, and there is no record shop that
would carry every single item for the customer to check out before
purchase. This problem is strikingly evident when it comes to doom
metal, an underground style on which is may be very difficult to
gather information even if you had all the privileges of an urban
middle-class metalhead. On the surface, there seems to be a consensus
in the underground scene concerning the division between classic
doom, death/doom, and stoner. It is said that “we all know what
doom means”, and that further arguing is unnecessary. Still, many
stoner fans find the music of the so-called funeral doom bands
unbearably boring, just like many “death/doom” bands tend to find
stoners annoyingly light-hearted. Furthermore, some stoner rockers
consider even the classic Sabbathian doom too slow and heavy for
them, while, likewise, the most extreme “funeral doomsters” may
dismiss the very same style as stoner rock. Thus, it is not
all “just music”, as tastes do vary; people who want to take it
easy, smoke some weed and relax in the sunshine do not necessarily
wish to be bothered by the negative aspects of doom, and those in
mourning do not necessarily appreciate the artificial bliss portrayed
in care-free stoner rock. And then, of course, there are also those
who want their slice of doom “the way it was meant to be” – a
down-to-earth as heavy metal. This is why we, and dare I say we all,
keep categorizing music; to make sure we talk about the same thing
and get what we expect. This is practical, nothing more to it. When
the media mistakes for instance stoner rock for doom metal, this does
harm to both genres. First, people who do not like what they heard
(e.g. in the radio) associate their dislike with the wrong term, thus
perhaps missing and entire music culture they might have otherwise
found strength in. second, people who do like what they heard
may end up wasting a lot of money on disappointing records after
reading misleading reviews by journalists who associate the term with
wrong bands. In many areas, the situation has already gotten so bad
that, eventually, you can rely only in the bands themselves by
browsing through their interviews and websites, trying to make out
what they are really about. Still, even then it may be very difficult
to discern the way in which adjectives like ‘dark’, ‘slow’,
and ‘doomed are used. And if you have no contact to the metal
underground, let alone knowledge of its existence on the whole…
Well, all you can do is wait for a Forest of Equilibrium to
find its way to your local record shop or distro and show you the
way. Without the thank list of this classic 1991 debut by Cathedral,
Rev. Bizarre’s Holy Parrish of Doom might very well not exist.
In
reality, you know where power is – in the music. Melody can move
mountains. – Scott “Wino” Weinrich
So this was the most underwhelming day of the festival for me. The lack of bands I saw is mostly due to the fact that I fell asleep in the afternoon and woke up late. Clearly rest was required. I love Elder and really wish they would aggressively poise themselves to crossover out of the underground. Nick DiSalvo has the talent and the world deserves to hear this guy work on music full time, no doubt in my mind. My comments above about Lowrider’s performance being fine also applies to Elder really. That means I found Elder’s performance to be adequate but not poised for grand venues just yet. With Greenleaf, I just went in to kill some time and why did they kick my ass! Really good vibes. Funniest thing is listening to Greenleaf on studio record again, it still didn’t move me. But live the same songs really came to life - so fair play. Orange Goblin are stalwarts of the London scene and did their thing, I would have had quite a different set list but the local crowd enjoyed it all. Wasn’t too keen on the corny talk between songs but I know my younger self would feel differently after all.
