Due to the excessive length of these songs, this playlist is broken between two players. I figure it will be much easier to take in that way.
1. Un – In Its Absence – Sentiment (2018) (0:00)
Un’s second full-length album, Sentiment, is one of the best sounding doom metal albums ever. Everything from the clean guitar sections to the slick drum sound is damn near perfect, and having seen them live prior to the shut down, I can attest they actually sound this good in person too. The Seattle group excels at writing extremely engaging songs at really long run-times. “In It’s Absence” has a lot going on, the mellow intro and mid-song break, pummeling riffs and even a really sweet guitar solo, something atypical of the style. This is funeral doom done to perfection.
2. Ocean – The Beacon – Pantheon Of The Lesser (2008) (13:37)
Hailing from the complete other end of the country, Portland, ME’s Ocean are a group that deserved so much more credit than they got. I saw this band play at an abandoned factory turned renegade art gallery to about 8 people - including members of the other band – and it was glorious. In total five oppressively slow, devastatingly bleak songs make up their two full-length albums, including “The Beacon,” their thirty-six minute masterpiece heard here. This song plays itself out in essentially three movements. The first half of the song shows the four-piece playing their signature minimalist style of doom, the chords decaying into a feedback blanketing an otherwise empty void between notes. The drums act as the main instrument, pushing the song along into the second section - a clean guitar build up centered around a tribal beat. As the track continues to grow in sound and scope, it drops back out for its conclusion - another quiet break that climbs into an epic finish that features the vocal styling of Yashika Ohara of Bloody Panda. This is probably my favorite doom song of all time.
3. Sea Of Bones – Failure Of Light – The Earth Wants Us Dead (2013) (49:19)
Most people think doom is just about being loud and slow, but there is a lot more to it. When done right, the volume creates harmonic overtones and phase patterns that don’t exist at softer levels. If you have ever seen Sea Of Bones live, you have experienced this. The New Haven based trio used to play through piles of amplifiers that admittedly didn’t always sound so good, but as one of the best things going on in my hometown I’ve gotten to watch them grow into an incredible sounding band, thanks in large part to vocalist/guitarist Tom Mucherino’s homemade cabs. These things are so good that Mike Scheidt of YOB uses them. What I love so much about Sea Of Bones is their ability to shift between the ultra slow and the faster sludgy sections without getting bogged down, something I attribute to some great drumming. Their songs also feature vocals from all three members adding an extra degree of variation to the sound.
4. Skepticism – March October – Alloy (2008) (1:02:52)
Featuring blaring organ accompaniment, Skepticism are probably the purest funeral doom band presented here. The Nordic countries are known for their black metal of course, but equally dark and cold - and maybe even more miserable - is its slower counterpart. This Finnish group started off playing death metal, keeping the low vocal style as they lessened their pace, ultimately becoming one of the key players of funeral doom. The church organ adds the gothic funereal feel to Skepticism’s sound, more somber than the agonizing tone of the previous songs.
5. Abandon – In Hopelessness Enlightened – In Reality We Suffer (2004) (0:00)
I used to do a college radio show a long time ago on which I spent a lot of time playing doom and sludge to an audience of potentially no one. But I didn’t care, because I would turn the lights down low and the monitors up high and zone out to my favorites – Abandon being one of those. In Reality We Suffer is a torturous record; it shuffles between the lethargy heard here on “In Hopelessness Enlightened” and the more sludge inspired songs of “Somnambulistic” and “Piles Of Pigs.” In this form Abandon play slow and low - the bass is so low it buzzes. This is seriously soul crushing music, made all the more anguishing by the screamed, rather than growled, vocals.
6. Samothrace – Cacophony – Life’s Trade (2008) (14:03)
Samothrace apply some blusier stoner rock qualities to their take on doom metal. In between bouts of ringing chords and ultra slow rhythms, the group works in some swampy leads and even a blistering solo at the end. There is even a finger tapping section in “Cacophony” that sounds like if Botch played at quarter speed. Life’s Trade is an incredible album from start to finish; four well crafted songs that display a highly unique and creative approach. The wavering howl in the background is a nice touch too.
7. Esoteric – Quickening – The Maniacal Vale (2008) (25:20)
From the birthplace of heavy metal, Birmingham, England, Esoteric bring their weird brand of psychedelic funeral doom. With a prog-like mentality, the group pulls from a palette of synths, feedback and effect-laden atmospheres to create a surrealistic soundscape. Esoteric’s music is dense with layers; deep textures that rise and fall beneath a bed of loud guitars. “Quickening” is as dark as it is beautiful, a melodrama of sound.
8. Ahab – The Pacific – The Call Of The Wretched Sea (2006) (37:39)
Germany’s Ahab are the epitome of the doom metal style. Moby-Dick references and other nautical themes run rampant in the lyrics and imagery, with a soundtrack epic enough to back it up. Gutteral vocals cut through the murky sound of colossal riffs and thunderous percussion. If any band sounded like a representation of the ocean, rising and falling, pushing and pulling, in all its power and glory, that band is Ahab.
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