Listening Notes: This is Doom Metal

This time, I return to the world of doom with a focus specifically on death/doom metal, alongside one funeral doom release. Originally, I wanted to make this session more varied—perhaps by including Trouble or something from the epic sector to represent the main branches of doom metal itself—but this is where the path led.

Aeonian Sorrow - A Life Without (2020)

70%

This gothic/doom/death metal band isn't always purely melancholic, but I find Aeonian Sorrow still quite relevant to the likes of Draconian or My Dying Bride.

The clumped growled vocals create a death/doom line that feels hollow, while Gogo Melone’s female vocals provide the necessary sense of mourning and sorrow, as heard on "The Endless Fall of Grief" and "One Love." Meanwhile, grand sounds with an epic or cold gothic flair can be found in "My Solitude" and "Hopeless Suicide."

The slow tempo and piano accents certainly meet the genre's requirements, but overall, I’ve yet to find the experience truly satisfying. This is largely because the growls, as I mentioned, feel a bit too "clumped" during the opening moments.

Highlights: My Solitude, Hopeless Suicide

Evadne - A Mother Named Death (2017)

75%

The first thing I want to note is just how influential the morning hours can be. How else could this time of day transform my response to the opening melody of "Abode of Distress," which previously felt completely empty? Perhaps I simply lacked the necessary contemplation and stillness when I first approached this album.

However, there are still parts that my heart can't quite accept—for instance, the faster death metal-style playing in the intro of "Black Womb of Light" and the instrumental solo dynamics in the middle of "Morningstar Song," even if Evadne is fundamentally death/doom. It’s only afterward that I can truly enter the dark world they’ve created, particularly with the instrumental track "88.6," rooted in Psalm 88:6: "You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths." Everything goes dark instantly!

I’d place this album somewhere between good and bad—decent enough to revisit so I can truly pinpoint the best tracks.

Highlights: Heirs of Sorrow, 88.6

I Gather Your Grief - Dystopian Delusions (2019)

65%

This Brazilian death/doom band doesn't leave much of an impression across its four tracks. The offering feels somewhat "hollow," especially through the vocals, despite the presence of piano. It might be due to the inadequate audio quality, which prevents it from feeling sufficiently emotional or melancholic to my ears.

Highlight: -

My Dying Bride - As the Flower Withers (1992)

70%

As part of the "Peaceville Three" (the great trinity of British death/doom), My Dying Bride paved a rugged path with hissing violins, describing themselves in the lingering agony of "The Return of the Beautiful." The ferocity of that era is still palpable here; I suspect parts of this would still appeal to death metal fans due to the hooks found as early as the intros—take "The Forever People," "Vast Choirs," or "Erotic Literature," for example.

While it is cult-status alongside Anathema and Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride's debut feels more essential as a piece of music history than as a personal favorite. My heart requires a more concrete, emotional form.

Highlights: The Bitterness and the Bereavement, The Return of the Beautiful

Swallow the Sun - The Morning Never Came (2003)

75%

Swallow the Sun stands at the peak of melodic death/doom, partly because pure melodic doom metal is so elusive. Since I now prioritize atmosphere and melancholic emotion, I tend to hope for more from this subgenre—a middle ground between the suffering-filled wails of melodic death and the slower pace of doom.

Their debut album meets those expectations well. The sorrow of a darkness that will never fade—because morning will never come—is something I felt clearly throughout. The most jarring element, however, is the scream vocal style typically found in "-core" genres like metalcore. This is also why I’ve never been fond of emo and its relatives.

While it feels like a complete work, the standout tracks are "Deadly Nightshade," "Out Of the Gloomy Light," and "Hold This Woe." The others require further thought.

Highlights: Mostly all

Thergothon - Stream from the Heavens (1994)

75%

This sole album from Thergothon serves as an essential prototype for funeral doom metal—the very antithesis of metal stereotypes. While the "hardest" music usually relies on speed, this Finnish band plays with extreme slowness.

On this second listen, I began to see the shadows of Bell Witch, particularly in the blend of growls and clean vocals on "Everlasting" and "Who Rides the Astral Wings." To me, "The Unknown Kadeth in the Cold Waste" sounds like an early sample of dungeon synth. The closer, "Crying Blood & Crimson Snow," further proves the music's atmospheric and emotional quality. It is not something to be underestimated.

Thergothon wasn't just a pioneer creating something raw or haphazard; they produced a concrete, lasting blueprint.

Highlights: Everlasting, The Unknown Kadeth in the Cold Waste, Crying Blood & Crimson Snow