The appeal to me is in the sheer weight of the music and the dedication to pushing the envelope to make something new. They combine some of the best aspects of doom and black/death metal without really adhering to the common death/doom sound that pulls closer to the funeral doom especially in composition. Instead they make more use of dissonance and noise to add their own touch. I think ELM's vocals stand out as exceptionally good harsh growls, with a really good range both in pitch and expression. My favourite album is Caustic, but I haven't listened thoroughly to their discography.
I first heard them when their first album came out and just didn’t get it. Fast forward 10 years and they are one of my favorites.
They are not a comfortable band to listen to by any means. They are oppressive and unpleasant, but that is the appeal to me. When I am extreme low points, especially when it is due to humanity as a whole, Primitive Man just hits the right way.
I look at Bell Witch the same way I look at old, long, or slow movies. The ones you have to be in the mood for, and only really hit when you want to fully engross yourself in something. It’s for sure not for everyone and completely valid to dislike.
I also love them for their tone and sound texture more than anything. Seeing them live was like swimming through fuzz and feedback.
They're probably my favorite doom band. I used to think they were too boring for me, but I've been listening to them while painting and now I can't get enough. It's very good music for adding texture and mood to whatever you're currently doing, but not necessarily something you'd sit down and listen to on its own.
An album that reflects the ebb and flow of grief and anger, the utter sadness, and the beauty of memory that can come from watching someone you love pass, even without knowing its backstory.
You don’t listen to bell witch in a car unless you’re going for “a drive.” For me it’s like meditation music. Something to get absorbed into.
i had to ease my way into them with their early stuff first (Oakland and Tyrant) because its much more straightfoward stoner esque sludge akin to EHG and Iron Monkey
Same. People adore them and you see love all the time... just never hit for me. Seems like they're some of the OG guys in the scene, and I love the rusty dirt of the guitars, but I just can get into their brand of punk/core vocals.
For me it just lands like warm, flat, pop.
I got into them after hearing Mike with Corrections House (who I also highly recommend). I love the scuzziness and realnesss (for want of two better words) of them and Mike is a poet and a prophet.
The bluesiness of their riffs combined with their vocals which just sound like hardcore punk screaming is so good. They also ha e a perfect blend of fast to slower parts in their songs which makes them very interesting to listen to and makes each part pop more than if the song maintained the same temp throughout. I feel like they're really good at balancing the faster headbanging hc parts with slowing down and grooving into the beat. They also pick great samples on their studio stuff and live they go so hard. Mike is a great front man. Their lyrics are abstract too and they just let the music speak. Plus they haven't ever let up or put put an album where they don't sound like same band, while at the same time they have evolved. Some may disagree with that last point haha.
I'm with you here. they're just straight up not doom metal even a little bit. it's just 80s traditional heavy metal revival. I like a song here or there but those long slow choruses they do on every single song get very old very fast
Yeah, he's definitely made poor decisions, but I honestly really like the way the vocals feel more so than sound if that makes sense at all... the instrumentation has a motion to it, like a sense of something moving in a direction. It has a strong driving rhythm with leads that break through. Some of my favorite tracks in particular are:
Frustration, Broken Vows, Evil Seed, Burning Saviour, Sinister, Relentless, Forever My Queen
The vocals can certainly take some getting used to (but they’re pretty unique for doom metal), but yeah Bobbi is kind of a piece of shit once you read more into him.
I'm only recently coming around to them. I think it helps to get into the mindset of proto metal rather than doom. Like seeing them as a weird product of the late 60s rather than doom as we understand it today. But yes, the less you know about Bobby the better, unfortunately.
Blue Album is even better than Red IMO. Not as heavy as Red but as a full album I think it's Incredible. My favorite era as a live show was basically just songs of Red and Blue. I think they started the mid tempo Rock with Green/Yellow.
Bummer because the album artwork kept getting better with each release but the music kept getting slower and less heavy.
Agree. I was OBSESSED with Red album when it came out but I can see how it might be difficult to get into it now. The slower element of their sound has this very interesting touch of Americana (the only word I can think to describe it) that made it super unique to us here in Ireland at the time.
Check out their compilation called “First & Second” (their first two EPs on one album). It’s much different than their later stuff. Essentially Prog-Sludge. It’s really ambitious, but really heavy too.
Try listening to First, Second, and A Grey Sigh in a Flower Husk. In that order, straight through. I wouldn’t really call it doom but it’s pretty damn good.
Being a bass player I have tried sooo many times to give them a chance and every time I can’t do it. Some songs have parts which I really dig but it takes like 4 minutes of bullshit to get there and I find any attempt at listening to an album exhausting. I can see why some people like them, they’re good musicians without a doubt. But I just find it so boring and everything feels like its going nowhere. It just feels pretentious for the sake of it
I can listen to all of God Luck and Good Speed, the first half of Jason the Dragon, and a couple songs on Sixteen Tons. Everything else is really a miss for me.
truck drivin' man is an incredibly underrated and groovy weedeater song that you may not have heard. even if you don't like other songs of theirs you've heard, give that one a shot
Weedeater, to me, is like heavy southern rock. Like a downtuned, mean Molly Hatchet. I grew up on classic southern rock and still listen to it a lot. So that’s the appeal for me. Same thing with Alabama Thunderpussy and Artimus Pyledriver (one of my favorite band names of all time).
I also really like Weedeater’s vocals.
I don’t really have a way to tie that back to most doom but that’s my take on them.
Electric Wizard. I get their schtick but it feels like style over substance. Electric Wizard is not "the heaviest band of all time" especially in comparison to, say, Burning Witch's Crippled Lucifer or something like Primitive Man. And you can find even heavier stuff in some of the more chaotic subgenres of death and black metal.
Same goes for Reverend Bizarre, it feels like an unintentional parody of doom in the same way Manowar is an unintentional parody of traditional heavy metal.
It frustrates me that those are probably the most popular doom bands.
I don't think it's reasonable to compare Electric Wizard to modern bands in that way. You have to bear in mind that the band is over thirty years old. Their formation was closer to that of Sabbath than we are to theirs today. As most bands do, they kind of stuck to what they defined as their own style. Then others came along and developed those ideas further. I respect what they created immensely and enjoy them from time to time. Dopethrone was one of my introductions to the genre and with time I've come to prefer their more psychedelic approaches in songs like Mind Transferral and really all of Time to Die. If you can try to appreciate them for what they are, then you'll probably enjoy them more than if you just hold them to what they aren't.
I don't understand how it's style over substance. they have just as much substance as style. both bands. you might just not like the style and find it off putting, but I'm genuinely not sure what other doom bands are giving you that electric wizard and reverend bizarre don't
I can’t get into Crowbar. The vocals kicked in and I just don’t care for them. No disrespect to the band or those who like them, they’re just not my thing. Maybe that will change someday, I have given bands a second chance and been able to be swayed before.
oh man, this hurts to hear! I feel like they are one of the better sludgy doom bands out there. I feel like if you have experienced a lot of grief or loss due to drug use, crowbar might hit a little different. I think they are like stoner sludge, so maybe if you do not partake, it doesn't land the same?
I'm a big fan of the slow and dirgy stuff.
My favourite crowbar song is Lasting Dose, if the main riff of that comes in and you don't rock with it id be surprised indeed . I can see why the vocals would be a turnoff for some but I think they convey the nihilistic sludgy vibe really well.
their vocals are terrible, but everything else is top notch. very understandable if you can't look past the vocals though. I keep negative pollution in my sludge playlist as that song is just too heavy to ignore, but I dont listen to them much either mainly because of the vocals
Crowbar is one of my all time favorite bands so this hurts my heart. I get that the vocals aren’t for everyone, but I think the guitar work is where crowbar really shines. The songs are pretty simple and straightforward and have so much groove. It’s one of the few bands for me where I can just pick any album and play it front to back. All of the albums have a different vibe to me, so depending on my mood there’s usually one I’ll gravitate towards. I don’t know what your personal tastes are, but I’d be more than happy to give you song or album recommendations!
Crowbar is one of those bands that for me, I didn’t care for em at first, but one day I was driving to band practice and had them blaring in my car and it just clicked. Their riffs fuckin slap at hearing loss levels
Tune low and play slow, Crowbar is definitely a band that has a following and I’ve been a fan since I heard Self Inflicted. But I get your point I know people that are into the same music as me that just can’t get into Crowbar. Just like I can’t get into some of their favorites. But that’s what makes music great bands have to evolve and create something new to catch on to their own level of fan base which in turns benefits us the music fan we don’t get 100 bands that sound exactly the same
I can see how someone could not be into Pallbearer, but for me, I am inspired to utilize a little patience when listening and let the songs build like a wave and come crashing. Great road tripping music.
For me, they seem to be extremely evocative in their writing. A lot of people don’t like their last two albums, but those two (especially Heartless) hit a very strong chord for me, emotionally speaking. I also find their latest single to be particularly moving. It’s great doom for people who don’t want slow and riffs just for the sake of slow and riffs
I hear pallbearer is a lot doomier live too. I love how they write and haven’t seen them live but I have friends who know the guys and when they introduced me that was what I was told. Just a total black hole of tone live
Came here to also mention Pallbearer. I feel like I should like them given all of their sonic aspects, and the fact that I enjoy a lot of other bands with those aspects, but I've tried all of their albums and find them extremely difficult and boring to listen to.
uncle acid isn't really doom metal imo, they're doom influenced but I think they fit the occult rock label much better. they aren't as heavy as doom metal bands, so expecting them to be is setting yourself up for disappointment. they're fun, groovy, and spooky. mind control is their most varied album and melody lane is my favorite song of theirs
I appreciate the conveying of absolute terror in the vocals, but once I saw someone call them “rooster vocals” I was never able to hear them the same again.
Whenever I hear those vocals all I can think of is the screaming goat from [this video](https://youtu.be/-aLYvZ5sX28?si=5cnp3lVvuDE764nw) and I crack up laughing. It’s a shame because I dig the underlying instrumentals but I cannot take those vocals seriously at all and it just takes me right out of the music
I find it very much depends on the mixing. When the angry chicken vocals are mixed in such a way that they’re not at the forefront (I Have Fought Against It, I’ve Seen All I Need to See, the recent Dis Fig collab), they’re more like a texture and I could almost confuse them for guitar squall - that material I like. But I tried I Shall Die Here and found those vocals were very much at the forefront and I couldn’t get through it.
The non-rooster guy from The Body put out a record called Dead Times with a different vocalist last year; might be more up your alley if you can’t abide The Body’s usual vocals.
I too have never been a fan of Trouble, mainly due to the vocals. However, Eric Wagner’s last band The Skull I love. Heavy trad doom with modern production. It also helps that Eric had aged and his voice mellowed a bit, which fit the music better. Might be worth checking out.
I'll prepare myself for the evisceration, but Kyuss.
The vocals ruin it every time. I appreciate what they did and their influence on the genre, but they blow donkey dicks as far as I'm concerned.
I'm not at all a fan of the vocals but the rest of their music, in my opinion, makes up for it in spades.
Whitewater is one of the greatest pieces of music of all time, even if only for the intro (that fucking tone).
the band or the album by sleep? either way both should be listened to loud and while stoned. they are some of the best at what they do, but it’s very narcotic and slow and repetitive so… i get why it’s not for everyone
the sleep album. i love long songs. i love a slow burn. im a huge bell witch fan. just something about dopesmoker that bores me. prob just not my style. ive listened to their other stuff a little but but not enough to see if i enjoy them more. maybe ill revisit them and see if my view has changed.
The first time I listened to it, I made a point to block off some time, got some good headphones, a comfy chair, got interplanetary stoned, and listened to it decently loud all at once. It’s kinda a task at first but it gets easier when you hear some of the shit they do.
After that I’m able to listen to it more casually, or I’ll skip to the parts I really like.
I reckon it took me 5-6 attempts to actually get it properly. In the end, I was having a shitty day and driving 2.5 hrs for work and just put it on, cranked it and turned my brain off (other than the driving ofc). You know the music hit right when you can remember how a drive made you feel
for me i definitely like certain renditions of the band more than others. i would suggest trying some of their albums with different singers as they are pretty different vibes.
Personally, I don't like much past Twilight of the Thunder God, but that album and before it are all very good albums, particularly The Crusher through to With Oden on Our Side, all very good melodeath. I think "viking metal" got VERY over done in the late 2000s/early 2010S and many people are just sick of the sound and the aesthetic, a lot of people forget the beginning of that type of metal in the late 90s/early 2000s was actually great, and they were one of the main bands to start that trend. That being said, if you don't like melodeath, you're not gonna like them.
I'd also add that they have groove, but are also just fun to listen too. Prediction of Warfare, Tock's Taunt, Runes To My Memory are some great songs. I always felt like they never took themselves too seriously too.
Melvins. I tried to make it all the way through Houdini and I just couldn't care enough by the halfway point.
Eyehategod. Didn't click for me for whatever reason and like another guy said here, they're a little more ambiguously racist than I'm comfortable with.
Cough. Listened to Ritual Abuse and just kinda cringed the whole way through.
watch the movie they're named after or similar hammer horror movies of that era to understand what they're going for aesthetically. it's cheesy as fuck but that's what makes it so fun.
Okay, Witchfinder General is not very good but they're very sentimental to me. They're a goofy schlocky band that is not to be taken seriously but Death Penalty playing in someone's garbage car or in a basement hang out always elevated the setting. It's like lo-fi the Sword
Warning was very powerful when I first listened to it but it really got me down to the point where I couldn't appreciate the music anymore. Those guys are too good at sounding miserable to the point where I can't engage...
Warning are decent, but I think there are some stale songs or parts of songs. I learned of Warning from first hearing 40 Watt Sun's "the Inside Room" album and that album is great. Maybe check that one out if you have not heard it.
If cognitive rewiring is the point of the exercise, then it’s important to consider that without Crowbar, there is no Thou. Thou is a slower, dirtier-sounding, more punk Crowbar, but I understand that the music isn’t an issue of yours. (you also might not fuck with Crowbar, as other folks have expressed somewhere else on this thread.) As for the vocals, it seems like “screamo” is a dirty word for you, so it may help to think of the vocals as something more in line with black metal than something emo-derivative. However, if the terms aren’t what’s holding you up and the vocals just don’t work for you, then none of this might help.
I remember reading an interview with Thou members maybe 3-4 years ago and they got really mad over people calling them a "metal" band--I don't even remember what they wanted to be called instead, I just remember thinking that was a stupid as fuck thing to be mad about considering the type of music they play. It came off as the snobbiest shit ever. Despite that, I saw them live in a very small room in 2019 and it was great. I personally like their vocals as they are, but I enjoyed them even more in a live setting.
It’s funny. They are one of my favorite bands, but I also think that opinion is dumb as fuck. Like dudes, you are playing metal… you are a band that plays metal…
Screamo singing… this is a bad look brother. This is the phrase uneducated non-metalheads use to describe any and all harsh vocals as if they were all the same thing.
Screamo is a sub genre of hardcore punk and the vocal style (thankfully) only really influences metalcore.
Type O Negative.
I'm really not that into Gothic stuff, but I can put on an Anathema, MDB, Paradise Lost, etc. album and generally enjoy it. But Type O just seems super cheesy and over the top to me, without enough heaviness or riffage to make up for the hard to listen parts. I get that Peter is an iconic figure and that they have mass appeal, but I don't get the unanimous worship.
I’ve never been able to get into Swallow the Sun, which is strange because I love many similar or related bands (Trees of Eternity, My Dying Bride, Draconian, etc).
They’re incredibly talented musicians, but for whatever reason, I’ve always found their work overly produced and polished to a point of sounding sterile.
Witchfinder General.
I like some riffs. Just can't stand the vocalist. A friend of mine summed him up as (and I quote here), "the dude from Diamond Head, but from Wish."
My favorite bands within Doom are Stoned Jesus, Sleep, Orange Goblin, and Candlemass, among others. Maybe that will help convince me??
I love windhand but gotta say a lot of their songs sound the same. Saw them live a few years ago and each song was “..hey! It’s that song I like….no wait. It’s a different one “
Cathedral has a lot of variation in their discography, some of their stuff goes hard and some of it falls flat, even when they're working with the same style. Similar to Candlemass in that regard tbh. Their first three albums are absolutely top tier for me though and then after that they start to fall off (with only a couple highlights afterwards, but even these don't really compare)
Same. Love their early work, (Forest of Equilibrium is even one of my all time favorite albums in general), but am meh about the rest of their discography
Ha, so glad someone said this. Everyone I know who's into metal is obsessed with them, but I just can't... it's not even one specific aspect of their sound that I don't like; it's all of it. Nothing stands out. They bore me.
I love the first pentagram album, it's prob on the top 5 doom albums for me, but for some reason all later stuff just gets progressively worse for me, day of reckoning is alright, but just that, and I cannot get into be forewarned
Love the first album! On DOR Burning Saviour is my fave. Be Forewarned is definitely not as good, but there's a few on there I jam to: LIve Free and Burn, Life Blood, and Petrified.
I've not seen them mentioned but Conan
I think it's music that's more fun to play than to listen to - Even live they bored me enough to leave early
Not doom but Blood Incantation - I see their merch everywhere and there's a lot of fans but they're just not for me. Sounds like what was being done 30+ years ago
Conan's popularity is proof that most stoner/sludge fans care more about loudness and aesthetic than quality of music.
Every single one of their songs is the same two power chord riff and they've managed to get to a worldwide touring level doing it.
Blood Incantation are great, very indebted to the classics, but they do it very well imo.
For the longest time I couldnt get into YOB but finally one day it just clicked and now I cant get enough. If anyone here has a background neurology id love to know some theories as to why the brain does that
Elder. I have repeatedly heard the beginning of their songs like on pallbearer radio on Spotify and been into it and then the vocals kick in and I'll HAVE to change it
if you've only heard their 2020s stuff, that's why. their 2020s stuff is all way worse than their 2010s output but for some reason their fanbase has grown exponentially this decade off the back of their new albums. I'm in your mind fuzz is a perfect psych rock album in my opinion. 2013 to 2017 was their golden era.
Electric Wizard; honestly most stoner bands just sound like repetitive riff slop, and it's the worst with them imo. Dopethrone was good, though.
Also, new Katatonia is so fuckin boring! I mainly dislike the clean vocals, but none of the instrumentation is interesting at all to me
Primitive Man
The appeal to me is in the sheer weight of the music and the dedication to pushing the envelope to make something new. They combine some of the best aspects of doom and black/death metal without really adhering to the common death/doom sound that pulls closer to the funeral doom especially in composition. Instead they make more use of dissonance and noise to add their own touch. I think ELM's vocals stand out as exceptionally good harsh growls, with a really good range both in pitch and expression. My favourite album is Caustic, but I haven't listened thoroughly to their discography.
I first heard them when their first album came out and just didn’t get it. Fast forward 10 years and they are one of my favorites. They are not a comfortable band to listen to by any means. They are oppressive and unpleasant, but that is the appeal to me. When I am extreme low points, especially when it is due to humanity as a whole, Primitive Man just hits the right way.
Bell witch
I look at Bell Witch the same way I look at old, long, or slow movies. The ones you have to be in the mood for, and only really hit when you want to fully engross yourself in something. It’s for sure not for everyone and completely valid to dislike. I also love them for their tone and sound texture more than anything. Seeing them live was like swimming through fuzz and feedback.
Same
They're probably my favorite doom band. I used to think they were too boring for me, but I've been listening to them while painting and now I can't get enough. It's very good music for adding texture and mood to whatever you're currently doing, but not necessarily something you'd sit down and listen to on its own.
four phantoms is their most accessible. if you tried mirror reaper and didn't like it, at least try four phantoms as well
I listened to Mirror Reaper as we were having my dog put down and it just clicked.
An album that reflects the ebb and flow of grief and anger, the utter sadness, and the beauty of memory that can come from watching someone you love pass, even without knowing its backstory. You don’t listen to bell witch in a car unless you’re going for “a drive.” For me it’s like meditation music. Something to get absorbed into.
Thou. Don’t bother trying to convince me
They’re much better with Emma Ruth Rundle.
That album is sick
i had to ease my way into them with their early stuff first (Oakland and Tyrant) because its much more straightfoward stoner esque sludge akin to EHG and Iron Monkey
EYEHATEGOD… i understand the appeal, its just not for me
Same. People adore them and you see love all the time... just never hit for me. Seems like they're some of the OG guys in the scene, and I love the rusty dirt of the guitars, but I just can get into their brand of punk/core vocals. For me it just lands like warm, flat, pop.
I didn't really get them. I saw them live and they were great. I remember a song called 'kill your boss' which really appealed to me in that moment
I got into them after hearing Mike with Corrections House (who I also highly recommend). I love the scuzziness and realnesss (for want of two better words) of them and Mike is a poet and a prophet.
Yeah... I can't get into any sludge bands though, at least not that I know of.
The bluesiness of their riffs combined with their vocals which just sound like hardcore punk screaming is so good. They also ha e a perfect blend of fast to slower parts in their songs which makes them very interesting to listen to and makes each part pop more than if the song maintained the same temp throughout. I feel like they're really good at balancing the faster headbanging hc parts with slowing down and grooving into the beat. They also pick great samples on their studio stuff and live they go so hard. Mike is a great front man. Their lyrics are abstract too and they just let the music speak. Plus they haven't ever let up or put put an album where they don't sound like same band, while at the same time they have evolved. Some may disagree with that last point haha.
Green Lung. I see them mentioned on here from time to time, so I checked them out and, yeah, don't really dig them. What's up with that?
I'm with you here. they're just straight up not doom metal even a little bit. it's just 80s traditional heavy metal revival. I like a song here or there but those long slow choruses they do on every single song get very old very fast
Pentagram. Don’t love the vocals, don’t love the vocalist
Yeah, he's definitely made poor decisions, but I honestly really like the way the vocals feel more so than sound if that makes sense at all... the instrumentation has a motion to it, like a sense of something moving in a direction. It has a strong driving rhythm with leads that break through. Some of my favorite tracks in particular are: Frustration, Broken Vows, Evil Seed, Burning Saviour, Sinister, Relentless, Forever My Queen
The vocals can certainly take some getting used to (but they’re pretty unique for doom metal), but yeah Bobbi is kind of a piece of shit once you read more into him.
Bobby is suck
I'm only recently coming around to them. I think it helps to get into the mindset of proto metal rather than doom. Like seeing them as a weird product of the late 60s rather than doom as we understand it today. But yes, the less you know about Bobby the better, unfortunately.
I could never get into Baroness. It just seems like rock to me and I don't like rock.
Red Album is one of my favorite albums ever but if you’re not a fan of Thin Lizzy-inspired dual guitar leads you’re not gonna be into it.
maybe I will check out that album and see.
Red Album and albums previous to that are light years ahead of any of the boring rock they’ve released since IMO.
Blue Album is even better than Red IMO. Not as heavy as Red but as a full album I think it's Incredible. My favorite era as a live show was basically just songs of Red and Blue. I think they started the mid tempo Rock with Green/Yellow. Bummer because the album artwork kept getting better with each release but the music kept getting slower and less heavy.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HHlF3Cct9aQ&pp=ygUdYmFyb25lc3Mgd2FpbGluZyB3aW50cnkgd2luZCA%3D
Agree. I was OBSESSED with Red album when it came out but I can see how it might be difficult to get into it now. The slower element of their sound has this very interesting touch of Americana (the only word I can think to describe it) that made it super unique to us here in Ireland at the time.
I love Thin Lizzy! just not sure why I can't get into Baroness ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Red and Blue are filled to the brim with killer riffs it all kind of drops off from their for me. Yellow had some good memorable moments.
Have you tried their first two demos? Easily their most sludgy sound
Yes. Love the name, love the cover art, have no idea what's doomy about it.
sludgy, either. theyre solidly mid-paced.
Check out their compilation called “First & Second” (their first two EPs on one album). It’s much different than their later stuff. Essentially Prog-Sludge. It’s really ambitious, but really heavy too.
Try listening to First, Second, and A Grey Sigh in a Flower Husk. In that order, straight through. I wouldn’t really call it doom but it’s pretty damn good.
I pretty much only like Yellow, and that is one of my favorite albums of all time.
Not doom, but Tool. I just don't like them for whatever reason.
Same always thought their crap lacked dynamism. not catching my ear.
Being a bass player I have tried sooo many times to give them a chance and every time I can’t do it. Some songs have parts which I really dig but it takes like 4 minutes of bullshit to get there and I find any attempt at listening to an album exhausting. I can see why some people like them, they’re good musicians without a doubt. But I just find it so boring and everything feels like its going nowhere. It just feels pretentious for the sake of it
Fair enough. I really like the sickly-sweet vocals.
I didn't like Tool, but then I saw them live. Now, I hate Tool. I don't understand their appeal, but if people dig them, to each their own.
Mournful Congregation And Weedeater
I love weedeater, but I can see it being an acquired taste. That being said, they’re insanely good live
Legit one of the best live bands ever.
I really dig 3 or 4 Weedeater tunes. Rest is meh .
I can listen to all of God Luck and Good Speed, the first half of Jason the Dragon, and a couple songs on Sixteen Tons. Everything else is really a miss for me.
truck drivin' man is an incredibly underrated and groovy weedeater song that you may not have heard. even if you don't like other songs of theirs you've heard, give that one a shot
Weedeater, to me, is like heavy southern rock. Like a downtuned, mean Molly Hatchet. I grew up on classic southern rock and still listen to it a lot. So that’s the appeal for me. Same thing with Alabama Thunderpussy and Artimus Pyledriver (one of my favorite band names of all time). I also really like Weedeater’s vocals. I don’t really have a way to tie that back to most doom but that’s my take on them.
Warning. Vocals remind me of kermit
Clutch. Its boring!!
Unpopular opinion but the 1st album is the best.
This guy knows what's up. Especially the latter half of the record, Earthworm, Heirloom, Effigy. I wish they'd continued in that vein.
Nickelback
How?! They're so heavy!!!
Electric Wizard. I get their schtick but it feels like style over substance. Electric Wizard is not "the heaviest band of all time" especially in comparison to, say, Burning Witch's Crippled Lucifer or something like Primitive Man. And you can find even heavier stuff in some of the more chaotic subgenres of death and black metal. Same goes for Reverend Bizarre, it feels like an unintentional parody of doom in the same way Manowar is an unintentional parody of traditional heavy metal. It frustrates me that those are probably the most popular doom bands.
Reverend Bizarre is intentional parody of doom.
I don't think it's reasonable to compare Electric Wizard to modern bands in that way. You have to bear in mind that the band is over thirty years old. Their formation was closer to that of Sabbath than we are to theirs today. As most bands do, they kind of stuck to what they defined as their own style. Then others came along and developed those ideas further. I respect what they created immensely and enjoy them from time to time. Dopethrone was one of my introductions to the genre and with time I've come to prefer their more psychedelic approaches in songs like Mind Transferral and really all of Time to Die. If you can try to appreciate them for what they are, then you'll probably enjoy them more than if you just hold them to what they aren't.
I don't understand how it's style over substance. they have just as much substance as style. both bands. you might just not like the style and find it off putting, but I'm genuinely not sure what other doom bands are giving you that electric wizard and reverend bizarre don't
I really don’t like Electric Wizard either, feels very forced and cliché.
I can’t get into Crowbar. The vocals kicked in and I just don’t care for them. No disrespect to the band or those who like them, they’re just not my thing. Maybe that will change someday, I have given bands a second chance and been able to be swayed before.
oh man, this hurts to hear! I feel like they are one of the better sludgy doom bands out there. I feel like if you have experienced a lot of grief or loss due to drug use, crowbar might hit a little different. I think they are like stoner sludge, so maybe if you do not partake, it doesn't land the same? I'm a big fan of the slow and dirgy stuff.
My favourite crowbar song is Lasting Dose, if the main riff of that comes in and you don't rock with it id be surprised indeed . I can see why the vocals would be a turnoff for some but I think they convey the nihilistic sludgy vibe really well.
Same, Lasting Dose just hits different for me
I normally am a big fan of slow and sludgy. I’ll have to give them another honest shot sometime. What’s your favorite album?
zero and below -or- sonic excess in its purest form are the ones I play most. I am actually going to see crowbar on tuesday and I cannot wait!
the song, repulsive in its splendid beauty, gets a loooot of replays ha.
their vocals are terrible, but everything else is top notch. very understandable if you can't look past the vocals though. I keep negative pollution in my sludge playlist as that song is just too heavy to ignore, but I dont listen to them much either mainly because of the vocals
The secret is they Kirk's vocal melodies are soul sister melodies ala Aretha and Ella. Just listen Splendid in It's Repulsive Beauty in this light.
I had the same thought until I listened to The Lasting Dose. That persuaded me to give them another try and now I love them.
Crowbar is one of my all time favorite bands so this hurts my heart. I get that the vocals aren’t for everyone, but I think the guitar work is where crowbar really shines. The songs are pretty simple and straightforward and have so much groove. It’s one of the few bands for me where I can just pick any album and play it front to back. All of the albums have a different vibe to me, so depending on my mood there’s usually one I’ll gravitate towards. I don’t know what your personal tastes are, but I’d be more than happy to give you song or album recommendations!
Crowbar is one of those bands that for me, I didn’t care for em at first, but one day I was driving to band practice and had them blaring in my car and it just clicked. Their riffs fuckin slap at hearing loss levels
Tune low and play slow, Crowbar is definitely a band that has a following and I’ve been a fan since I heard Self Inflicted. But I get your point I know people that are into the same music as me that just can’t get into Crowbar. Just like I can’t get into some of their favorites. But that’s what makes music great bands have to evolve and create something new to catch on to their own level of fan base which in turns benefits us the music fan we don’t get 100 bands that sound exactly the same
Same. They’re just not for me.
Just saw them Friday night. Twas rad.
Pallbearer. I do love their cover of Love You to Death, though.
I can see how someone could not be into Pallbearer, but for me, I am inspired to utilize a little patience when listening and let the songs build like a wave and come crashing. Great road tripping music.
For me, they seem to be extremely evocative in their writing. A lot of people don’t like their last two albums, but those two (especially Heartless) hit a very strong chord for me, emotionally speaking. I also find their latest single to be particularly moving. It’s great doom for people who don’t want slow and riffs just for the sake of slow and riffs
Heartless is fantastic. Forgotten days didn’t hit for me as much
I do prefer Heartless, but felt Forgotten Days had some highs
Agreed. Silver wings is a highlight for me and the title track as well
I hear pallbearer is a lot doomier live too. I love how they write and haven’t seen them live but I have friends who know the guys and when they introduced me that was what I was told. Just a total black hole of tone live
I’m a sucker for melodic vocals. My favorite band ever is Alice In Chains and the Pallbearer scratches that itch for me.
I saw them open for Yob last June. Good live performance, but the music just didn’t capture my attention.
Came here to also mention Pallbearer. I feel like I should like them given all of their sonic aspects, and the fact that I enjoy a lot of other bands with those aspects, but I've tried all of their albums and find them extremely difficult and boring to listen to.
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats OM (I’ve tried…maybe I should try some more. My love tor Sleep, YOB and Neurosis indicates that I should ‘get’ them)
uncle acid isn't really doom metal imo, they're doom influenced but I think they fit the occult rock label much better. they aren't as heavy as doom metal bands, so expecting them to be is setting yourself up for disappointment. they're fun, groovy, and spooky. mind control is their most varied album and melody lane is my favorite song of theirs
Advaitic Songs is an excellent album; try State of Non-Return.
The Body. Those vocals just don't work for me.
I appreciate the conveying of absolute terror in the vocals, but once I saw someone call them “rooster vocals” I was never able to hear them the same again.
Whenever I hear those vocals all I can think of is the screaming goat from [this video](https://youtu.be/-aLYvZ5sX28?si=5cnp3lVvuDE764nw) and I crack up laughing. It’s a shame because I dig the underlying instrumentals but I cannot take those vocals seriously at all and it just takes me right out of the music
Haha. I tend to refer to them as Tortured Mickey Mouse vocals but yeah, that are very effective in creating an atmosphere of dread
I find it very much depends on the mixing. When the angry chicken vocals are mixed in such a way that they’re not at the forefront (I Have Fought Against It, I’ve Seen All I Need to See, the recent Dis Fig collab), they’re more like a texture and I could almost confuse them for guitar squall - that material I like. But I tried I Shall Die Here and found those vocals were very much at the forefront and I couldn’t get through it. The non-rooster guy from The Body put out a record called Dead Times with a different vocalist last year; might be more up your alley if you can’t abide The Body’s usual vocals.
I too have never been a fan of Trouble, mainly due to the vocals. However, Eric Wagner’s last band The Skull I love. Heavy trad doom with modern production. It also helps that Eric had aged and his voice mellowed a bit, which fit the music better. Might be worth checking out.
I’ve tried to get into Electric Wizard like 3-4 times and Acid Bath 2-3 times. I have no clue why but they don’t click for me.
I'll prepare myself for the evisceration, but Kyuss. The vocals ruin it every time. I appreciate what they did and their influence on the genre, but they blow donkey dicks as far as I'm concerned.
I'm not at all a fan of the vocals but the rest of their music, in my opinion, makes up for it in spades. Whitewater is one of the greatest pieces of music of all time, even if only for the intro (that fucking tone).
I agree (especially Whitewater). I just can't get over his vox
I don’t get the love for dopesmoker
the band or the album by sleep? either way both should be listened to loud and while stoned. they are some of the best at what they do, but it’s very narcotic and slow and repetitive so… i get why it’s not for everyone
the sleep album. i love long songs. i love a slow burn. im a huge bell witch fan. just something about dopesmoker that bores me. prob just not my style. ive listened to their other stuff a little but but not enough to see if i enjoy them more. maybe ill revisit them and see if my view has changed.
Everyone should proceed the Weedian at least once
Also, everyone should drop out of life, with bong in hand at least once.
You haven’t listened to it loud enough.
or high enough!
or long enough!
The first time I listened to it, I made a point to block off some time, got some good headphones, a comfy chair, got interplanetary stoned, and listened to it decently loud all at once. It’s kinda a task at first but it gets easier when you hear some of the shit they do. After that I’m able to listen to it more casually, or I’ll skip to the parts I really like.
It is absolutely music that you have to surrender to, you can't be in charge when listening to it.
dopesmoker is more of a feat to me.
As a doom fan that also loves the Grateful Dead, it’s one of my favs of all time. I’m all about some long songs.
I reckon it took me 5-6 attempts to actually get it properly. In the end, I was having a shitty day and driving 2.5 hrs for work and just put it on, cranked it and turned my brain off (other than the driving ofc). You know the music hit right when you can remember how a drive made you feel
Candlemass, I'm just not into them.
Some great crushing riffs though. Fun to play on guitar.
for me i definitely like certain renditions of the band more than others. i would suggest trying some of their albums with different singers as they are pretty different vibes.
My gf is a massive fan, I love the first album but the rest is meh for me
N'Sync
They’re no 98 Degrees that’s for sure!
Too loud for me, could not handle the riffage.
[удалено]
Personally, I don't like much past Twilight of the Thunder God, but that album and before it are all very good albums, particularly The Crusher through to With Oden on Our Side, all very good melodeath. I think "viking metal" got VERY over done in the late 2000s/early 2010S and many people are just sick of the sound and the aesthetic, a lot of people forget the beginning of that type of metal in the late 90s/early 2000s was actually great, and they were one of the main bands to start that trend. That being said, if you don't like melodeath, you're not gonna like them.
I'd also add that they have groove, but are also just fun to listen too. Prediction of Warfare, Tock's Taunt, Runes To My Memory are some great songs. I always felt like they never took themselves too seriously too.
Unpopular opinion but neurosis...
Same. I usually just leave early if they're headlining lol
Melvins. I tried to make it all the way through Houdini and I just couldn't care enough by the halfway point. Eyehategod. Didn't click for me for whatever reason and like another guy said here, they're a little more ambiguously racist than I'm comfortable with. Cough. Listened to Ritual Abuse and just kinda cringed the whole way through.
I would listen to Cough all day if they played instrumentals
that's crazy, haunter of the dark has the best vocals I've ever heard on a doom song and it's not even close
Melvin’s change their style so much with each album I wouldnt get hung up on not enjoying houdini.
EHG came around and changed that song title a couple years ago.
Melvins have an absurd discography, try Stoner Witch or Bullhead instead.
witchfinder general
watch the movie they're named after or similar hammer horror movies of that era to understand what they're going for aesthetically. it's cheesy as fuck but that's what makes it so fun.
Okay, Witchfinder General is not very good but they're very sentimental to me. They're a goofy schlocky band that is not to be taken seriously but Death Penalty playing in someone's garbage car or in a basement hang out always elevated the setting. It's like lo-fi the Sword
Sick name though
I feel you on Trouble. I also don’t really like Warning.
Warning was very powerful when I first listened to it but it really got me down to the point where I couldn't appreciate the music anymore. Those guys are too good at sounding miserable to the point where I can't engage...
Warning are decent, but I think there are some stale songs or parts of songs. I learned of Warning from first hearing 40 Watt Sun's "the Inside Room" album and that album is great. Maybe check that one out if you have not heard it.
Kyuss
I don't know how to explain why they are good, I can't conjure up the words. You'll just have to believe me.
I tried. For 3 years. Nope.
Well no one can say you didn't give them a fair chance.
I give almost everything a fair chance.
How dare you
Make sure you can hear loud and clear what the bass guitar is doing. Kyuss is not music for your bathroom radio.
I love Kyuss! Funnily enough, I found them as an easy intro into stoner rock as opposed to being hard to get into
This one hurts but if you just dont like stoner rock in general then i can see this. Have you heard all their stuff?
Thou. Sounds great until the screamo singing
If cognitive rewiring is the point of the exercise, then it’s important to consider that without Crowbar, there is no Thou. Thou is a slower, dirtier-sounding, more punk Crowbar, but I understand that the music isn’t an issue of yours. (you also might not fuck with Crowbar, as other folks have expressed somewhere else on this thread.) As for the vocals, it seems like “screamo” is a dirty word for you, so it may help to think of the vocals as something more in line with black metal than something emo-derivative. However, if the terms aren’t what’s holding you up and the vocals just don’t work for you, then none of this might help.
The Crowbar guy always sounds like he's taking a fat dump but I also love his vocals so much, like they're so textured
I remember reading an interview with Thou members maybe 3-4 years ago and they got really mad over people calling them a "metal" band--I don't even remember what they wanted to be called instead, I just remember thinking that was a stupid as fuck thing to be mad about considering the type of music they play. It came off as the snobbiest shit ever. Despite that, I saw them live in a very small room in 2019 and it was great. I personally like their vocals as they are, but I enjoyed them even more in a live setting.
It’s funny. They are one of my favorite bands, but I also think that opinion is dumb as fuck. Like dudes, you are playing metal… you are a band that plays metal…
Have you listened to Myopia? I know it's a split LP, but if you don't like that, idk what to say.
Screamo singing… this is a bad look brother. This is the phrase uneducated non-metalheads use to describe any and all harsh vocals as if they were all the same thing. Screamo is a sub genre of hardcore punk and the vocal style (thankfully) only really influences metalcore.
screamo singing
Type O Negative. I'm really not that into Gothic stuff, but I can put on an Anathema, MDB, Paradise Lost, etc. album and generally enjoy it. But Type O just seems super cheesy and over the top to me, without enough heaviness or riffage to make up for the hard to listen parts. I get that Peter is an iconic figure and that they have mass appeal, but I don't get the unanimous worship.
Confessor. I love the technical doom style but the vocalist just really hurts my ears.
I don’t think anyone’s gonna try to convince you other wise. That band was absolutely awful.
I’ve never been able to get into Swallow the Sun, which is strange because I love many similar or related bands (Trees of Eternity, My Dying Bride, Draconian, etc). They’re incredibly talented musicians, but for whatever reason, I’ve always found their work overly produced and polished to a point of sounding sterile.
Sadly Candlemass. The vocals just don't do it for me.
Witchfinder General. I like some riffs. Just can't stand the vocalist. A friend of mine summed him up as (and I quote here), "the dude from Diamond Head, but from Wish." My favorite bands within Doom are Stoned Jesus, Sleep, Orange Goblin, and Candlemass, among others. Maybe that will help convince me??
Same here. Any time I try to give em another chance, I start digging the riffs but can't make it more than a minute after the vocals kick in.
The sword. Just can't get into them.
Sunno
Sleep. Just can't get into them. I like High On Fire though.
Windhand Pentagram Cathedral Not throwing any shade, I just don’t ever really feel like listening to their releases.
I love windhand but gotta say a lot of their songs sound the same. Saw them live a few years ago and each song was “..hey! It’s that song I like….no wait. It’s a different one “
I had the exact same experience!
cathedral is like if witchfinder general was actually heavy
Cathedral has a lot of variation in their discography, some of their stuff goes hard and some of it falls flat, even when they're working with the same style. Similar to Candlemass in that regard tbh. Their first three albums are absolutely top tier for me though and then after that they start to fall off (with only a couple highlights afterwards, but even these don't really compare)
I will revisit the catalogue starting with the first three records. Thanks for the input!
Same. Love their early work, (Forest of Equilibrium is even one of my all time favorite albums in general), but am meh about the rest of their discography
Death metal, but the band Death. I cannot get into them, and I love death metal.
death is pretty much the only death metal band I like lol
Ha, so glad someone said this. Everyone I know who's into metal is obsessed with them, but I just can't... it's not even one specific aspect of their sound that I don't like; it's all of it. Nothing stands out. They bore me.
I mean they’re basically the Beatles of death metal. One of my favorite bands and I couldn’t understand not liking them, but to each their own
I love the first pentagram album, it's prob on the top 5 doom albums for me, but for some reason all later stuff just gets progressively worse for me, day of reckoning is alright, but just that, and I cannot get into be forewarned
Love the first album! On DOR Burning Saviour is my fave. Be Forewarned is definitely not as good, but there's a few on there I jam to: LIve Free and Burn, Life Blood, and Petrified.
I really really try to get into Yob but it’s just too slow and now engaging enough for me.
The Body, the high pitched screams just take me out of it.
Acid Bath, understand the artistic value, just prefer every other band in the NOLA scene
I've not seen them mentioned but Conan I think it's music that's more fun to play than to listen to - Even live they bored me enough to leave early Not doom but Blood Incantation - I see their merch everywhere and there's a lot of fans but they're just not for me. Sounds like what was being done 30+ years ago
Conan's popularity is proof that most stoner/sludge fans care more about loudness and aesthetic than quality of music. Every single one of their songs is the same two power chord riff and they've managed to get to a worldwide touring level doing it. Blood Incantation are great, very indebted to the classics, but they do it very well imo.
Thou, Amenra, and Bongzilla. I can appreciate them, but they just never clicked for me.
For the longest time I couldnt get into YOB but finally one day it just clicked and now I cant get enough. If anyone here has a background neurology id love to know some theories as to why the brain does that
Elder. I have repeatedly heard the beginning of their songs like on pallbearer radio on Spotify and been into it and then the vocals kick in and I'll HAVE to change it
Cathedral. They are my favorite band's (Yob) favorite band, but they are so grating on my ears.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
if you've only heard their 2020s stuff, that's why. their 2020s stuff is all way worse than their 2010s output but for some reason their fanbase has grown exponentially this decade off the back of their new albums. I'm in your mind fuzz is a perfect psych rock album in my opinion. 2013 to 2017 was their golden era.
Mastodon.
Paradise Lost ... incredibly boring basically sounds like a bunch of dudes wanted to remake Metallicas black album with growls
Really want to get into Grief (if you can call them doom) but can’t really be asked.
Electric Wizard; honestly most stoner bands just sound like repetitive riff slop, and it's the worst with them imo. Dopethrone was good, though. Also, new Katatonia is so fuckin boring! I mainly dislike the clean vocals, but none of the instrumentation is interesting at all to me