...that gets your blood pumping?? What gets under your skin and into your soul about it??

For me, its all about the vibe. Not that its "dark" or "evil" sounding. It's just pure & real feeling to me. The chord progressions, the varying sub-genres, the overall presentation of Doom Metal really just pushes all my buttons, musically.

The first Doom Metal song I ever heard (aside from proto-Doom ala Sabbath) was "The Wish" by TROUBLE. This was in 1988 on Z-Rock AM radio in Florida. Z-Rock was an all Metal radio station. Anyway, I had never heard anything like this in my life!! It was so creepy, so desperate sounding & so sincere feeling!! I immediately went & bought whatever TROUBLE cassette I could get my hands on, which was Run To The Light. Obviously, "The Wish" wasn't on this album, but the album itself hit me like a...well, not so much hit me, but it overtook me like a slow, inescapable river of molten emotion!! I played that album, literally, to death (remember how old cassettes would squeak when you played them too many times?). I played it for 4 years until I bought it on CD, swishes, squeaks and all. In that time, I also picked up Psalm 9 & The Skull (YES! I finally had "The Wish"!!). Then a buddy turned me on to CANDLEMASS, then I discovered SOLITUDE AETURNUS in the early 90s, etc.

I love the slow tempos, I love the low tunings, I love the sinister & desperately sad sounding melodies, I love the "screw it" attitude in the image & overall attitudes of the bands...they do this because they love it. There are probably more broke musicians playing Doom than any other Metal genre because Doom has never, ever been about money...Doom is all about art & expression!!

So, DOOM ON my bruthas & sistahs!!! We are few, but we are REAL!!

Dun dun dun, Dun dun dun, Dah dah dah, Doo doo doo, Dun dun dun, Dun dun dun

For me, its all bout slow, insanely low tunings, and HEAVY AS HELL!!

Why I Love Doom...

(or: How I Spend My Psychiatric Vacations)

by Trog L. Dawnington

For me, Sabbath has always been the beginning and the end of DOOM (a generic term I use to encompass the overall vibe of proto-metal, doom-metal and stoner rock). It was their sound, vibe and lyrics that first turned me on like nothing else before or since. When I heard the infectious simplicity of Tony's riffs played with Ozzy wailing lyrics like: Now in darkness, world stops turning/Ashes where the bodies burning/No more war pigs have the power/Hand of God has struck the hour/Day of Judgment, God is calling/On their knees the war pigs crawling/Begging mercies for their sins/Satan laughing spreads his wings/Oh Lord, yeah! I was hooked...instantly. The lyrical imagery and references to God only further intrigued me and were the primary draw for me, not their supposed "satanic" gimmick. I had never heard God referenced in music before! It went right along with my Catholic upbringing at the time and just made sense to me somewhere inside.

Since then, I have always looked to repeat that initial experience and sound via other bands playing in a similar style (Trouble, Saint Vitus, Pentagram, Place of Skulls, The Obsessed, Spirit Caravan, The Hidden Hand, Rose, Goliath, Last Chapter, etc). Not only does this music have a sound and a vibe all its own, but the lyrics also deal with topics that are very real in a poetic fashion without pretense or euphemism. That I appreicate very much, especially after the glut of hair metal in the 80's which could seemingly sing about little else than their groins and subsequent conquests of the female of the species. Sabbath and most doom bands don't approach sex with such a casual air, but rather sing about how much they suffer from the reality of love gone wrong, loss and the stark reality of life - turning ugliness into something beautiful and manageable in the process (not unlike the bluesmen of old).

In a nutshell, I love doom because it speaks to me, inspires my own creativity, takes me on subtle and sublime journeys, gives me a place to exist and a comfortable medium to employ when I return home to document my travels.

I love the down tuned guitar sound. So dark, warm, enveloping. (if it's done right) It's also relaxing at the same time, if that makes sense.


For the love of Pete, will you please check out Runemagick???!!!

http://www.runemagick.se/site/index.php?section=downloads%20-%20mp3

Oh yeah, first post.

"GENRALLS GATHEEED IN THEEEY MASSESSSSSSSSSS!!!"

My poor thread has been severely derailed...