Stoner, Sludge, Doom Discussion

This is a rad thread!

I am much more of a death/black metal listener. So a lot of what I listen to falls more in the doom or doom/death area. The groove/stoner side hasn’t quite clicked for me yet.

That said, these would be my picks.

Warhorse - As Heaven Turns to Ash

Grief - Miserably Ever After

Dream Death - Journey into Mystery
https://tidal.com/album/20178487

Mournful Congregation - The Monad of Creation

Sorry for the smattering of link types!

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Just going through some “best of 2020” album lists and I came across this, which may be of interest to those watching this thread:

The album reminds me, one of the things that keeps me from listening to metal and adjacent genres are the vocals. I’m not sure how to describe it - it’s not the lyrics, it’s the deliberate inflection of the voice that puts me off. I wish there were more instrumental metal, I guess. A metal version of Mogwai!

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Excellent contribution @Tchoupitoulas

There is a great deal of instrumental metal out there. across almost all sub-genres. Bands like Bongripper (in the Doom genre) are of particular note and relevant to this thread. Bongripper incorporate aspects of drone in their sound, making it particularly hypnotic and mood inducing.

There is another fantastic instrumental band that fits this thread well, a Belgium band called Grotto, who meld a strong stoner sound and heavy psychedelic and some doom and drone elements … they’re quite fabulous! One of my favourite albums of 2017.

It isn’t relevant to this thread, but if you’re looking for instrumental metal you really need to take a listen to Liquid Tension Experiment :

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Apologies for the late reply to @PaisleyUnderground.

The request was to provide 3 or 4 bands that might intro the Stoner, Sludge, Doom genre(s) to new listeners.

It’s easier to provide 3 or 4 bands per genre, given how diverse each genre/style is. I’ve covered Stoner earlier in the thread, so, below I’ll try to ease-you-in to the Doom sound.

Doom, in it’s purest form, spawned directly from Black Sabbath, Pentagram and to a lesser degree bands like Sir Lord Baltimore et al. Arguably more than Stoner or Sludge, Doom has produced a multitude of sub-genres and stylistic variations, as @pyrexia alluded to by reference to death-doom. Some of the sub-genres (actually, stylistic variants) are known as the following: death-doom, blackened-doom, funeral-doom, drone-doom, doom-gothic, progressive-doom and many others. Outside of metal, such variations as doom-jazz also exist. There are also a good number of recognizable regional variants e.g. Finnish Doom, Louisiana Doom, Pacific Northwest etc., all of which incorporate slightly different stylistic elements but have become distinct in their own ways.

Bands such as Cathedral, Candlemass, Trouble, Saint Vitus, Pentagram were the true early pioneers of the genre. A complete and comprehensive list would, of course, be painfully long.

Historical significance is a given for Black Sabbath in terms of doom, but for new listeners they may be unaware of how much Pentagram contributed as they have never gained the kind of mainstream or cultural recognition, most people have heard of Black Sabbath not so much with Pentagram.

I posted this album earlier in the thread, but it has key significance to understand the roots of doom:

I would then fast forward 14 years to Sleep’s Dopesmoker:

I would also take stock of one of the early classics of the genre, doomy as all hell from the mighty Cathedral:

Before digesting one of my favourite doom bands, Electric Wizard:

Whether Come My Fanatics (above) is better than Dopethrone (EW’s 3rd album) is argued passionately among doom fans - for me CMF just has it in terms of sheer intensity, but it’s a little like arguing as to whether a Ferrari is better than a Lambo … they’re both phenomenal works of art and engineering and both are deservedly iconic.

Doom takes many forms these days; sometimes brutal, sometimes low and slow but it is without question one of the richest and most diverse (sub) genres in metal, in my opinion.

For several years now my hands down favourite doom band has been Windhand - they have their sound so dialed-in; perfect speed, heavy af, exceptional musicianship, production etc. and those female vocals just speak to me. These guys are nearly always on my playlist somewhere. A little too overproduced for some, perhaps, but for me it’s a perfect realization and testament to the diversity of the genre.

Hopefully that provides some semblance of a balanced, albeit quick and dirty, intro to doom. Those looking for inspiration will find many resources online, some quick resources that are worth keeping an eye on are:

https://www.angrymetalguy.com/tag/doom-metal/

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Thanks @zeroprivacy , this is very helpful. I’ll try these out.

@Tchoupitoulas , I listened to the “wrong” Emma Ruth Rundle album just now (On Dark Horses) on Amazon HD and liked it a lot, but it didn’t sound very Doom-ish. LOL, then I switched to May Our Chambers Be Full and wow, that’s a completely different sound. She has a great voice, so I’ll look up more by her.

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Thank you very much! I really appreciate the recommendations. I look forward to listening to them.

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Thanks again for the Doom recommendations. Having Black Sabbath as a reference helped me a lot.

I liked all of them, but Windhand and Electric Wizard especially.

Windhand was my favourite. They sound a little like Alice in Chains to me - probably similar influences. I hope that comment wasn’t insulting, LOL.

I may like Electric Wizard’s Dopethrone a little more than Whether Come My Fanatics but I’ve only given each one a single listen, and maybe my opinion will change over time. Irrespective, I like them both.

And I think I like Pentagram’s Day Of Reckoning a little more than their self titled album, but again, I liked them both.

This is fantastic - I Iove discovering new genres of music. I look forward to going through this thread again and listening to everyone’s recommendations.

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OK, with the caveat that I only just started listening to this type of music and don’t know what I’m talking about, I have a recommendation!

Windhand really resonated with me (I think I’m just going to buy everything they have on Bandcamp), so I started searching for more stoner/doom bands with psychedelic influences and discovered Elder. Quite melodic, with a little psych here, a little prog there, and heavy guitars. They remind me of a much much heavier version of Swedish psychedelic rock band The Soundtrack of Our Lives.

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Elder are superb, they’re very much on the progressive and heavy psychedelic side, they also incorporate a good amount of the Sleep-esque doom-drone elements. Lore is probably my favourite of theirs.

If you’re loving Elder you should really check-out the following bands that have stylistic similarities with Elder.

Weedpecker - Weedpecker (the albums II and III are equally superb)

Beehoover - Heavy Zoo

Acid King - Middle Of Nowhere, Center Of Everywhere

Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light

Russian Circles - Station (not at all a stoner band, post-rock, but I think you might like them)

My Sleeping Karma - Moksha

Om - Advaitic Songs

All Them Witches - Lightning at The Door

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Just getting to listening to some of this. Started with Bongripper. First impression, meh… then it kept on going. meh plus! So I looked at the cover art and really prefer the nun on Santana’s Abraxas, and the actual imagery in Garden of Earthly Delights (Bosch). Meanwhile the music is still playing. And the volume is going up. I don’t think this is headphone music. I think this is lock the cat upstairs when my wife is away and crank the real speakers music. Much better than it first sounds, builds nicely.

Not my everyday listen, I think these days, but there are certain bong and fogger filled college nights that they would have been welcome. This makes me recall that leaving things on one’s parent’s house at the end of the mid 70s, and hoping for it to be there in the future is a futile exercise. One thing I’m missing is my “scat-scoota” a plastic wheeled toy, and another is a gorgeous hand-made 30 inch bamboo bong.

I put that toy away in '76, when I got an actual real job, calculating that the risk/reward ratio was not acceptable until legalization. Alas, as I live in Pennsylvania, I’m still waiting.

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I’ve been smoke-free for some 25 years or more. Funnily enough, the Stoner genre was not my preferred music back when I was smoking. I did listen to some Stoner bands but I was primarily listening to grunge, thrash, death metal and rave - I became a little obsessed with jungle techno in the early 90’s and that persisted for many years.

My love of all things stoner really took hold about 15 or 16 years ago. Likely after seeing bands like Melvins and Clutch live. It is fascinating to me that genres open up at differnt points in your life and for less than clear reasons. For me, stoner has never been associated with the act of being stoned nor the lamentation of a time past. However, the same cannot be said of grunge or rave music - both of which place me squarely in the past!

I do intend to make a post about key sludge bands, as we haven’t covered that yet, my shame is clear and evident to all! In the interim, here is a couple of good resources worth checking out:

http://thesludgelord.blogspot.com/

Late to the party…again. Great thread. Glad to see some metal discussion here. My very first band obsession was Black Sabbath/ Ozzy when I was around 11-12 (1981 -ish) Within a very short time of hearing Ozzy’s first album and then discovering his previous life with Black Sabbath, my room was wallpapered in all things Sabbath and Ozzy (mixed with a bit of Priest, Maiden and AC/DC) . Must have been very concerning for my father. Lol There’s always been something about those bluesy grooves of early Sabbath that really struck a chord with me.(pun intended.) I have heard a lot of the suggestions here as well as found quite a few new ones as my musical interests are more toward Gothenburg, death and thrash genres now. ( Opeth, Be”Lakor, Dark Tranquility, Amon Amarth). I will definitely be checking out the Weedpecker album. That Baizley cover art (unless I’m mistaken) instantly caught my eye. Speaking of which…not sure if it qualifies in this category but Baroness is great.

But I know this does… something fuzzzzy ??

Thanks for the new rabbit holes. :rabbit2:

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Can we add some prog in here too? Just a general darker/heavier thread?

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This album may be considered more avant-garde but I think some of it would appeal to stoner/doom fans. I saw them perform this at a little bar in Ashland, Oregon promoting the album…There were maybe 12 people there including me, my wife and the bartender. Sucks for the band but I thought it was great… cool night.

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Big fan of the latest Baroness lead guitarist, Gina Gleason :+1:

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Being a heavy metal fan, I have to ask: what headphones are y’all listening to this stuff on?

When I listen to metal, I value dynamics/bass punch but also detail retrieval (lots of stuff going on, especially in melodic death and technical metal). I also like a slightly more laid back upper midrange, compared to something like the Harman Target anyway. What do you all value?

I’m more into prog, melodeath and thrash metal, but I think the same conversations applies.

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I have all three of those. Baroness is essential listening and that Witch album (which Seer is the 1st track) is a cracker, another awesome J Mascis musical (ad)venture!

ZMF for me, specifically Aeolus. For very well produced metal or for styles where the Aeolus’ warmth isn’t well suited, Auteur.

Day to day I rarely deviate from the Aeolus, though.

Of my previous headphones, I probably preferred the Audeze LCD2C over things like the LCD-X for metal, generally speaking - exceptions being things like Opeth, Tool, DT etc. given the production value is high. The problem I have with most of my metal collection is that the recordings aren’t the best in terms of production. I’m always seeking a balance between detail, neutrality and actual enjoyment. Some of these recordings really benefit from a little warmth from headphones. I’ve always quite enjoyed Philips X2HR’s with metal, they offer a fairly pleasing presentation for the £100 I paid for them!

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The D8000 Pro was very impressive with Prog. Super punchy.

Now I’m using Empyrean mostly.

Can we rename to general heavy music thread? Or start one.

Anyway. Not stoner etc, but good

Night Verse - Copper Wasp

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