The solemn truth if there ever was one. Unsurpassed brilliance indeed.

Then you simply haven't listened to enough doom.

Agreed with catach. They're a decent enough band but nowhere near the top of the genre.

What bands are at the top of the genre? Just asking because if I haven't heard them, I think I have to.

Well, check out Funeralium from France. Extremely underrated band imo.

So what is near or at the top? Recommend me some, I'd love to listen to them.

Pentagram - s/t (a.k.a. "Relentless"), "Day Of Reckoning", "Be Forewarned"
Saint Vitus - s/t, "Hallows Victim", "Born Too Late"
Trouble - "Psalm 9", "The Skull", "Run To The Light"

Candlemass - first four albums
Solitude Aeturnus - first four albums (especially first two)

Bedemon - "Child Of Darkness"
Cathedral - "Forest Of Equilibrium"
Pagan Altar - "Volume 1"

Electric Wizard - "Come My Fanatics", "Dopethrone", "Witchcult Today"
Sleep - "Holy Mountain", "Dopesmoker"

If you adore Black Sabbath, ckeck out Count Raven "Destruction Of The Void'.

Are there any contemporary bands you consider top tier?

Yes, there are some. I'll post specific bands/albums later.

Warning.

Heavy Lord (a sludgy band from the Netherlands, they have some of the coolest riffs) Graveyard Dirt (new traditional doom band that are sounding really good, but more extreme than most trad doom bands, kind of borders sludge or something), Isole (established trad doom band that have been getting a lot of attention), Keen of the Crow (on the one album they released, if you like it a lot go listen to their previous band Morgion), The Foreshadowing (for great old doom/death worship minus the death growls), Witchcraft (Pentagram-styled 70s rock/metal)...

I'd get "From Cosmos to Chaos" from Heavy Lord, "Bliss of Solitude" from Isole, Graveyard's only EP, Keen's only album, Foreshadowing's only album and pretty much any Witchcraft album; the first is more lo-fi, second is still good but more polished, third is getting slightly prog rockish.

I'm not as familiar with funeral doom but I like Doom:vs and Asunder in that camp.

Doom/death is great but most of the classics are older, i.e.:

My Dying Bride - Turn Loose the Swans
Paramaecium - Exhumed of the Earth
Anathema - The Silent Enigma
Arcane Sun - s/t

that said there are some decent newer acts like Runemagick, the aforementioned Keen of the Crow before they broke up, Virgin Black on their newest album, Daylight Dies and Mourning Beloveth (both solid and fairly consistent despite being derivative). On that note, I'd be interested in newer good doom/death bands.

Seriously, I will be happy listening to only 2 albums forever - debuts from Candlemass and Rev. Bizarre.

Has anyone ever heard of this band, "Flittering"?

http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=130056

Almost no info on them anywhere, even their record label says their one release will be re-issued soon, no other details. The one review makes it sound like a masterpiece of doom, so I'd really like to hear it/get a copy.

Any fan of death metal influenced doom HAS to listen to the new Acid Witch and Hooded Menace cds

I'm looking for some good Funeral Doom. I'm a total newb to the Doom metal genre (but I really like some Death/Doom bands. Beyond Belief, Anathema, My Dying Bride etc), but I think I might like Funeral Doom, because I listened to Ahab's Call of the Wretched Sea and Shape of Despair's Illusions Play and liked em both.

So yeah, any funeral doom recc's would be cool. I've already checked out Ahab and Shape of Despair.

Mournful Congregation - The Dawning of Mournful Hymns

A compilation of the band's discography up to 2002. It's excellent Funeral Doom, with an emphasis on riffs and lots of wonderful solos. The first track, "Fading Light of a Dying Sun" is one of my favorite doom songs, period.

The Funeral Orchestra - Feeding the Abyss

This is as good as funeral doom gets, IMO. A very hypnotic album with a unique atmosphere. The world of The Funeral Orchestra is filled with Lovecraftian dread, vast cosmic emptiness, and human frailty. Damn well worth picking up.
Choice Cuts: Feeding the Abyss, We Are the End, Apocalyptic Trance Ritual

Can someone list some traditional doom bands to check out besides

witchfinder general, saint vitus, pagan altar, trouble, etc...

I would like to get deeper into traditional doom.

The Hidden Hand
The Wandering Midget
Acrimony (stonery, similar to mid period Electric Wizard with less distortion)
Mirror of Deception
Orodruin
Pentagram (especially check out First Daze Here, excellent Sabbath-y proto-doom)
Black Sabbath (duh)
Bongripper are instrumental, but they have nice, doomy riffs.
Sahg (especially if you dig early Candlemass)

Well, since you said "etc", you might have heard of some of these, but try Hour of 13, The Hidden Hand, Spirit Caravan, The Obsessed, Candlemass, Pentagram, Earthride, Place of Skulls, Goatsnake, Cathedral, Electric Wizard, Sleep, Acid King

Against Nature - EXCELLENT Sabbath-y doom (and all albums are available for free download)
Bedemon - "Child Of Darkness"
Candlemass - "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus", "Nightfall", "Ancient Dreams", "Tales Of Creation", s/t
Cirith Ungol - any of the first three
Count Raven - "Destruction Of The Void"
Great Coven - "Viaticum"
Hour Of 13 - s/t
Internal Void - any
Mercy (Swe) - the ones with Messiah Marcolin on vocals (speaking of whom, check out Memento Mori)
Orodruin (US) - "Epicurean Mass"
Penance - preferably old albums
Place Of Skulls - any
Revelation (US) - any
Seamount - s/t
sHeavy - any (all albums are available for free download)
Solitude Aeternus - "Into The Depths Of Sorrow", "Beyond The Crimson Horizon", "Through The Darkest Hour"
The Hidden Hand - any
The Hounds Of Hasselvander - s/t
The Lamp Of Thoth - "Portents, Omens & Dooms"
The Wandering Midget - "I Am The Gate" and "The Serpent Coven"

Confessor, Iron Man, Memory Garden, Mirror Of Deception, Unorthodox, Wretched might be of some interest to you, too. If you're into more psych-oriented stuff, try Eternal Elysium and Flower Travellin' Band "Satori" from Japan.

awesome, thanks a lot. It was hard to sift through the funeral doom in this thread (funeral doom is great too).

By the way, if you enjoy a mix of traditional and stoner doom, Electric Wizard, Sleep and Spirit Caravan are all worth looking into (The Hidden Hand is rather stoner-y, too).

Looking for Pelican clones (atmospheric sludge).

Russian Circles might fall into that category.

then you should listen to From Oceans To Autumn, the Calmed by the tide is jus awesome.

hey, why i haven't read nothing 'bout esoteric here?? awesome funeral doom, the maniacal vale is just a marter piece.


who knows men in search of the perfect weapon (sludge/doom)?? is there other bands like them?

Om have the same melodic feeling that Pelican have, but they might be a little darker.

I'm looking for Sludge, right now all I know is Sleep, Bongzilla, EyeHateGod, Toadliquor and if you count them as Sludge, High on Fire and The Melvins.

I'd recommend Bossk, who sadly split-up recently. Only have two EPs but both are worth checking out. Nothing like any of the bands you mentioned though, so be warned. Also mainly instrumental, but vocals are used.

Birushanah are worth checking out too. Japanese experimental sludge, with doom influences. They also use traditional Japanese instruments, which makes them sound very interesting indeed. On top of this band, I'd recommend Japan's Corrupted. Excellent band they are.

Are Cult Of Luna worth mentioning? What about Generation of Vipers? Both are pretty damn good.

Other decent bands worth looking at:

Callisto
Cardinale
Conifer
Dirge (Fra)
Gospel Of The Future
Kongh
Lazarus Blackstar
Middian
Moho
Ocean (US)
Ocean Chief
Overmars
Rosetta
Rwake
Snowblood
Swallow The Ocean
The Death Of Her Money
The Grasshopper Lies Heavy
The Ocean
Year Of No Light
Zoroaster

That's a pretty big list, I'll start looking around on blogpot for them over the weekend.

Thanks.

One can never have enough music.

So true, I think it can rightfully be called an addiction of mine.

Same here. It's the only addiction I have (perhaps apart from sex, but that's another story for another day). I can't survive without music, nor can I go a day without it. I even struggle to go an hour without it. Music is my beer, or drug of choice. Considering it's currently 3:45am and I'm meant to be up in a few hours, but won't go to bed because I'm addicted to music ... That speaks volumes.

I'd be interested to hear what you think about some of those bands whenever you get the chance to listen to them.

I always look forward to reading your reviews. We have very similar tastes (I'm more into funeral doom instead of sludge doom, however).

Yeah, I'll let you know. Do you have any links you can PM me?

Me too. Post-metal is my favorite genre of music at this point, and I've noticed you love to write about it (perplexed_sjel).

To both of you?

As in, MySpace links or to full tracks?

Not me. I have most of the stuff you've reviewed. Even those obscure EP's. But I think he means like links to DL the full albums.

Yes, I've already looked for a few of them on google and soulseek without much luck.

I found pretty much all of mine on blogspot blogs. Google should work, I don't know why it hasn't for you.

Nor do I understand why it didn't work on Soulseek.

By the way iAm, you have a PM, just in case you haven't yet noticed.

I got a few results on slsk, but the hoster wasnt active or had all slots filled. I'll try another search with the album titles as well to filter results.


Oh, and feel free to dl whatever you want from me on slsk, my screen name is the same and I use version 156C.