Tag: doom metal

668. Esoteric

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(August 2025) Episode 668 is ESOTERIC. This is called funeral doom metal. It’s slow, loud, ponderous, and with a growl, but lacks any melody or discernable structure. Each song is a 12-15 minute long dirge. The result is a wall of sound, a cinematic soundtrack of Hell. It certainly produces its intended quality, and I appreciate the audacity of it. But sonically, I prefer the pure straight-out-of-the-speaker sound of traditional doom/metal guitars to what Esoteric is doing. And after a while it all sounds the same.

Favourite album: The Pernicious Enigma

Favourite song: Circle

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: It’s certainly not for everyone. I might find it better as background rather than foreground music.

592. Church of Misery

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(August 2024) Episode 592 of the “opus project” is CHURCH OF MISERY, a doom/stoner metal band from Japan, and a damn fine one. Tons of heavy loud low fuzz. Their Black Sabbath-philia is clear not just in their sound but in their album covers (see below). They are also distinctive in dedicating their song titles and lyrics to serial killers and mass murderers. I have a preference their earlier, more stoner-ish material (late 90s/early 00s) to the later up-tempo offerings.

Favorite album: Master of Brutality

Favorite song:  El Padrino (Adolfo De Jesus Constanzo)

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: It is an acquired taste, but I love this stuff.

514. Cathedral

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(August 2023) Episode 514 is CATHEDRAL, a heavy metal band from England who made their mark with a debut album (Forest of Equilibrium, 1991) of classic doom metal with low, slow plodding riffs amid dark themes.  They modulated their style to more normal metal and prog metal, with a return to the delicious doom sound on their sixth album (Endtyme, 2001).

Favourite album: Endtyme

Favourite song: Melancholy Emperor

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: Try the 1st, 2nd or 6th albums for doomy goodness, but pass on the rest.

457. Pentagram

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(December 2022) Episode 457 is PENTAGRAM, the last of the “big four” doom metal bands in my review (Trouble, Ep. 420; Candlemass, Ep. 435; Saint Vitus, Ep. 449).  Of these, Pentagram best mimics the Black Sabbath sound, on their two excellent 80s albums. But frequent lineup changes make for an uneven effort and their later albums stink. They got an earlier starter than the others, and my favorite tracks are singles issued in the early 1970s.

Favorite album: Day of Reckoning

Favorite song: Forever My Queen

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: Go for the early stuff via the compilation album “1972-1979”

454. Sleep

~ ernopepper ~ 2 Comments

(December 2022) Episode 454 is SLEEP.  This project can often be tedious labor of love, but my reward is finding music that speaks to my soul, like coming upon the Holy Grail after a long quest. And here is Sleep. Pure Iommic doom metal goodness, perhaps the ultimate stoner metal experience. A constant low, loud drone of dark matter. Beautiful noise. My joy is only tempered by discovering them decades too late, and for not reviewing them before spinoff OM (episode 437).

Favorite album: The Sciences

Favorite song: Dopesmoker

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: I’m all in. Not for everyone, but if you get it, you’ll be all in too.

449. Saint Vitus

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(11/11/22) Episode 449 is SAINT VITUS. Like other pioneers of doom metal, they set out to recreate the sound and ethos of Black Sabbath, cutting against trends of the mid-80s. With the instruments, Saint Vitus succeeds valiantly, led by the guitar in an Iommi-style low and slow grind.  But the vocal style puts me off a bit, too up front in the mix, too operatic at times.

Favorite album: Born Too Late

Favorite song: Dying Inside

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: kinda meh on results, although I give them an A for effort

435. Candlemass

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(September 2022) Episode 435 is CANDLEMASS, a pioneer of the doom metal genre. But not my preferred flavor of doom metal; I find the operatic NWOBHM-style singing discordant with the low and heavy guitar approach. That’s why my favorite album (From the 13th Sun) is an outlier from their typical sound, more stoner and sludgy, but not surprising since they dedicated it to Black Sabbath.  Still, there are some good metal tracks elsewhere, although frequent lineup changes reduce consistency.

Favorite album: From the 13th Sun

Favorite song: Zog

Best album: Epicus Doomicus Metallicus

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: give them a try; your tastes may not be as finicky as mine

420. Trouble

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(June 2022) Episode 420 of the “opus project” is TROUBLE. While most 80s metalheads were either accelerating into thrash or blowing out their hair to sing anthems, these guys looked back to the roots of metal. Trouble’s first two albums are as close to Black Sabbath’s heavy sound as you’ll find, particularly Tommy Iommi’s drop-tuned tone. These made Trouble a pioneer of “doom metal.” Their subsequent albums, amidst lineup changes, had more conventional and groove metal approaches, but it’s still not bad.

Favorite album: Psalm 9

Favorite song: Revelation (Life or Death)

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: If you like early Sabbath, you’ll like Trouble

289. Electric Wizard

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(October 2020) Episode 289 is ELECTRIC WIZARD. This is what Black Sabbath would/should have become if evolution has been allowed to run its course (after Vol. 4).  And that appears to be EW’s mission statement. Heavier, darker, deeper. Even if you’re not into the doom metal ethos, it’s worth the bone-rattling sonic experience of guitars drop-tuned so low that that the wavelengths are more felt that heard. Thus, you should listen in an enclosed space (room or car) to ensure the floorboards shake (headphones won’t do). Just try it. 

Favourite album: Dopethrone

Favourite song: Mind Transferral

Compared to expectations: ↑