Doom Metal

Last week we discussed the most uplifting subgenre of heavy metal: power metal. This week it’s time to discuss the most depressing subgenre of heavy metal: doom metal. Initially pioneered by Black Sabbath, doom metal has gained a strong underground following in the heavy metal community.



Doom metal is distinguishable by several musical characteristics. Guitars and basses are usually tuned down, and they make heavy use of distortion. In doom metal, it is essential that guitarists have a very thick and dense tone. The tempo of doom metal music is usually slow to create a drawn-out, bass-heavy sound. The vocals in doom metal are usually clean singing, but the vocal tonality is always one of despair. When growling is used in doom metal, it’s almost always very deep, usually even more so than in death metal. Lyrics are very important in doom metal, and are typically depressing in nature.



Doom metal basically began with Black Sabbath. The early Ozzy-era music was the basis for which the entire subgenre is derived today. Tony Iommi had an immense guitar tone that was very unique for its time, and every subsequent doom band took influence from that raw, thick tone. Other important pioneers of the genre include Pentagram, Trouble, Saint Vitus, and Candlemass. Pentagram was formed in the early 1970s, but they didn’t release any albums until the early 1980s. Lead by Bobby Liebling, the band had a revolving line-up of musicians that were each well-known throughout the underground heavy metal community. Pentagram continues to perform today, though they still remain a prolific act.



Trouble was another pioneer of doom metal. Their first two albums, Psalm 9 and The Skull, are considered to be landmark doom metal records. Trouble eventually evolved into a stoner metal band, and has had an extensive history consisting of many long periods of inactivity. Nevertheless, Trouble is still recognized as one of the most important pioneers of doom metal.



Saint Vitus is a notorious act, having experienced a moderate amount of success particularly when they were fronted by Scott “Wino” Weinrich. Weinrich is one of the most notable musicians in doom metal, and is also held in high regard for his work in The Obsessed. Saint Vitus is finally about to release their eighth studio album, Lillie: F-65, which is their first album with Weinrich back on vocals in 22 years.



Candlemass is a Swedish band and they helped to popularize doom metal throughout the region in the 1980s. Leif Edling is the main songwriter for the band and is very highly regarded within the doom metal community. Candlemass have broken up several times throughout their history, but they continue to perform today.



Doom metal has changed a lot since its early days. The subgenre is now very frequently combined with stoner metal, sludge metal, gothic metal, and death metal in order to create unique hybrids. Furthermore, the subgenre is one in which many bands choose to innovate and test musical limits. That is particularly noticeable with the band, Neurosis, which is a musically diverse band that has based much of their music around doom metal. Doom metal is a respected genre in the heavy metal community, and has a very large underground following today.

Power metal

For this week’s entry, we will discuss the most uplifting and somewhat cheesy subgenre of heavy metal known as power metal. Power metal essentially combines characteristics of traditional heavy metal and speed metal while occasionally adding symphonic elements into the mix in order to create a unique style of metal that sounds very “epic.”

There are various recurring musical qualities of power metal. Power metal is characterized by having very slow guitar and bass chord changes, in contrast with subgenres such as thrash metal that feature very rapid changes. Guitar players of the subgenre are also usually very technical and skilled musicians, and are known for demonstrating their musical prowess through complex lightning fast guitar solos. Bass guitarists often aren’t featured very much in power metal, in order to allow for a heavy emphasis on the guitar-playing. The vocals of power metal are also very highly emphasized throughout the music. The vocals are usually soaring and operatic, with many of vocalists able to hit notes in a high register. Drummers usually use double bass pedals or two bass drums. Power metal bands also frequently feature keyboardists, which isn’t typically common in most of the other heavy metal subgenres.

There are two different “scenes” of power metal. The first is American power metal. American power metal began to take shape in the early 1980s, drawing influences from speed metal and the NWOBHM. American power metal is very riff-driven, and doesn’t feature keyboards often. Some examples of American power metal bands include Kamelot, Manowar, and Jag Panzer. American power metal never really took off or gained much popularity.

However, European power metal, the second of the two power metal scenes, did experience quite a bit of popularity. European power metal took more direct influence from the NWOBHM and less from speed metal. European bands used keyboardists heavily and focused on melody and positive lyrical themes through their music. Some popular European power metal bands include Blind Guardian, Firewind, Helloween, Stratovarius, HammerFall, Dragonforce, and Sonata Arctica.

Today power metal has a strong following of devoted fans and many power metal bands experience much success, particularly in Europe.

Progressive Metal

This week on “Into the Pit: A Metal Blog” we will be discussing progressive metal.

This genre takes the raw aggression of metal and combines it with the complex instrumental technicality and unique song arrangements that are usually found in progressive rock hmusic.

Progressive metal began in the 1980s and has been generally known as an underground metal subgenre despite the fact that certain bands such as Dream Theater, Fates Warning, and Queensryche have received commercial success. Those three bands each strongly differ from each other musically, which shows the flexibility of the progressive metal label.

Progressive metal has always been known for being a diverse subgenre of heavy metal. Most progressive metal bands around today are constantly testing the subgenre’s limits. Many bands even combine progressive metal with other subgenres. For example, the band Nevermore combines progressive metal with thrash metal in order to form a hybrid subgenre known as progressive thrash metal. Other bands further experiment by combining progressive metal with genres of music that aren’t even related to heavy metal--usually jazz fusion. Cynic, Atheist, and Pestilence are three very notable progressive death metal bands who take strong jazz fusion influences.

It is important to note how the major players within the subgenre created names for themselves. Dream Theater is one of the most notable progressive metal bands and are still successful today. Dream Theater started to receive an immense amount of attention after they released Images and Words in 1992. Their single, “Pull Me Under,” is one of the most successful progressive metal songs of all time.

Dream Theater’s style is very straightforward because it draws very heavily from traditional progressive rock music. The band is notable for consisting of highly skillful musicians who have brought attention to the band through their highly technical performances. Recently, the band experienced a major line-up change. Their highly acclaimed drummer, Mike Portnoy, who was one of the founding members of the group, experienced an uneasy split from the band, despite his years of devotion to the group. He has since been replaced by Mike Mangini, who has been a well-received replacement by fans and critics alike.

Queensryche is another very important progressive metal band, known for being one of the most melodic bands within the subgenre. The band started putting out material in the early 1980s, but they didn’t truly rise to success until the release of Operation Mindcrime in 1988. Operation Mindcrime is a notable album because it is one of the very first progressive metal concept albums. Ever since the album came out, the band has become a fairly household name in hard rock and heavy metal music.

Fates Warning is also a particularly notable progressive metal band; however they were much less successful than Dream Theater and Queensryche. The band’s most successful album was No Exit, which was released in 1988. Fates Warning was very important in the development of progressive metal though, being one of the earliest examples of combining more extreme subgenres with traditional progressive metal. They served as an influence for the increased underground popularity of that trend, and are recognized in the heavy metal community for their influence.

Today progressive metal has a very devoted fanbase within the heavy metal music scene. Besides the major pioneers, some of the most popular progressive metal acts that are around today include Opeth, Porcupine Tree, Between the Buried and Me, Devin Townsend, Symphony X, and Nevermore.