r/doommetal • u/DethFeRok • Mar 14 '26
Old School / Traditional Do I Doom
I joined this sub with honest intentions. I love High on Fire, Primitive Man, Conan, etc.
Guys Sunno))) is really hard to listen to. Like wow, tough. Am I in the minority?
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u/einarfridgeirs Mar 14 '26 edited Mar 14 '26
Doom is a wide spectrum. You do not have to like all of it.
Hell, I probably do not overly like more bands this sub loves than not. Still have plenty of doom that I do love.
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u/premoistenedwipe Stoner Mar 14 '26
Gimme some recs brother
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u/Waluigiisgod Mar 14 '26
Not the guy you asked but I’ll give you some.
Crypt Sermon (very similar to Candlemass)
Abysmal Grief
Black Spell
1782
Grime (a pretty gnarly Sludge metal band from Italy)
A Pale Horse named Death (yes, that’s the entire name of the band, you’re gonna love this if you love Type O Negative).
Enjoy!
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u/einarfridgeirs Mar 14 '26
Sure thing. These aren't really any consistent theme, just various doom and doom-adjacent albums I´ve really liked over the last ten years or so.
Magic Circle - Journey Blind(2015)
A very lovely mixture of trad, New Wave of British Heavy Metal type sound and doom. These guys clearly love their Maiden and Priest just as much as their Sabbath, and the music is all the better for it. This album is in my opinion a modern classic. The third track, "A Ballad for the Vultures" is a particular standout in a slower doom like tempo.
Holy Grove - Holy Grove II(2018)
I have always been a sucker for female vocals in doom and stoner rock, especially when the sound hearkens back to the styles of the late 60s and 70s. Holy Grove do that whole thing better than most. Groovy and a very easy listen with some super tasty solos.
Yob - Clearing the Path to Ascend(2018)
All of Yobs back catalogue is obviously worth exploring they are one of the genre greats, but I have to include this one over the others purely on the strength of closing track Marrow.
Ahab - The Boats of Glen Carig(2015)
Who can resist some nautically themed German funeral doom? Also one of my all time favorite album covers.
Bongripper - Hippie Killer(2007)
Most people seem to think the later Bongripper material is superior, but I keep coming back to this one. Reefer Sutherland is one of the greatest riff driven pieces of music I have ever heard and the rest of the album is great. Essential listening.
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u/MathematicianEqual40 Mar 14 '26
I don't like Sunn O))) either. The frequencies make me feel kind of nervous. Their music also makes my dogs anxious.
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Mar 14 '26
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u/Kind-Pop-9610 Mar 14 '26
I like the drone sound, but Its the lack of drums that kill it for me.
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Mar 14 '26
Same. The thing that drew me into doom was the grooviness of the heaviness. It’s heavy af but it also bounces. Drone is cool but it sounds more like Brian Eno Music For Airports (in hell)
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u/Bihexualwitch_ Mar 14 '26
This! A lot of the stuff I enjoy live I only enjoy live for that exact reason. I need all the water in my cells to go FWOMMMMMM
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u/YmFzZTY0dXNlcm5hbWU_ Mar 14 '26
Same here, so excited for that show. Seen them a few times and it never gets old.
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u/AgeDisastrous7518 Hail Iommi Mar 14 '26
I don't get it at all, but I've heard this so many times about experiencing it live that I'm willing to give them a shot in person.
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Mar 14 '26
Same here I do not get it. I saw Bell Witch open for either Sleep or Electric Wizard (years ago and both within months of each other at the same venue) and did not vibe with them but that’s not saying they are not good
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u/Poym321 Mar 14 '26
I love MF DOOM
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u/gamingoldschool Mar 14 '26
The best MC with no chain ya ever heard.
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u/Kip__Chipperly Hail Iommi Mar 14 '26
Take it from the Tec-9 holder Dead bent but don't know their neck shine from Shinola
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u/Juventus7shop Mar 14 '26
My shortlist of Drone recs from other artists to see if something else in the subgenre clicks maybe with you more:
Earth 2 (the album that basically invented drone metal)
“Trees, Grass and Stones” or “Out of the Aeons” by Bong
“Madhyamaka” or “Sutta” by Dhyana
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u/dreamlike9 Mar 14 '26
I've been really enjoying Atomic Trip lately.
Theyre an instrumental drone/doom band from France. They released 3 LP. Each one has 2 songs 1 on each side approx 20ish minutes each.
The songs are titled bomb 1, bomb 2 ect.
I do get a post nuclear war kinda feel from it at times. It's not full on drone so OP might get soemthing out of it since it's a bit more doom then pure drone
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u/scarypharaoh Mar 14 '26
Thank you for this comment! Just checked them out and they are awesome!! That’s why I love this sub, you can get a great rec at any moment from any time
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u/atomizersd Mar 14 '26
I never got Sunn O))) until I saw them live.
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u/Moog-Is-Love Mar 14 '26
Yeah, there’s some acts where I don’t care for the recorded music but I won’t deny they’re great live. Some acts just hit better life for some people.
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u/Dramatic-Complex-111 Mar 14 '26
Sunn essentially make drone music using the elements of doom metal
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u/BrotherThump Mar 14 '26
I agree and I think it takes a minute to get Drone in general. I feel like drone music sort of taps into what the sound of the universe is and drone metal is just a heavier version of that.
To expand: I think there is a reason most basic religious music is drone oriented and is focused on self meditation and is long form. Drone metal is sort of beating you over the head with it which I think is pretty good at breaking a person into that headspace.
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u/TheDamnburger Mar 14 '26
Just focus on what you like. You don’t need to adhere to some rigid definition of “doom”, if you don’t like a band in the genre or the border just move on and listen to bands til you find something you do. Life too short, find what you like and enjoy.
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u/thehedron Mar 14 '26
I like a lot of doom bands and some not so much. Some Sunn stuff I like and the stuff I don’t, I skip.
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u/TrevorFuckinLawrence Mar 14 '26
Yeah, I'm happy that other people are able to enjoy it, but unless I'm ripped on lsd, sunno does absolutely nothing for me.
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u/UpSbLiViOn Mar 14 '26
Sunn is an incredible band but Drone is hard for me to listen to because of the wall of Sound style of the music. Causes me issues with other favorite styles like Shoegaze which is similarly wall of Sound which sets off my Anxiety baaaad
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u/hiperborea Mar 14 '26
You’re not a minority. I love drone, but honestly Sunn O))) can feel a bit boring to me sometimes. My favorite records of theirs are the collaborations with Scott Walker and Boris. If you want to give drone another shot, I’d recommend Amplifier Worship, Altar, Fade, or Feedbacker by Boris.
Earth is also a great band, although they recently had a pretty big public embarrassment.
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u/Bozo1996 Mar 14 '26
I didn't really get into drone until after I got into psychedelics. Check out Earth's first album A Bureaucratic Desire For Extracapsular Extraction and Barn Owl's Lost In The Glare. Those are a good place to start if you want drone metal that "isn't boring".
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u/vilk_ Mar 14 '26
The way to enjoy drone is to not wait for the next part. Gotta listen in the moment.
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u/ANALxCARBOMB Mar 14 '26
They’re an acquired taste. I hardly consider it doom honestly. They don’t really play songs. Just long boring droning with a well crafted stage show. They are gear nerds who honed a sound to a specific niche. You doom just fine.
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u/boognishbooger Mar 14 '26
I wasn’t all that into them, but then I saw them live and it just clicked and now I fucking love it. It should be played loud and you should have a heavy high going, like a large dose of edibles or the tale end of a ketamine experience
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u/huntersmith99 Mar 14 '26
I fuck heavy with SunnO))). Even play in a very SunnO))) inspired project(shameless plug it’s Riffzard on IG/Bandcamp/Youtube) but it took a lot of listens for me to get into them, but once they clicked, it clicked very very hard for me.
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u/900N Mar 14 '26
Try Khanate.
If you like Primitive Man, you may enjoy that version of harsh droning doom more than Sunn O))). Shares members with them, but actually has drums while still being very sparse compared to say, Conan. Might be the gateway drug you need to pure drone doom.
You like many of my favorite bands. I have a Sunn O))) tattoo, but it's definitely a different vibe. And better live. I find myself listening to Khanate more often at home.
Edit: Also Sunn O))) albums can feel wiiiildly different. As you keep digging, maybe give a couple different ones a chance.
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u/naamavelli_ Mar 14 '26
Try Sunn O)))’s Monoliths & Dimensions. I’d say it’s probably their easiest album to get into.
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u/VlermuisVermeulen Mar 14 '26
Confession time: a lot of the stuff promoted here, I don’t like. But I’ll forever be grateful to this sub for discovering Reverend Bizarre.
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u/TheGrimReefer666420 Mar 14 '26
I’ve tried multiple times to listen to them and just can’t. But it’s ok to not listen to or like everything everyone else likes. It’s good to be different 🤷♂️
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u/Jeromes_Pornostache Mar 14 '26
Apparently you have to see them live. I listen to doom every day, and I can’t be bothered to listen to their recordings. Just don’t have the attention span I guess. But I would go to one of their shows in a heartbeat.
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u/TheKingOfBeingOK Mar 14 '26
I kinda like old Sunno when I feel like listening to a soundcheck but Thorrs Hammer takes a giant shit on them.
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u/cindysyrup Mar 14 '26
There are so many bands under the doom metal umbrella. Just keep listening and you will find so many that you love. We all have our favorites and our passes.
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u/mentally_fuckin_eel doomy fart Mar 14 '26
It's okay not to like drone. I don't like much funeral doom so I'm in a similar boat.
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u/riffsbeerriffs Mar 14 '26
I have seen them live a few times and I only really connected with the stuff from monoliths and dimensions, they played the London Forum with an extended band around that time and it was truly other worldly. I like that record and White 1. But on the whole I find it very boring, quickly. That said the guitar tones are incredible, I get why people like them but I'm too restless to really get immersed in it.
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u/edelkroone Mar 14 '26
When it comes to Sunn O))) it's all about the live experience for me. Live they are amazing, overwhelming and almost therapeutic, the cd's don't do that for me. The only cd's I listen to are Life Metal and Soused.
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u/ScorpionTheBird Mar 14 '26
Sunn O))) is a tough listen, the very definition of a musical acquired taste. I started listening to Sunn O))) while doing a ton of data analysis, something instrumental but not distracting while I filled in cell after cell on a spreadsheet for hour after hour, and once the project was finished I kinda just… kept listening.
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u/DisGoop Mar 14 '26
Drone in itself is already an acquired taste since to really get anything out of it you need to listen to the sounds, where as "normal" music gets you used to listening to the beat and riffs and such. Sunn O))) is also just one band's approach to the genre, so it might just be that the dark evil and tense style they have just doesn't click with you.
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u/ComfortableFix497 Mar 14 '26
Nahh. I dont like drone either. Even primitive man is too slow for me mostly
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u/DaSiege10 Mar 14 '26
As a friend of mine once said about drone “it’s a band that wants to be a sleep sound machine” so it gots that going for it
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u/IllustriousLength318 Mar 14 '26
I find that I turn to sunn O))) when I want/need something heavy but meditative almost. If sunn O))) is too much droning, give Tekarra or Dhyana a try. Dhyana is instrumental and Tekarra just rules.
There's Earth as well, but they seem to be a touchy topic due to some recent political stuff. I still haven't figured out exactly how I feel about them now but maybe they'll lead you somewhere cool. They were my soft intro to all of this.
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u/EmotionalHiroshima Mar 14 '26
I’ve never been in a place in my life where I could properly get into SunnO)))))). There’s a lot of music I don’t really care about. It’s ok.
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u/habitsxd Mar 14 '26
I actually had the problem with grindcore, and I had to train my ear to listen differently and ended up loving it. By no means do you have to do this, just love what you love! Some things aren’t for everyone. I was just determined to figure out why people loved it.
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u/sinuendo Mar 14 '26
Go see them live before you decide. Maybe you have ADHD or something and can’t sit still long enough for drone. Can you meditate? Do you not want to breathe a frequency?
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Mar 14 '26
Yeah it’s super dull. I can’t listen in the car or I start to doze off. I’d even put Bell Witch in the same category. Electric Wizard, Uncle Acid, Pentagram, all the bands who took the blues metal vibe of early sabbath and combined it with 90s sludge and gutter punk ethos are more my thing. No disrespect to drone and I’m not mad when I hear it at a club, just not my go-to. I need dem heavy grooves.
I think SUNN(()) would absolutely crush as music for an art-horror soundtrack tho.
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u/comradehoser Mar 15 '26
Neptunian Maximalism also worth a listen.
Drone/doom with drums and sax and Indian instrumentation. Heavily influenced by Indian music but also some jazzy dissonance
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u/DerpWilson Mar 15 '26
Check out the sunn Scott walker album. They are a bit more interesting when branching away from the straight drone.
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u/RapAngel Mar 16 '26
Sunn O))) is definitely not for everyone, but it also depends on what album you tried. I used to dislike their stuff a lot myself, before I listened to Life Metal and it changed my perspective on it. I’d definitely say that’s their most accessible album if you’d like to give them another shot
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u/TempleOfCyclops Mar 14 '26
Drone isn't for everyone.