Funeral doom explained

Funeral doom
Cultural Origins:Mid-1990s, Finland
Regional Scenes:
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Funeral doom is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that crosses death-doom with dirge music.[1] Low-tuned guitars, death growls, instruments that emulate Pipe organ sounds and ponderous pace are typical traits of this style.

History

An offshoot of death-doom, the genre was mostly inspired by the work of Autopsy, Winter, Cathedral and early Paradise Lost. Funeral doom truly came into being in the mid-1990s, especially Finland.[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Thergothon is frequently pointed out as the progenitor of the genre, alongside Skepticism and Unholy.[9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] Outside Scandinavia, the lines between death-doom and funeral doom pioneers were less clear cut. diSEMBOWELMENT, from Australia, Birmingham-based Esoteric, and American act Evoken are examples.[15] [16] [17] [18]

With the turn of the millenium came releases of newer bands, such as Shape of Despair, Mournful Congregation, the "Nautik Doom" group Ahab and one-man-projects Nortt and Doom:VS.[19] [20] Funeral doom scenes cropped up over the world, such as the one in Russia.[21] The Solitude Productions label, for example, became a major force in shaping it's future.[22] Like no metal subgenre before it, the internet boom greatly helped funeral doom reach new fans. By the 2010s, funeral doom reached into metal's mainstream.[23]

Another sign of funeral doom's increasing status was Peaceville's move to buy the rights of Avantgarde Music's back catalogue.[24] Responsible for launching the careers of Autopsy, Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and Anathema, Peaceville was the major player in shaping what became known as death-doom.[25] This now meant that Peaceville had a significant stake in funeral doom's history: it owned all of Thergothon's and Unholy's discography, along with two Evoken albums.[26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32]

Although it has a substantial following, funeral doom has also it's share of criticism. Chronicles of Chaos co-editor Pedro Azevedo argued that, to the average listener, funeral doom might sound "boring and repetitive". Ciarán Tracey, in an article for Terrorizer, acknowledged that the increasing popularity of funeral doom also meant that it now had it's "share of hangers-on and can act as a repository for pseudo-literary teen poetry and artless abstraction, so a certain critical scrutiny has become necessary."

Musical style

Coc's Azevedo described funeral doom's core sound as a mix of "downtuned guitars, ponderous drumming, church organs and cavernous death vox" done at an "extremely slow" pace. Though it kept death metal's low-tuning and death growls, funeral doom eschewed most it's complex song structures and rapid tempo changes in a favor of a minimalist approach and slower tempos. Depending on the band, it keeps some genre-specific characteristics of death-doom, such as violins and female vocals.[33] Some background elements - church bells, keyboards or synthesizers - are many a time part of funeral doom's overall sound, adding a "dreamlike" quality to what is often described as a heavy and burdensome atmosphere.[34]

Funeral doom's name has two distinct genealogies. One source claimed it was a namesake of Norway's death-doom outfit Funeral.[35] It might have come, too, from Skepticism's pipe organ-like keyboard timbre, which reminded listeners of funeral music.[36] Keyboardist Eero Pöyry said that "I position myself as a church organ player in a metal band".[37] Furthermore, Pöyry explained that, at the time,

Themes

Thematically, funeral doom avoided the "Peaceville Three"'s gothic sensibilities in favor of a more nihilistic world view, evoking a sense of emptiness and despair. Thanatology topics such as grief, loss and suicide are central to the style.[14] [38] Apart from that, thematic content varies widely. Thergothon's lyrics were inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.[7] Ahab notoriously wrote whole concept albums based on Herman Melville's classic Moby Dick.[20] In turn, Esoteric experimented with a variety of psychotropic substances - LSD, magic mushrooms and cannabis - to explore the obscure recesses of the unconscious mind. Their dark take on psychedelia inspires music and words that resemble a soundtrack to a "bad trip".[39]

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. News: Davis, Cody . Funeral Doom Friday: FUNERAL MOURNING's Blackened, Deadly Inertia of Dissonance (A Sermon in Finality) . Metal Injection . 29 July 2018.
  2. Hinchliffe 2006a, p. 44.
  3. Web site: EXTREME DOOM PART II: Matt Skarajew of Disembowelment/Dusk. Bickle. Travis. 27 July 2011. We Wither. 2020-03-28.
  4. Web site: ESOTERIC (Eng.). Fernández. Sergio. 14 November 2006. Queens of Steel. 2020-03-29.
  5. Web site: EVOKEN Interview - Funeral doom from the pits of darkness. Silenius & Gam. 19 December 2004. NIHILISTIC HOLOCAUST - Underground Death metal webzine!. 2020-03-29.
  6. Web site: A Guide To The Glorious, Miserable World Of Funeral Doom. Lawrence. Dan. 31 October 2018. Bandcamp Daily. 2020-03-27.
  7. Web site: EXTREME DOOM PART III: Niko Skorpio of Thergothon. Bickle. Travis. 29 July 2011. We Wither. 2020-03-28.
  8. Web site: Funeral interview (11/2005). KwonVerge. 7 November 2005. Metal Storm. 2020-03-29.
  9. Tracey 2006, p. 55.
  10. Hinchliffe 2006b, p. 54.
  11. Web site: Top 5 Funeral Doom Songs. Dick. Chris. 31 December 2012. Decibel Magazine. 2020-03-27.
  12. Web site: Funeral Doom Friday: Celebrating 25 Years of Funeral Doom with THERGOTHON's Fhtagn-nagh Yog-Psothoth. Davis. Cody. 4 November 2016. Metal Injection. 2020-03-28.
  13. Minton, Kelly & Selby 2009, p. 56.
  14. Web site: Doom Metal: A Brief Timeline. Wiederhorn . Jon. 2 February 2017. Bandcamp Daily. 2020-04-09.
  15. Web site: EXTREME DOOM PART I: John Paradiso of Evoken. Bickle. Travis. 25 July 2011. We Wither. 2020-03-28.
  16. Web site: Funeral Doom Friday: DISEMBOWELMENT's Genre-Defining Classic, Transcendence Into the Peripheral. Davis. Cody. 3 November 2017. Metal Injection. 2020-04-09.
  17. News: An Interview with Inverloch (Mems Disembowelment), Who Are Welcoming Dusk...Subside EP. Kelly. Kim . Brooklyn Vegan. 3 April 2012. 26 September 2012.
  18. Web site: Funeral Doom Friday: ESOTERIC and Their Brilliant Debut, Epistemological Despondency. Davis. Cody. 29 April 2018. Metal Injection. 2020-03-28.
  19. Web site: https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20121126213400/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/122322/20121127-0834/www.voltagemedia.com.au/news/2011/07/27/mournful-congregation-unspoken-hymns.html . Mournful Congregation – The Unspoken Hymns . Bloodaxe . Mathias . VoltageMedia . 26 November 2012 . 27 July 2011 . 24 August 2017.
  20. Web site: Funeral Doom Friday: Remembering AHAB's The Call of the Wretched Sea. Davis. Cody. 29 June 2018. Metal Injection. 2020-04-03.
  21. Web site: A Light-Hearted Chat with Siberian Funeral Band Station Dysthymia. Kelly. Kim. 13 September 2013. Vice. 2020-04-06.
  22. Web site: Interview with Solitude Productions. Doom-metal.com. 16 July 2015. Doom-metal.com. 2020-03-28.
  23. Web site: EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: EVOKEN STREAM THEIR NEW ALBUM, HYPNAGOGIA. Goldsmith. Zachary. 8 November 2018. Kerrang!. 2020-04-16.
  24. Web site: Mission. Avantgarde Music. 2020-04-06.
  25. Web site: Interview with Peaceville Records (Label). Evdokimov. Aleks. 9 July 2018. Doom-metal.com. 2020-04-06.
  26. Web site: Thergothon – Stream From The Heavens (2009, CD). Discogs. 2020-04-05.
  27. Web site: Unholy – From The Shadows (2011, CD). Discogs. 2020-04-05.
  28. Web site: Unholy – The Second Ring Of Power (2011, CD). Discogs. 2020-04-05.
  29. Web site: Unholy – Rapture (2011, CD). Discogs. 2020-04-05.
  30. Web site: Unholy – Gracefallen (2011, CD). Discogs. 2020-04-05.
  31. Web site: Evoken – Quietus (2011, CD). Discogs. 2020-04-05.
  32. Web site: Evoken – Antithesis Of Light (2011, CD). Discogs. 2020-04-05.
  33. Web site: Doom Metal: The Gentle Art of Making Misery. Azevedo. Pedro. 19 November 2004. Chronicles of Chaos. 2020-03-27.
  34. Ebner 2010, p. 28.
  35. Web site: Interview with Funeral. Evdokimov. Aleks. 22 April 2018. Doom-metal.com. 2020-03-28.
  36. Web site: The March: Skepticism Documentary (2018). Kannisto. Janne. 29 April 2018. 1 April 2020. YouTube.
  37. Web site: The March and the Stream: Skepticism Revisits The Re-Mixed "Stormcrowfleet". Rosenthal. Jon. 9 October 2018. Invisible Oranges. 2020-04-04.
  38. Web site: The Myth of the Peaceville Three. Dick. Chris. 23 July 2012. Decibel. 2020-04-16.
  39. Web site: Esoteric interview. Göransson. Niklas. 3 March 2017. Bardo Methodology. 2020-03-28.

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