LIST: Top 10 Doom Metal Bands

Welcome to my list of the top 10 Doom Metal bands of all time...

There are lots of lists out there, some people love them, some people get annoyed by them. Personally I love a good Top 10 list.

In principal I agree with the idea that every band is unique and making music into a competition is prohibitive of the art; and I think that is true when artists are influenced in their music by the desire to win a competition, earn an award or even to make excessive amounts of money. That turns music into sport, and I believe the two should remain separate. That doesn't mean though that a list like this is redundant, because this is not really a competition but rather a tool to use to discuss genres, and the bands that makes them great.

This is of course only my subjective opinion, but I am aiming to give some objective spin to this list too. I am basing this list on three basic strands: how much I like these bands, and how much they capture my personal taste; how good I think they are at playing Doom, or how well they utilise the characteristics of Doom; and how much I feel they have done for the genre, which can mean their impact on the sound and style of Doom, their influence on other bands, and their overall development of the genre.

There will be a few things not included in this list:

Firstly, I won't be including Black Sabbath. There are many debates over whether Sabbath were a Doom band or just the progenitors of the genre, but I'm not here to argue about that. What can be agreed is that Black Sabbath are the essential blueprint for Doom, so you will see me reference them a lot, but they won't be on the list (and if they were they'd be number 1!)

I also won't be including any band that is predominantly Death/Doom or Funeral Doom – for me these styles are distinctive enough in their own right, and I will eventually be doing another list solely for them; and the same also goes for Sludge. Both of these have enough unique characteristics to define them as separate genres. What I will be including is 'old school', 'new school', and 'stoner' doom.

Honourable Mentions

There is three bands which didn't quite make the list, mainly because of my personal enjoyment of them. However they need to be mentioned for their influence on the genre.

Cathedral

Almost the archetypal 'old-school' Doom band, their influence is undoubted, especially in the UK, and Lee Dorian and his label Rise Above have done a massive amount for the genre. But they have never been a band who grabbed my personal taste quite as much as others.

Candlemass

Similarly to Cathedral, they are a hugely influential band who added some very distinct characteristics to the genre, however I have personally only really enjoyed a handful of their songs (although it's hard not to appreciate those haircuts!)

Pagan Altar

Despite only putting out one album in the 80s, that album, along with the band's mystical aura, was hugely influential on Doom. Their reunion in the 2000s helped revive interest in old-school Doom and cemented them as one of the best classic Doom bands.

So without further ado, here is my lit of the Top 10 Doom Metal bands of all time...

10. Bongripper

Essential album: Satan Worshipping Doom

Bongripper play instrumental Doom, but they're not like any others that I have heard. Bongripper's focus is on the riffs, pure and simple; and their riffs are delicious!

They have an amazing sound which in every instrument combines the perfect balance of filth and fuzz with clarity and power. Their songs are captivating, and are so heavy that they create an atmosphere all by themselves. The lack of vocals is of course a stickler for some people, but once you get used to it you don't miss it.

They are also hugely influential to so many new bands, even those outside of Doom, because their sound and tone are so hypnotic, and their lives shows are the stuff of legend. For me, they are one of the most innovative modern Doom bands.

9. Reverend Bizarre

Essential album: III: So Long Suckers

Reverend Bizarre are maybe the best example of how to elevate Sabbath worship into something wholly your own. There isn't much in their riffs that is totally original, but they always put their own spin on things by pushing their song and album lengths to brilliantly obnoxious levels; and I loved it!

Yet despite the ridiculous song lengths they had really good song-writing, and rarely did any of their records feel boring and mundane.

Their attitude was both careful and carefree – when they decided that the run of albums that they had meticulously planned out wasn't for them, they just said fuck it and broke up, and called their last album So Long Suckers... insolent but hilarious.

The band were also massively influential in keeping old school doom alive and interesting in the 2000s, and since their dissolution have put personal efforts into pushing this scene forward.

8. Church of Misery

Essential album: Houses of the Unholy

Church of Misery were supremely influential in spreading Doom outside of it's traditional homelands of Europe and the USA. Japan and South East Asia has quite the Doom scene going on now, and Church of Misery have a lot to do with that.

But their influence is not just on their own scene, it comes from their sound and themes which took Doom into directions it hadn't really touched yet. They developed their own concept and have stuck to it well, and there is something strangely intriguing about head-banging, bluesy Doom riffs with lyrics and samples from serial killers.

They also really upped the psychedelic elements that Sabbath had, and almost every riff they write is insanely catchy. They are one of the most consistently great bands in Doom, you can listen to any of their records and enjoy it immensely.

7. Pallbearer

Essential album: Heartless

Pallbearer are the quintessential modern progressive doom band, and one of the bands to have pushed the genre forward most in recent years.

The band manage to push the boundaries of the classic doom sound whilst keeping within the structure of the genre. Their music is heavy, sorrowful and melodic – all the characteristics of traditional Doom, but they are uniquely their own band. Their sound is very recognisable, and their influence is so much that they have already developed a host of imitators.

Their first two records have a crushingly heavy yet sublimely melodious feel to them, and whilst their last record may have pushed their lighter prog-rock influences to the fore, they have maintained a style that is unequivocally Doom.

Pallbearer have been one of the most influential bands of the last decade, and few bands have helped bring more traditional Doom sounds back whilst simultaneously developing new ideas in the style.

6. Trouble

Essential album: The Skull

Trouble were one of the original post-Sabbath Doom bands who appeared in the 80s. A classic band in Doom terms, but their records still hold up today.

They may also be credited with bringing the spiritual style of lyrics to Doom, something which a number of other bands took on in different ways.

The fact is, almost every band that plays Doom owes an influence to Trouble. They were one of the first to add influence from outside of Doom, including more melodic, psychedelic and new wave metal influences; but unlike some, they remained unshakably Doom throughout. Their songs always kept the groove and flow that great Doom has, and without them Doom probably wouldn't sound quite the same.

5. Conan

Essential album: Existential Void Guardian

In a way, Conan are the polar opposite of Pallbearer in terms of their sound. They take things to their heaviest, simplest and most riff focused ideal. There is little extraneous in Conan's sound, but that sound is one of the best in Doom, and their songs are filled with constant hooks and catchy riffs.

Conan have taken the idea of down tuning guitars to altogether new levels, and their focus on sound and feel is matched by very few bands, especially in a live setting.

But they have been able shown their diversity with recent albums, and having perfected their unique sound have branched out a bit more stylistically – in any genre, this is the mark of a truly great artist.

They are without doubt one of the most talked about bands of recent years and their back-to-basics style coupled with their insanely heavy sound has been a massive influence on many new bands.

4. Saint Vitus

Essential album: Born Too Late

If almost every band who plays Doom owes something to Trouble, then EVERY band who plays Doom owes an influence to Saint Vitus, and particularly to their third album, the incredible Born Too Late.

Saint Vitus re-developed so many of the traits from Sabbath that define Doom: the slow tempo, the sorrowful feeling, the fuzzy sound – Saint Vitus made this into it's own genre.

I would also credit them with adding the down-to-earth themes that entered the genre. These kind of lyrics became more of a staple in Sludge, but certainly became prominent in Doom. Their lyrics about substance abuse, depression and real-life struggles was a contrast to much of the fantastical themes of heavy metal at the time, and linked in with the approach of many of early Sabbath's songs that had got lost amongst the knights, dragons, and witches of 70s metal.

Their connection to the punk & hardcore culture (they were signed with SST Records who were arguably the first true DIY punk/hardcore label) was a big stepping stone towards making metal something less elitist and more open.

The simple fact is that of all the classic 80s Doom bands, Saint Vitus were, for me, the best and the most genre-defining. With Born Too Late they took the blueprint from Sabbath and established Doom metal.

3. Sleep

Essential album: Dopesmoker

Sleep are the ultimate Stoner Doom band – there is no question about that. Whilst there had of course been Doom songs dedicated to weed before them, Sleep took this idea and made something that not only took lyrical inspiration but also sonic inspiration from the green stuff.

But Sleep probably wouldn't be as high on this list if I had done it a few years ago, because as much as Holy Mountain and the legendary Dopesmoker were incredibly unique and influential records, it was their comeback from 2014 onward that has cemented them as a truly great band. The Sciences is in many ways the perfect comeback album, taking everything that they had done so well before and giving it a better sound; and developing the ideas of their early material too, not simply trying to re-create those records. When I recently saw them live, in amongst a set full of material from Holy Mountain, it was one of their new songs, Leagues Beneath, that was the stand-out moment. The material they have put out in the last few years is, for me, their absolute best.

Of course their influence is massive, and almost any Doom band that doesn't call themselves 'old-school Doom' will owe something to Sleep. Particularly with Dopesmoker they did something experimental that no-one else in metal had really tried before, and it pushed the sound of Doom further beyond the Sabbath worship and into it's own territory.

2. Electric Wizard

Essential album: Dopethrone

Electric Wizard re-defined heaviness. And then they re-defined it again. And when they couldn't do that any more, they crafted some of most well-written albums Doom has ever heard.

Their second album Come My Fanatics... is often described as turning-point for Doom. It was the point at which the limits were blown away, the Black Sabbath ceiling was lifted, and Doom as a genre began to take itself to the next level.

And that next level came about when Electric Wizard released their next album Dopethrone. If Come My Fanatics... had been a new level of heavy, this record was the new horizon coming into view... and then suffocating you. It was so slow, so fuzzy, so aggressive, it was not like any other record at the time and it's influence is still felt today.

There are those who would say that since these two albums Electric Wizard haven't produced a record to match it; and if you talk about pure heaviness, then that is probably true. However, the pure heaviness wasn't just what made Electric Wizard special, it was the incredible riffs they wrote. This was where they really became their own, and taking Doom song-writing into realms which Sabbath wouldn't have. Their riffs are brutal but remarkably catchy, the songs flow beautifully, and despite their almost overwhelming sonic assault, they are constantly engaging. This song-writing skill was what Electric Wizard focused on with their later records: Witchcult Today and particularly Black Masses are incredible records in their own right because of this. I honestly have yet to hear a Doom album with so many hooks and so many details and layers, the kind you find in the best written pop songs, than Black Masses.

In recent years the band have been carrying this on this song-writing style while experimenting with their sound. Simultaneously they have been taking their live show to new heights of ferocious volume. Rarely have I gasped at how huge a band sounded live. In fact it is probably only twice – the two times I have seen Electric Wizard.

1. Yob

Essential album: Our Raw Heart

Yob is not just Doom. Yob has gone beyond Doom. They have taken everything that Doom is and completely re-invented what this genre can be. They have turned the sorrow into affirmation, the fuzz into clarity, and the heaviness into weightlessness. It might seem a bit poetic, but it is how I feel about this band.

Their history has been a potted one, four incredible albums in their early years, each of which got progressively more accomplished. Then they split for a short while, band members tried other things, but nothing could quite hit the feeling of Yob.

So they returned and made four more unbelievable albums. Records that were so good you could hardly imagine how they would keep improving; and yet somehow they did, and their latest album Our Raw Heart is without a doubt their best. Still after so much material they are bringing in new ideas and new themes both musically and lyrically.

In a way what they do is simple, it's just that every part of it is nigh on perfect. There is no better voice in metal over the last 20 years, his is totally unique and emotionally adept in a way that few others can ever be. The guitar sounds, the riffs and the melodies are both familiar and yet entirely new. The rhythm section always sounds perfectly balanced at every step.

Yob's influence on the Doom is a continuous one, and I don't know if I'd be able to find many Doom bands who have appeared in the last decade or so who wouldn't sight Yob as a main influence.

My grading for all of these bands has been based on how good they are at what they do, and how much they have influenced the genre and how much I like them; and for me, Yob scored higher on all of  these than any other band on this list. I firmly believe that Doom today simply wouldn't be the same without Yob, and that is why they are my number one pick.

So there we have it... I am sure plenty of people will disagree with me on this list. I would love to hear your opinions on it, so please leave a comment, tell me why I'm wrong, why I'm right, or why I was stupid to miss this or that band off. All debate is welcome!

Thanks for reading,

Will