We were looking for something to cheer me up, given the state of mankind, and I came across Funeral Doom. After a discussion with the Elders, we realized that we could exploit this extreme subgenre and create a viable commercial product.
Funeral doom is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that crosses death-doom with dirge music. Low-tuned guitars, death growls, instruments that emulate Pipe organ sounds and ponderous pace are typical traits of this style.
Wikipedia
Big shout-out to Finland!
History
Wikipedia
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. Thergothon is frequently pointed out as the progenitor of the genre, alongside Skepticism and Unholy. 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.
Let’s Get Banned from NightCafe!
(bands referenced in the Wikipedia article)
Peaceville
Autopsy
Winter
Cathedral
Paradise Lost
Thergothon
Skepticism
Unholy
diSEMBOWELMENT
Esoteric
Evoken
Shape of Despair
Mournful Congregation
My Dying Bride
Anathema
We were able to coax some images from HotPot, and a few from NightCafe.
Wikipedia: Fair and Balanced
Although it has a substantial following, funeral doom has also its share of criticism….Ciarán Tracey, in an article for Terrorizer, acknowledged that the increasing popularity of funeral doom also meant that it now had its “share of hangers-on and can act as a repository for pseudo-literary teen poetry[1] and artless abstraction, so a certain critical scrutiny has become necessary.”
Wikipedia
[1] This seems unnecessarily harsh.
A Few Bands….
diSEMBOWELMENT
NOTE: Not to be confused with Disemboweled
diSEMBOWELMENT: Part of speech: Noun
disemboweled – Part of speech: Adjective
Thergothon
My Dying Bride
A Video Recommendation
If we may be so bold as to recommend a very dark Goth comedy: Season 1 Episode 1 of Prime Video’s Spine Chillers. We learn that even Goths need to pay their rent, brush their teeth, go to work, etc.
WLBOTT Jumps Into the Lucrative Funeral Doom Genre
We’re still deciding on the album art, band personnel, instruments, tunings, target audience, political position papers, etc. Here’s what we’ve got so far for the album art. What’s your favorite?
Eponymous
The Wedding Album
The Bluegrass Album
