Death-doom
Death-doom, also called death-doom metal or doom-death, is a fusion of death metal and doom metal. It combines the slow, heavy, gloomy feel of doom with the deep growls and fast double-kick drumming of death metal. It started in the late 1980s and was fairly popular in the 1990s, but became less common by the 2000s.
The idea began in the mid-1980s with bands like Dream Death mixing doom and death metal. In the early 1990s, bands such as Autopsy, Winter, Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, and Anathema blended doom with death metal, sometimes adding female vocals, keyboards, and violins (as in My Dying Bride). Their sound influenced gothic metal bands like Within Temptation, Lacuna Coil, The Gathering, Celestial Season, and Saturnus.
By the late 1990s the death/doom style lost some popularity as bands moved in different directions. The style continued as funeral doom, a slower, heavier branch that aims to evoke emptiness and despair. Guitars are heavily distorted, and keyboards or synthesizers create a dreamlike atmosphere. Vocals are mournful chants or growls, often heard in the background.
Funeral doom was pioneered by Mournful Congregation (Australia), Esoteric (UK), Evoken (US), Funeral (Norway), Thergothon (Finland), and Skepticism (Finland).
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 03:42 (CET).