Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres. Both the music and the lyrics intend to evoke a sense of despair, dread, and impending doom. The genre is strongly influenced by the early work of Black Sabbath, who formed a prototype for doom metal. During the first half of the 1980s, a number of bands such as Witchfinder General from England, American bands Pentagram, Saint Vitus, the Obsessed, Trouble, and Cirith Ungol, and Swedish band Candlemass defined doom metal as a distinct genre.
Restless Records is a record label that was started in El Segundo, California in 1986 by Enigma Records and primarily released alternative, metal, and punk records. Restless also licensed and released records from Bar/None Records, Metal Blade Records and Mute Records. Restless also had a fully owned subsidiary, Pink Dust Records.
Lucifer's Friend is a German hard rock band, formed in Hamburg in 1970 by guitarist Peter Hesslein, singer John Lawton, bassist Dieter Horns, keyboardist Peter Hecht, and drummer Joachim Reitenbach. The group was an early practitioner of heavy metal and progressive rock; they also incorporated elements of jazz and fusion into their music, especially in their fourth album Banquet of 1974. Beyond heavy metal, the band has been cited, too, as one of the pioneers of doom metal, helping to define both genres due to their heavy sound and dark oriented lyrics of their debut Lucifer's Friend of 1970, and returning to their roots in 1981 with Mean Machine, although more influenced by speed metal.
Stian Tomt Thoresen, known professionally as Shagrath, is a Norwegian musician best known as the vocalist, founding member and multi-instrumentalist of the band Dimmu Borgir.
Into the Moat is an American mathcore band from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It achieved national acclaim when profiled in Alternative Press magazine in November 2003. The band signed with Metal Blade Records, which released both of their full-length albums, and completed four national tours during 2004 and 2005.
Novembers Doom is an American death-doom band from Chicago, currently signed to Prophecy Productions. Along with Evoken and Rigor Sardonicous, Novembers Doom is one of the earliest American death-doom bands still active today.
Psalm 9 is the debut studio album by American doom metal band Trouble, released on March 10, 1984. The album was originally released eponymously and was later renamed to Psalm 9 after the release of the band's fourth studio album, which was their 1990 self-titled release. Along with Saint Vitus' self-titled debut album from the same year, Psalm 9 is considered by many critics to be one of the first doom metal releases.
Cirith Ungol is an American heavy metal band formed in late 1971 in Ventura, California. This early doom and power metal group is known for lyrics based on fantasy. The band took their name from the mountain pass Cirith Ungol in J. R. R. Tolkien's epic fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings
Frost and Fire is the debut album by the American heavy metal band Cirith Ungol. Its music is generally faster and more simplistic than that of King of the Dead, which saw the band begin to adopt a doom metal style influenced heavily by power metal.
Memory Garden is a doom metal and heavy metal band from Kumla, Sweden. They were signed to Metal Blade Records until 2002, moved to Vic Records in 2006 and in 2012 returned to metal Blade to record Doomain (2013).
Paradise Lost is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Cirith Ungol. It was released on August 23, 1991 by Restless Records in the United States, Canada, and Greece, and re-released as a bootleg several times. The band broke up in 1992 over unresolved issues with their new record label. It was finally officially re-released in 2007/8 on Noble Rot.
King of the Dead is the second album by the American heavy metal band Cirith Ungol. It was self-produced by the band and released in July 1984 on Enigma Records. It was re-released in September 1999 on Metal Blade Records.
Metal Massacre is a series of compilation albums released through Metal Blade Records. It is famous for "shedding light" on bands such as the Obsessed, Trouble, Overkill, Metal Church, Metallica, Slayer, Virgin Steele, Hellhammer, Voivod, Armored Saint, Lizzy Borden, Possessed and more.
Seventh Angel are an English Christian metal band that formed in 1987 in Halesowen, West Midlands, England. The band was known for its combination of doom metal and thrash metal. According to Cross Rhythms magazine, they were considered to be thrash metal pioneers. The band initially released two albums, The Torment (1990) and Lament for the Weary (1992), before disbanding; these records achieved mainstream distribution through the Music for Nations label, making Seventh Angel label mates with such groups as Metallica, Slayer, and Megadeth. Although Seventh Angel disbanded in 1993, "for a long time [they were considered to be] the best metal act in the UK", claims Cross Rhythms. The Daily Telegraph called Seventh Angel "one of the leading Christian thrash metal bands in Great Britain."
Full of Hell is the debut studio album by American sludge metal band Howl, released through Relapse Records on May 11, 2010. After signing a recording contract with Relapse Records in May 2009, Howl re-released their self-titled EP, Howl, on July 21, 2009. To promote the EP, the band toured East Coast between August and October 2009, while worked composing new songs. The band recorded Full of Hell at Machine with Magnets Studios in Pawtucket, Rhode Island with engineers Keith Souza and Seth Manchester in late December 2009. Upon finished work, guitarist and lead vocalist Vincent Hausman told Noisecreep: "The new album is, if anything, more extreme than the EP, moving from aggression to slow doom metal, through both black metal atmospheres and blues-based harmonies. We really tried to incorporate the various styles in metal we love, though never losing sight of what this band is ultimately about: the almighty riff."
Intruder is an American thrash metal band from Nashville, Tennessee. Formerly known as "Transgresser", the group began as a four-piece cover band. They saw the addition of rhythm guitarist Greg Messick after signing with Metal Blade Records.
The Son of Odin is the debut album of British heavy metal band Elixir, released in 1986 on 12" vinyl. Cult Metal Classics re-released the album on CD in 2001. The album also included 3 bonus tracks. The album was also released on CD by TPL records in 2004, Majestic Rock in 2006 and CTR in 2011 as a 25th Anniversary Edition. In issue 137 of Terrorizer magazine, the album was included in the top 20 power metal albums of all time, alongside Judas Priest's Painkiller, Helloween's Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II and Cirith Ungol's King of the Dead. In 2019, Metal Hammer ranked it as the 21st best power metal album of all time.
Falcon is a California heavy metal band formed in 2002 by guitarist/vocalist Perry Grayson. Though active in the 2000s, Falcon's sound is throwback to the late 1960s and early 1970s, and they take their cue from luminaries like Blue Cheer, Black Sabbath, Trapeze, Budgie, Thin Lizzy, Pentagram, Mountain, Free, Bang, Captain Beyond and Buffalo.
Servants of Chaos is a compilation album by American heavy metal band Cirith Ungol, released under Metal Blade Records on September 5, 2001.
"Witch's Game" is a single by American heavy metal band Cirith Ungol. It was released on a 12-inch record on April 24, 2020, with a live version of "Doomed Planet" as the B-side. It was the band's first record since their reunion in 2016, as well their first record since Paradise Lost in 1991.
