A favorite genre among aspiring metal musicians who don’t
have the technical ability to properly execute a perfect 64th note
harmonized run in 11/8 time, doom metal can be relatively easy to play, but not
necessarily easy to listen to. The listener must first get past the fact that
doom metal is rife with ten-plus minute dirges played at tempos so
frustratingly slow that they seem to impede time. There are no shout-along
choruses like in power metal or catchy riffs like in thrash, and this is
particularly true for funeral doom, one of the main dervishes of the greater
doom style that we have available for our dark listening enjoyment. Pioneered
by European bands such as Esoteric and Thergothon in the 1990s, the microgenre
has since spawned several acolytes who specialize in crafting the least
commercial-friendly music imaginable, all played at (what feels like) 4 beats per
minute. When done well, funeral doom can make for a compelling listen to those
who are conditioned to the more extreme side of the metal spectrum, and one of
the latest artists to emerge from this style is Oakland’s Lycus.
