positivelyBLEAK Grinning back into the abyss.

Fashion For Metalheads: The Stoner & Doom Set

The eter­nally head­banging Steff Metal has an inspiring ongoing fea­ture called Fashion For Metalheads, where she gives a break­down of the styl­istic dif­fer­ences between fans of each genre — but, since I hadn’t seen one of my per­sonal favorites, the droning, swampy, reverb-​y world of stoner and doom metal, fea­tured yet, I inquired about writing a con­tin­u­a­tion on her theme and got the OK…here goes, you red-​eyed, swaying masses!

Electric Wizard

The two genres share a root on the family tree — Black Sabbath. Both are known for being down­tempo and involving heavy bass, dis­tor­tion, and repet­i­tive riffs. Stoner takes a few hints from Led Zeppelin’s more bluesy moments, while doom throws a lot more despair and plod­ding slow­ness into the mix.

Some cor­ner­stone bands in the stoner and stoner-​sludge genre include Sleep, Electric Wizard, founding fathers Blue Cheer, Kyuss (who is less metal than rock but still pio­neers!), Down, sludgey Isis, High on Fire, Church of Misery, and Boston locals Black Pyramid. Most stoner bands involve some crossover with doom or sludge metal, as well.

Stoner metal is all about being com­fort­able and casual, but a lot of modern post-​metal acts have a tai­lored edge to it. Unique, easy-​wearing pieces infused with a hint of Californian, American Southwest, and Mississippi blues style. Lots of layers and impec­cably broken-​in leather. It’s still got one foot planted in rock and roll, and has a huge hippie streak to it. (Amazing, con­sid­ering how much all the metal fans I know just adore hippies.)

Slouchy, easy shapes, util­i­tar­i­anism where it counts (this means comfy shoes and a big bag to hold your con­tra­band), and a healthy dose of bohemi­anism to hold it all together. A loud neon watch (so you don’t forget about catching the last train home), brightly-​colored lighter that won’t get lost, and birthday cake-​flavored lip balm to quell the need for snacks all attest to a common habit shared among stoner metal fans.

(This is not to say that all fans indulge in mind-​altering sub­stances, but I will say that I’ve never left a show without smelling like a road­kill skunk!)

Witchfinder General

Doom is like stoner’s slightly more grown-​up, pes­simistic friend. Strip out the blues party and crank up the feed­back, ’cause it’s time to go slog­ging through the sea of despair that is doom metal. Everything gets tuned down to the lowest notes and hooked up to a dis­tor­tion pedal to really make that floor shake. You’ll find both clean and harsh singing, or none at all — despite the fact that lyrical themes are a fairly defining aspect of the genre, most of the time it’s over­ridden by a tidal wave of reverb. Note the big ol’ drone influ­ence that’s per­vading modern doom bands.

Sunn O)))

Big names in doom include Pentagram, Witchfinder General, Trouble, Thrones, Saint Vitus (who put on an incred­ible live set), Sunn O))), Earth, Acid Bath, Grief, Corrupted, and the black metal-​infused Bethlehem. There’s a wide variety of crossover acts and huge dif­fer­ences in inter­pre­ta­tion, but doom is really one of those “you know it when you hear it” cases…although per­haps instead of hearing it, you better know it when you feel that soul-​crushing sound rum­bling through your solar plexus.

Many doom bands have a real focus on the­ater, to the point where shows approach per­for­mance art rather than simple con­certs; while the styling is some­times sim­ilar to stoner metal, doom is often much more intro­spec­tive, and brings fewer baked grins to the table. (Again, doom fans seem to have the same red-​eyed predilec­tions as stoner metal, and while it’s fun to crack end­less 420 jokes, doing drugs is by no means a require­ment for being a music fan!) Dress up the casual wear with inter­esting, modern touches, like the grown-​up update to the tra­di­tional dog chain and the clean lines of skinny jeans. Ease back into a 70’s inspired jacket and add a dose of dra­matic flair with bright eye makeup and shiny moon-​shoes.

Don’t let the slow and droning nature of the music con­fuse you too much; the bands are still putting their backs into the music (espe­cially during the more psy­che­delic solos, wow!) and the fans are going to bang their heads and mosh as hard as the next. Check out a show and enjoy the theatrics!

Also of note: CosmicDoom’s just posted their list of the Top 29 Albums of 2009, and it’s def­i­nitely worth checking out the bands that made the cut.