Funeral doom

Funeral doom is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that crosses death-doom with dirge music.^[1] Low-tuned guitars, death growls, instruments that emulate Pipe organ sounds and ponderous pace are typical traits of this style.

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.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} Thergothon is frequently pointed out as the progenitor of the genre, alongside Skepticism and Unholy.^{[2][6][9][10][11][12][13][14]} 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.^{[2][3][15][16][17][18]}

With the turn of the millenium came releases of newer bands, such as Shape of Despair, Mournful Congregation, the "Nautik Doom" group Ahab and one-man-projects Nortt and Doom:VS.^[9][19][20] Funeral doom scenes cropped up over the world, such as the one in Russia.^[21] The Solitude Productions label, for example, became a major force in shaping it's future.^[22] Like no metal subgenre before it, the internet boom greatly helped funeral doom reach new fans.^[9] By the 2010s, funeral doom reached into metal's mainstream.^[23]

Another sign of funeral doom's increasing status was Peaceville's move to buy the rights of Avantgarde Music's back catalogue.^[24] Responsible for launching the careers of Autopsy, Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and Anathema, Peaceville was the major player in shaping what became known as death-doom.^[25] This now meant that Peaceville had a significant stake in funeral doom's history: it owned all of Thergothon's and Unholy's discography, along with two Evoken albums.^{[26][27][28][29][30][31][32]}

Although it has a substantial following, funeral doom has also it's share of criticism. Chronicles of Chaos co-editor Pedro Azevedo argued that, to the average listener, funeral doom might sound "boring and repetitive".^[33] Ciarán Tracey, in an article for Terrorizer, acknowledged that the increasing popularity of funeral doom also meant that it now had it's "share of hangers-on and can act as a repository for pseudo-literary teen poetry and artless abstraction, so a certain critical scrutiny has become necessary."^[9]

Coc's Azevedo described funeral doom's core sound as a mix of "downtuned guitars, ponderous drumming, church organs and cavernous death vox" done at an "extremely slow" pace. Though it kept death metal's low-tuning and death growls, funeral doom eschewed most it's complex song structures and rapid tempo changes in a favor of a minimalist approach and slower tempos. Depending on the band, it keeps some genre-specific characteristics of death-doom, such as violins and female vocals.^[33] Some background elements - church bells, keyboards or synthesizers - are many a time part of funeral doom's overall sound, adding a "dreamlike" quality to what is often described as a heavy and burdensome atmosphere.^[34]

Thematically, funeral doom avoided the "Peaceville Three"'s gothic sensibilities in favor of a more nihilistic world view, evoking a sense of emptiness and despair. Thanatology topics such as grief, loss and suicide are central to the style.^{[14][33][34][35]} Apart from that, thematic content varies widely. Thergothon's lyrics were inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.^[7] Ahab notoriously wrote whole concept albums based on Herman Melville's classic Moby Dick.^[20] In turn, Esoteric experimented with a variety of psychotropic substances - LSD, magic mushrooms and cannabis - to explore the obscure recesses of the unconscious mind. Their dark take on psychedelia inspires music and words that resemble a soundtrack to a "bad trip".^[36]

Funeral doom's name has two distinct genealogies. One source claimed it was a namesake of Norway's death-doom outfit Funeral.^[37] It might have come, too, from Skepticism's pipe organ-like keyboard timbre, which reminded listeners of funeral music.^[38] Keyboardist Eero Pöyry said that "I position myself as a church organ player in a metal band".^[39] Furthermore, Pöyry explained that, at the time,

Many bands were either using [keyboards] as background, almost like an effect, and others were using it like a second solo guitar, using keyboard solos and all that. Neither of those felt like ours. I kind of thought what a keyboard player in a metal band like this should be like. It should be like the organist in a church. In that lineup, the organ became much like what the second guitar would have been. The way to position it in the sound was church organ-like. Thinking through all the things you should do and not do… I started taking it in the organist direction instead of soloist direction [...]. It’s pretty much a church organ setup in a metal band as well.^[39]

• Ebner, Arne (25 July 2010). Ästhetik des Doom (PDF) (Bachelor) (in German). Macromedia University of Applied Sciences for Media and Communication – Cologne. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016.
• 'Harry' Hinchliffe, James (2006). "Funeral Doom/Drone Doom: Hearse Play". Terrorizer. 143. London: 44–45.
• 'Harry' Hinchliffe, James (2006). "Thergothon - 'Stream from the Heavens' (1993)". Terrorizer. 144. London: 54.
• Minton, James; Kelly, Kim; Selby, Jenn (2009). "Filth Parade". Terrorizer. 188. London: 56.
• Tracey, Ciarán (2006). "Doom/Death: United In Grief". Terrorizer. 142. London: 54–55.