The difference, by ear
Funeral doom halves this tempo again and removes the melody, leaving chord changes minutes apart.
Both are growled or screamed, but funeral doom is a little slower: 25 to 50 bpm against 50 to 90. Songs run longer in funeral doom: usually 10 to 25 minutes, against 6 to 10 minutes in death-doom. To hear the difference, play My Dying Bride next to Thergothon. They share a root in heavy metal, and death-doom came first, by a year.
In figures
Death-doom
Where it sits
Heavy metal › Death metal › Death-doom
In short
Guttural vocals at funeral tempo. Bands from Yorkshire invented the combination and then invented gothic metal too.
How it sounds
- Very slow tempos with long riffs and sustained chords.
- Guttural vocals over minor harmony, sometimes with violin or keyboards.
- Eight- to twelve-minute songs with slow dynamics and oppressive atmosphere.
Key acts
- My Dying Bride
- Paradise Lost
- Anathema
- Winter
Start here
The pickMy Dying Bride - Turn Loose the Swans. The violin matters as much as the guitar.
Full page →Funeral doom
Where it sits
Heavy metal › Doom metal › Funeral doom
In short
The slowest metal in existence: under 40 bpm, organ, guttural vocals and fifteen-minute songs. Music for a single chord.
How it sounds
- Tempos under 50 bpm, often under 40 - the slowest metal there is.
- Chords held for tens of seconds, with organ or keyboards underneath.
- Sparse guttural vocals, ten- to twenty-minute pieces, minimal structures.
Key acts
- Thergothon
- Skepticism
- Evoken
Start here
The pickSkepticism - Stormcrowfleet. Listen at night, on headphones, in one sitting.
Full page →