Part VI
As death metal rose from thrash metal, and playing as fast as possible became the vogue for the heaviest bands, some musicians decided to take things slowly and revive doom metal, a branch of metal that had practically died with the end of Ozzy's stint in Black Sabbath. Witchfinder General, Trouble (leader of the white, or Christian, metal movement), and Saint Vitus were probably among the best bands since Black Sabbath to take a slow approach to metal, with heavy riffs and the occasional bluesy influence being a main part of their approach. Unfortunately, despite its innovative style and original twin guitar approach, the quasi-religious Trouble never quite obtained the recognition it deserved, and the rest of the scene did likewise.
Later on, more bands would continue with the advances of Witchfynde, Angel Witch, and the dying scene of doom, and would eventually join the ranks and introduce a more operatic style in singing, as evidenced in the output of Candlemass after its legendary and innovative Epicus Doomicus Metallicus. Pentagram was there too, along with others like the Obsessed and Dream Death (to later turn into Penance), but the doom metal movement was not to flourish until the coming of two bands composed of former members of death, thrash and punk bands: Paradise Lost, and, more importantly, Cathedral. Paradise Lost, on its Gothic album, incorporated haunting keyboards and guitar licks into its music while maintaining a death metal vocal influence and thus impelling the so-called "doomdeath" sound. Cathedral, meanwhile, seemed to revive a more modern Black Sabbath after its first doomdeath efforts, progressing from growling, death metal-like vocals to screeching eerie howls. With the moderate success of these two bands, a slew of new groups came to being, and doom metal was suddenly affected by several influences: orchestral movements, operatic vocals, death metal heaviness and singing, and female singers; but never losing the slow, eerie and emotional side of things. It was thus that the death-like Sorrow, Crematory, and Winter; the Sabbath-like Count Raven, Sleep, Internal Void, and Iron Man; the more orthodox Solitude Aeturnus and Memento Mori; the Louisiana scene Eyehategod and Crowbar; the evolving My Dying Bride and Anathema, and several others began to rise in the metal world.
