Ah okay, I misunderstood what you meant then. I mean yeah, I'm not gonna vote for something like The Gathering's How to Measure a Planet? or Paradise Lost's One Second in a death metal poll, even if they're technically eligible. But something that's at least generally considered "death/doom" I would probably be okay with, like Paradise Lost's Icon. But yeah the pendulum swings a bit different for everyone on what's more doom metal than death metal, etc.

Jophelerx, my brother in true metal, believe me when I say unto thee: Paradise Lost's Icon is not a Doom/Death album.

The death metal credentials for certain bands need to be assessed album by album.
(fuck that sounds totalitarian)
but yeah

Fair enough. As I said I'm not an expert on death metal. I was thinking about mentioning Shades of God instead of Icon anyway which I guess is a bit more death metal? Eh, I don't know. All I know is I can dig some early Paradise Lost.

Of their "classic" period, the only PL albums that are death doom are Lost Paradise and Gothic. Shades of God is closer to trad doom than anything else. Can't remember Icon well enough to judge it's doominess but there is no death metal in there.

Since it sounds like early Septic Flesh, I don't see why not.

For clarity: yes the rule will be "as long as the key word is in the band's genre field on their MA page then anything they released is eligible". Yes, that means goofy shit could technically be eligible, but like a few people have said, you guys are pretty good at self policing and I really don't expect some wimpy alternative rock to show up just because a few of those early bands started as death/doom or whatever. If it does, oh well. It'll likely be drowned out by the legit choices and I'll just roast anybody who votes like that, as is tradition (like when the 90s poll had a smattering of those awful "gothic metal" bands that were less heavy than 3 Doors Down).

Yeah, it's the age old discussion that we have everytime we do genre threads, or end of the year threads, and people decide to vote for Ulver or Anathema albums. Like... yeah... you're allowed to do it... but why would you? It's like playing a prank on yourself. You're just losing a vote and you'll most likely end up sending this album to the rando corner.

As for people deciding if they want to include death doom (or doom death, or whatever) albums, it's kind of a case by case situation, and yeah, I mean, we all trace the line at a different place, and as long as people do this in good faith, I really don't mind if Katatonia's Brave Murder Day ends up in the top 10.

Death metal will win but I'll pick all death/doom bands.

If Death wins I'll just vote for Death/Thrash. But it won't, Grooves got this. Hmmm maybe I'll just vote for Groovy Death metal.

when it's time for a doom poll, i could see myself having a bunch of death/doom in there (after sabbath)

what do you guys think is the album that would be eligible for the most genre polls? (not just technically, but after self-policing)
i could probably see to mega therion appearing in black, death, thrash, and doom results

Yeah, that would be my pick as well.

Agalloch records like The Mantle and Ashes Against the Grain also mix a ton of diffrent subgenres.

Right there with ya, death/black metal gets discussed so often here, I’d rather see a poll on genres that get less attention. I’m putting my emphasis on folk, it seems hardly talked about after that big splash that came with Turisas, Ensiferum, Korpiklaani, and so on.

Issue with splitting trad doom and funeral would be: to whom does the middle child, doom/death, go?

Icon is a pretty solid album. A sorta template for the more celebrated Draconian Times. They did a re-recording recently which just served to show how much they own these songs. They sounded comfortable as a band around the time of Icon.

Great album but it's not a doom/death album either. Too many haunting gothic atmospheres and whatnot.

This is closer to Type O Negative/Carnivore than Obituary;

we've already done decade polls for the 80's, 90's, and 00's, so combining my top 5s from those yields 10-12 death metal albums (depending on if you count a couple as death enough... i'd probably rather put both in a grind pile) - making a top death metal list should hence be a pretty breezy operation of putting those in order and checking if any 2010-today albums might be contenders

I mentioned this in the Sabbath song thread that (rightfully) got locked, but it would be fun to do individual band polls at some point. Not for the mid-year poll as individual band polls would probably have a much smaller turn out.

But I think it would be interesting to pick a super popular band (Sabbath, Metallica, Priest, Slayer, Cannibal) and do a "Top 10 Favourite Songs by _______" with a points ranking system. The rando-corners alone would be an interesting read.

Maybe we can try a dry run of something along those lines after the mid year poll. My predecessor, lastdodobird, also used to occasionally do little minigames like that, though the format was totally different, where it was something like "once per day, pick three songs to give 3-2-1 points to, pick one song to subtract one point from, the first 30 songs to reach 30 points are the best" (much more suited to a rolling discussion/debate on a forum thread than a big collection period with a separate results thread). I remember the Best Thrash Songs and Best Iron Maiden Songs threads and maybe one other one back in 07ish. However, he made those few threads one after another, and soon other people started making their own threads for other bands and genres, and ultimately Nightgaunt swooped in, locked everything, and demanded we all cut it out.

On one hand, I loved those threads and think it would be fun to do something like that again, especially since MA's identity as a bunch of argumentative data-obsessed nerds really fits well with those types of things and the success of these polls since 2016 showcases that. On the other hand, the chance of it remaining a fun rolling idea that gets a new iteration when the last one finishes instead of a dozen people starting a dozen threads all at once and totally crowding out all other discussion feels kinda iffy, and would genuinely be super annoying to deal with and moderate. On the other other hand, Nightgaunt was a famously cantankerous killjoy who's hobbies included precisely two things: loquacious condescension and quietly sipping water in the dark.

Thanks to everyone for the replies and opinions on including death/doom metal albums in this poll!


Thanks, I'll add the album to the list. The album was also labeled as “Atmospheric (nostalgic) death metal”, and that’s how I’m used to perceive it.
As for your note about On Thorns I Lay's death metal similarity/inspiration on "Orama", then I think I need to get familiar with early death metal from Greece to hear it on the album. Thanks again!

Early Greek death metal was a rarity, but you might also want to check Sanctorum (think of early Rotting Christ meets Septic Flesh) and Horrified's In the Garden of the Earthly Delights / The Ancient Whisper of Wisdom.

Nice shout on Horrified, Garden... is a great but obscure album that doesn't see much mention.

To be fair, Lost Paradise and Gothic don't sound like Obituary either.

I didn't really weigh in on that whole discussion. Well, I did, but I didn't say what I would do personnally.

I think I would reserve stuff like early Katatonia and Paradise Lost for the doom thread, while I would include Mortiferum and Spectral Voice in the death metal poll. So yeah, basically I'd just go with a case-by-case approach to determine if a band/album is more doom or more death.

Which is something I find easier to do with death doom, then say death thrash. Like, I don't know what I'm going to do with Sepultura and Pestilence if we have a death metal poll...

Ha, would you look at that! Doom/Sludge slowly but surely is creeping up. Not that I'd mind or anything...I mean, I can name my top 10 of DM in my sleep at anytime but will take some work to do Doom/Sludge. What the Hell is Sludge anyway? ( serious question), is it like Neurosis/Mastodon? Don't think I'd come up with a single album that stands out for Sludge. Guess half of my top 10 list will be Black Sabbath and My Dying Bride, lol

I'm only half serious about this but I always felt that sludge is what happens when hardcore punk bands slow down enough.

Short definition of sludge metal on RYM is "Sludge metal is a subgenre of Metal that combines the slow, dark instrumentals and atmosphere of Doom Metal with the aggressive, harsh screams and shouts credited to Hardcore Punk." Which is fairly accurate. So yeah, stuff like Mastodon, Neurosis, Cult of Luna, but also Acid Bath, Eyehategod, Melvins, etc.

I would also have to think about it a bit more to do a sludge/doom/stoner top 10, but I have more then enough favorites in these genres to come up with a solid top 10. So yeah, I don't mind if it wins! It was my second choice, and I'd be happy with either a death metal or a sludge/doom/stoner metal poll.

Well, that explains it considering I am not overly familiar with hardcore punk either (pardon my ignorance). What it makes even more confusing, one of my favourite BM bands Cobalt also falls under Sludge as per a band page...so go figure, lol

You're not required to like hardcore to get into sludge. Neurosis sounds so far removed from hardcore for example.

If Doom wins, you're also not required to select a choice from each of the subcategories. Your top 10 can be all epic doom or funeral doom if you want.

Over time, sludge metal became it's own thing, but it's crazy how you can still identify the elements of both hardcore punk and doom metal if you pay close attention. I have this cousin who is really int sludge, but can't seem to get into anything that doesn't have the hardcore elements. Like he loves stuff like O'Brother, Isis, Cult of Luna and whatnot, but everytime I try to make him listen to doom metal like Ahab, he can't seem to get into it. Like... he really needs the hardcore elements to enjoy the music.

I'd love to do a death, thrash, power/speed, doom, or trad poll.

One of the best things about these polls is the discoveries that might’ve never happened. So who knows, maybe I will become the Sludge aficionado in no time. I did try Neurosis/Mastodon in the past because they ranked relatively high in some of Decade polls but not to a major success. But I believe there’s always a gem somewhere for each one of us from unexpected forms of Metal. And I am one of those metalheads who is always eager to explore. Just often it’s not meant to be. We shall see! Like I said, Cobalt has Sludge in it, and maybe that is what I need...Black Metal mixed with Sludge, lol

Thank you. I've never heard of Sanctorum and Horrified before.

HeavenDuff, thanks for the more detailed opinion.
With a doom metal poll, it's much easier for me because most of favorite albums that I'd vote for fall only into doom metal category - atmospheric/funeral doom, melodic doom.
"Rain Without End" by October Tide is also more doom than death metal for me. (Although probably there are people who may perceive the album as "slowed down melodeath" - I’ve seen such opinions)
Edit 2:
The only question was whether to vote for favorite black/doom metal albums in the doom metal poll, but there are a few albums that are doom metal but that have black metal elements/vocals/"feel" (like "Dance of December Souls", and also this band - https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Tristitia/1405) - so I'd vote for them.

Regarding death/thrash metal albums in the death metal poll... I didn't think about it at all until you mentioned it, but I'd vote for this album - https://www.metal-archives.com/albums/R ... rld/441009 - it's just one of the very few that I know from the subgenre, the guitar playing are interesting, plus the album has good slower doomy parts.

If death metal wins, I'm going to have trouble deciding whether Teitanblood's Seven Chalices is a death metal album or a black metal album.

Pretty sure you can vote it in DM poll as it falls for both genres

I know, but I'm not sure which one I consider it to be.

When it comes to this specific brand of death/black, I think of these bands as being both in pretty much "equal parts", even if it doesn't really mean anything.

I know it has no chance but I voted for Prog and Grindcore anyway as I think it would make for a very interesting list.

Hmn...does melodic death metal qualify for this poll?

I don't think most melodic death metal would qualify for any other poll - unless it's a purely melodeath one.

I want doom/stoner/sludge to win the pre-poll (still over a week to go and not an impossibility at this point) and will listen to every album you guys vote for if it does. That's a promise!

Changed my vote to Doom so I'm not wasting it. We're catching up!

The feeling that courses through when I see Doom/Stoner/Sludge inching ever closer to Death is probably the same feeling that sports fans get.