Meanings
- uncountableentertainmentA subgenre of heavy metal characterised by a slow tempo and low-tuned guitars, often emphasizing despairing lyrics.
Devotees of doom metal often cite as early instances of the sub-genre mid-1980s albums by Saint Vitus and Candlemass, the title of Candlemass' 1986 Epicus Doomicus Metallicus perhaps inspiring the sub-genre's eventual designation.
2016, Ronald Bogue, Deleuze's Way: Essays in Transverse Ethics and Aesthetics, Routledge, →ISBN, page 39
Origin
Perhaps from the 1986 album title Epicus Doomicus Metallicus or maybe from the 1970 Black Sabbath song "Hand of Doom".
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Dutch doommetal
- doommetalheavy metal subgenre
Esperanto damna metalroko
- damna metalrokoheavy metal subgenre
German Doom Metal
- Doom Metalheavy metal subgenre
Cite this entry
doom metal. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/doom%20metal
“doom metal.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/doom%20metal. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “doom metal,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/doom%20metal.
Source: doom metal on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.