{{Short description|Subgenre of heavy metal}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}} {{Infobox music genre | name = Drone metal | other_names = * Drone doom | stylistic_origins = {{flatlist| *Doom metal *drone music }} | cultural_origins = Early 1990s, Washington, U.S. | derivatives = | subgenres = | fusiongenres = | regional_scenes = | other_topics = * Avant-garde metal * industrial metal * post-metal }} '''Drone metal''' or '''drone doom'''<ref name=stosuy/><ref name=boilerroom>{{cite web|last=Pattison|first=Louis|title=Heavy, Heavier, Heaviest: A Beginner's Guide To Doom-Drone|url=https://boilerroom.tv/heavy-heavier-heaviest-a-beginners-guide-to-doom-drone/|publisher=Boiler Room|date=February 17, 2015|access-date=September 26, 2023}}</ref> is a style of heavy metal that melds the slow tempos and heaviness of doom metal with the long-duration tones of drone music.<ref name=nyt/><ref name=art/> Drone metal is sometimes associated with post-metal<ref>{{cite web |last=Caramanica |first=Jon |date=2005-09-20 |title=The alchemy of art-world heavy metal |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/20/arts/the-alchemy-of-artworld-heavy-metal.html |access-date=2025-08-23 |website=The New York Times}}</ref> or experimental metal.<ref name=essentialist/>
==Characteristics== Typically, the electric guitar is performed with a large amount of reverb or audio feedback<ref name=nyt/> while vocals may or may not be present. Songs often lack beat or rhythm in the traditional sense and are typically very long. The experience of a drone metal performance has been compared by novelist John Wray in ''The New York Times'' to listening to an Indian raga in the middle of an earthquake.<ref name=nyt/> Wray also states, "It's hard to imagine any music being heavier or, for that matter, very much slower."<ref name=nyt/> A pioneer band of drone metal called Sunn O))) has indicated a kinship with sound sculpture.<ref name=nyt/> Jan Tumlir indicates a "sustained infra-sound rumble of sub-bass—so-called brown noise".<ref name=art/>
==History==
===Precursors=== Early guitar-produced drone effects go as far back as the krautrock (for example ''Cluster II'' by Cluster, 1972) and early noise rock / industrial music era (''Metal Machine Music'' by Lou Reed, 1975; ''Stahlwerksynfonie'' by Die Krupps, 1981).
===1990s=== [[image:Sunn2.jpg|thumb|Sunn O))) at The Middle East in 2006]] Drone metal was first established by Earth,<ref>Jason Jackowiak, ''Splendid'', September 14, 2005. {{cite web |url=http://www.splendidezine.com/review.html?reviewid=1125311580560974 |title=Splendid Magazine reviews Earth: Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method |access-date=September 15, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080927052955/http://www.splendidezine.com/review.html?reviewid=1125311580560974 |archive-date=September 27, 2008 }} Access date: August 23, 2008.</ref> a group from Olympia, Washington, formed in 1989 by minimalist musician Dylan Carlson,<ref name=boilerroom/> which has been described as "minimalist post-grunge".<ref name=nyt/> Earth took inspiration from the sludge metal of Melvins and the minimalist music of La Monte Young, Terry Riley and Tony Conrad.<ref name=boilerroom/> Stephen O'Malley's group Burning Witch, formed five years later, also in Seattle, continued in this tradition, incorporating unusual vocals and bursts of audio feedback. The group initially recorded for the prominent powerviolence label Slap-a-Ham. O'Malley's subsequent group, Sunn O))),<ref name="nyt"/><ref name="art"/> initially formed as a tribute to Earth, is most responsible for the contemporary prominence of the drone metal style. Godflesh is also a stated influence on many groups. Boris,<ref name=nyt/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://flavorpill.com/london/events/2007/12/10/sunn-o-and-boris-present-altar|title=Sunn O))) and Boris present Altar|last=Spall|first=Oliver|date=December 10, 2007|access-date=August 22, 2008|archive-date=December 8, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208115044/http://flavorpill.com/london/events/2007/12/10/sunn-o-and-boris-present-altar|url-status=dead}}</ref> from Tokyo, also developed a style of drone metal, parallel with the Seattle groups, as did Corrupted, from Osaka.<ref name=boilerroom/>
===2000s=== Nadja (Toronto), Locrian<ref>{{cite web|last1=Stosuy|first1=Brandon|title=Locrian's Ode to Extinction|url=http://pitchfork.com/features/show-no-mercy/9695-locrians-ode-to-extinction/|website=Pitchfork|date=July 31, 2015 |access-date=March 8, 2017}}</ref> (US), Jesu (UK), Black Boned Angel (Wellington, New Zealand), Khanate (New York City), Ocean (Portland, Maine), Growing<ref name=bp>James Parker, ''The Boston Phoenix'', June 15, 2006. {{cite web |url=http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Music/14804-Heavy-metal-chill-out/?rel%3Dinf |title=The Phoenix > Music Features > Heavy-metal chill out |access-date=August 22, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208134504/http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Music/14804-Heavy-metal-chill-out/?rel=inf |archive-date=December 8, 2008 }} Access date: August 22, 2008</ref> (New York City), KTL (Washington/London), Ascend<ref>''Ample Fire Within'' review, "Soundcheck", ''The Wire'', July 2008, p. 45.</ref> and Eagle Twin (US),<ref>Kim Kelly, "Choice Cuts", Terrorizer #189, October 2009, p. 22.</ref> Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine (Nottingham, England), Conan (Liverpool, England) and Moss (Southampton, England) are prominent drone metal groups that formed in the early 21st century.<ref name=boilerroom/> Noise musicians, such as Kevin Drumm and Oren Ambarchi, have also worked in the style.<ref>Joe Panzner, ''Sheer Hellish Miasma'' review, ''Stylus'', September 1, 2003. {{cite web |url=http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/kevin-drumm/sheer-hellish-miasma.htm |title=Kevin Drumm - Sheer Hellish Miasma - Review - Stylus Magazine |access-date=August 23, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828052324/http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/kevin-drumm/sheer-hellish-miasma.htm |archive-date=August 28, 2008 }} Access date: August 23, 2008.</ref> Rhys Chatham's Essentialist project is a contribution to drone metal by an elder composer,<ref name="essentialist"/> attempting to "arrive at an ''a priori'' essence of heavy metal, reducing it to a basic chord progression".<ref>,:.ELU OF THE NINE- Maurerische Trauermusik coming 2010.:</ref>
==Connections with other art forms== Stephen O'Malley from Sunn O))) collaborated on an installation with artist Banks Violette, who has likened drone metal to the work of Donald Judd.<ref name="nyt">{{cite web |last=Wray |first=John |date=2006-05-28 |title=Heady Metal |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/magazine/28artmetal.html |access-date=2025-08-23 |website=The New York Times}}</ref> Tumlir locates a precedent in Robert Rauschenberg.<ref name="art">Jan Tumlir, "[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_8_44/ai_n18764233 Primal dirge]", ''Artforum'', April 2006. Access date: August 22, 2008.</ref> Violette points out, however, that drone metal is "as much a physiological phenomenon as an acoustic one",<ref name=nyt/> with an attendant physicality. O'Malley has also mentioned an appreciation for Cormac McCarthy and Richard Serra.<ref name="stosuy">Brandon Stosuy, "[http://www.slate.com/id/2124692/ Heavy Metal: It's Alive and Flourishing]", ''Slate'', August 19, 2005. Access date: August 22, 2008.</ref> Rhys Chatham's Essentialist included projections by Robert Longo.<ref name="essentialist">{{cite web |last=Smith |first=Steve |date=2006-09-13 |title=Where Classic Avant-Garde Gets a Hint of Heavy Metal |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/13/arts/music/13rhys.html |access-date=2025-08-23 |website=The New York Times}}</ref> Jim Jarmusch's 2009 film ''The Limits of Control'' features music by a number of drone metal groups.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Breihan|first=Tom|date=March 11, 2009|title=Boris, sunn O))), Earth Soundtrack Jim Jarmusch's The Limits of Control|url=http://pitchfork.com/news/34816-boris-sunn-o-earth-soundtrack-jim-jarmuschs-the-limits-of-control/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120214102338/http://pitchfork.com/news/34816-boris-sunn-o-earth-soundtrack-jim-jarmuschs-the-limits-of-control/|archive-date=February 14, 2012|access-date=March 21, 2009|website=Pitchfork}}</ref> Jarmusch said, "I love these kind of visual landscapes they make, and they really inspired things for me for my film ..., because when I write I'm listening to things that inspire me in the direction of whatever world I'm imagining. Boris and Sunn O))) and Earth were really instrumental in me just finding a place in my head."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Licht|first=Alan|date=November 2009|title=Invisible Jukebox - Jim Jarmusch|page=23|work=The Wire|issue=309|url=https://www.thewire.co.uk/about/artists/jim-jarmusch/jim-jarmusch-unedited|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150911180523/https://www.thewire.co.uk/about/artists/jim-jarmusch/jim-jarmusch-unedited|archive-date=September 11, 2015|issn=0952-0686}}</ref>
==See also== * Doom metal * Japanoise * Noise rock * Sludge metal * Stoner metal
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== *{{cite book |author-last=Coggins |author-first=Owen |year=2018 |chapter=Amplifier Worship: Materiality and Mysticism in Heavy Sound |title=Mysticism, Ritual, and Religion in Drone Metal |location=London |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |series=Bloomsbury Studies in Religion and Popular Music |pages=115–136 |doi=10.5040/9781350025127.ch-005 |isbn=978-1-3500-2510-3}} *{{cite journal |author-last=Coggins |author-first=Owen |date=June 2015 |title=The Invocation at Tilburg: Mysticism, Implicit Religion, and Gravetemple's Drone Metal |url=https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/19429/2/Fulltext.pdf |url-status=live |editor-last=Walters |editor-first=Barbara R. |journal=Implicit Religion: Journal for the Critical Study of Religion |location=London |publisher=Equinox Publishing |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=209–231 |doi=10.1558/imre.v18i2.27238 |issn=1743-1697 |s2cid=146358066 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210715224058/https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/19429/2/Fulltext.pdf |archive-date=July 15, 2021 |access-date=February 1, 2022}}
{{Heavymetal}} {{Extreme metal}} {{Experimental music genres}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drone Metal}} Category:Doom metal Category:Experimental music Category:Extreme metal Category:Heavy metal genres