

But the genre’s strict posturing suggests that feelings of actual doom are not necessarily required. Most bands don’t stray far from the script, for fear of the dreaded “false metal” tag. The music is bleak and slow, and tends to follow a format codified on early Black Sabbath records: spiritualist-satanic homilies sung over pitched-down guitar riffs played at a trudge.

Mike Scheidt is the guitarist and vocalist behind YOB, which practices an extreme style of rock called doom metal.
