Regular visitors to our site will recognize the name Comrade Aleks, the Russian writer who brings us such fascinating interviews (and occasionally reviews), focusing on bands within the broad genre of doom. Simply reading his interviews reveals that he has an encyclopedic knowledge of the genre, and so it might not be shocking to learn that he has written… an actual encyclopedia of doom.
And it is a formidable accomplishment — 300,000 words spread across 300 large-format pages and including articles on more than 350 bands (with 400 photos). The name of this tome is Doom Metal Lexicanum, and it will be released on December 1 by Cult Never Dies and Crypt Publications.
Among the vast array of bands covered in the book are Acid King, Candlemass, Cathedral, Conan, Cauchemar, Church Of Misery, Count Raven, Electric Wizard, Fall Of The Idol, Internal Void, Isole, Lord Vicar, Lucifer, Naevus, The Obsessed, Pantheist, Pentagram, Pagan Altar, Revelation, Reverend Bizarre, Saint Vitus, Solstice, Sleep, Solitude Aeturnus, Trouble, Witchfinder General, Wretch, Witchsorrow, and The Wounded Kings.
As you can tell just from this partial list, the book focuses on the more traditional side of the genre and explores traditional doom, stoner doom, epic doom, and various related hybrids. (Aleks is interested in writing a second volume about more extreme doom bands). To quote from the publisher’s description:
Within these pages you’ll find the stories of both the well-known pioneers of doom and newer acolytes, tracking the growth of the genre all the way to the present day. This book guides the reader through each band’s discography, frequently including interviews with the artists involved.
And as you can see, the book comes adorned with attractive shamanic cover art by David Thiérrée.
As I said, Doom Metal Lexicanum really is a formidable accomplishment. The amount of work that went into it is nothing short of mind-boggling, and it seems destined to become an essential resource for doom fanatics wherever they may live.
We congratulate our friend Aleks on completing this massive labor of love, and we also congratulate Mike Liassides (doom-metal.com) and Tana Haugo Kawahara (Eternal Elysium), who provided input on the book, and to Dayal Patterson, who was the editor and contributed some additional text.
The book is now available for pre-order at a discounted price that’s valid up until the December 1 release date. For further info, check the links below:
Pre-Order:
https://cultneverdies.myshopify.com/
CULT NEVER DIES
http://www.cultneverdies.com/