doomgaze

Doomgaze is a behemoth of contrasts: the crushing weight and slow, down-tuned guitars of doom metal braided with the lush, wash-on-wuitar atmosphere of shoegaze. It’s not a single, cleanly defined movement, but a fusion that grew from the same desire that drives both genres—immense mood, enveloping noise, and a sense of otherworldly distance. In practice, doomgaze artists slow things to a crawl, pile on reverb and feedback, and weave melodic, ethereal lines over doomy riffing, producing music that feels both thunderous and dreamlike at once.

The origin of doomgaze is a topic of debate among critics and fans. It crystallized in the late 1990s and into the early 2000s as bands and producers began intentionally layering shoegaze textures—guitar splashes, hazy melodies, distant vocals—over the crushing, downtuned grooves of doom and sludge. The result was a sound that could sweep from cavernous heaviness to shimmering, almost translucent beauty within a single track. Because doomgaze evolved somewhat organically across scenes, there isn’t a single birthplace or manifesto; instead, a constellation of artists across North America and Europe are credited with helping the style take shape.

Among the artists most commonly cited as ambassadors of doomgaze are a handful of acts that helped define the palette: Jesu, the project led by Justin Broadrick, is frequently named as a pivotal touchstone for fusing heavy, droning riffs with the dreamy, washed guitars associated with shoegaze. Nadja, a Canadian duo known for drone-inflected doom with a lush, expansive guitar texture, is another touchstone often referenced by fans and critics. In the 2010s and beyond, bands like Cloakroom (USA) and Windhand (USA) have carried the torch forward, mixing punishing grooves with melodic, enveloping atmospherics. Solo artists such as Emma Ruth Rundle have also been influential, bringing doomgaze-inflected mood into more intimate, song-focused contexts. These acts—along with numerous other European and North American groups—are frequently pointed to when people discuss the genre’s vocabulary.

Geographically, doomgaze’s strongest footholds are in the United States and the United Kingdom, where doom and shoegaze scenes have long coexisted, but it has also found passionate followings in Canada, several Northern European countries (notably Sweden and Finland), and increasingly in Japan and parts of Western Europe. The scene is typified by a DIY ethic, with many releases and live performances appearing on independent labels that specialize in heavy, atmospheric music. The sound is versatile live: it can be a claustrophobic, wall-of-sound experience in a club or a more meditative, spacious set in a gallery or small venue, always retaining a sense of melancholy and enormity.

For listeners, doomgaze offers a uniquely immersive experience: it rewards patience and attentive listening, revealing new textures on repeated spins—the pounding gravity of doom tempered by the sighing, clouded beauty of shoegaze. If you’re drawn to music that feels both monumental and intimate, doomgaze is a rich field of exploration, with a history that threads through the late 20th century into a contemporary ocean of hazy, heavy sound.