Epicus Doomicus Metallicus

The genre name epic doom is taken from the title of this record. It was recorded in February 1986 at Thunderload Studios in Stockholm and released by Black Dragon Records on 10 June that year. Leif Edling wrote it, and Johan Längqvist sang as a session vocalist, with Matz Ekström on drums and Mats Björkman and Klas Bergwall on guitars. Längqvist's carrying voice sits almost operatically over the slow, heavy riffing, which made the record sound unlike the European heavy metal around it. Six songs. "Solitude", "Demons Gate" and "A Sorcerer's Pledge" are cited again and again as the example of a band inheriting Black Sabbath's slowness and taking the melodic writing somewhere else entirely. The running order here is the original's as printed.