Doomed to Fail

by J.J. Anselmi

Doomed to Fail explores the heaviest music the world has ever heard, tracing doom, sludge, and post-metal as their own distinct (and incredibly loud) traditions. Anselmi covers the bands and musicians that have impacted those styles most―Black Sabbath, Candlemass, Melvins, Eyehategod, Godflesh, Neurosis, Saint Vitus, and many others―while diving into the cultural doom that has spawned such music, from the bombing of Birmingham and hurricane devastation of New Orleans to glaring economic inequality, industrial alienation, climate change, and widespread addiction. Along the way, Anselmi interweaves the musical experiences that have led him to proudly identify as one of the doomed.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, History, Audiobook

312 pages, Hardcover

First published February 11, 2020

About the author

J.J. Anselmi grew up in Rock Springs, Wyoming, a mining boomtown. He’s the author of The Dirt in Our Skin, Out Here on Our Own, Doomed to Fail, and Heavy. He wrote the liner notes for the 2017 reissue of Sepultura’s classic thrash record, Chaos A.D., and his writing has been featured in VICE, The New Republic, The A.V. Club, Revolver, and JSTOR Daily. An active musician, he lives with his family in Southern California.

Reviews

[Carlton Duff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anselmi’s observations and descriptions of Sabbath’s music and their impact upon music as a whole are worth the price of admission alone. Can’t heap enough praise on the writing and Anselmi’s fair and balanced (not in the Fox News sense, but in actuality) bios of sometimes enigmatic and lovably sketchy individuals like Bobby Liebling, Wino, and Dixie Dave Collins is worthy of the utmost respect as well.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doom? Doom. DOOOOOOOOOOOOM. It's a good word. One of those multiple-vowel words that have a plasticity turned to enjoyable goop by repetition. It's also a type of metal music, though it furcates into numerous equally heavy (though to outsiders, often similar-sounding) strands.

Doom music is an unmitigated bummer, a reminder that Life Is Hard So Why Bother sung from basements at brain-rattling volume through equipment that smells like spilled bong water and hot dust. It's a release in only the way realising you've reached the bottom of the barrel can be. It's about [dis]comfort with horror, and in its original form emerged as a reaction against post-war austerity, industrial isolation and the general Shittiness of Living. It's something you'd expect to be extremely un-fun, which it is, but luxuriating in that precise bummedness is, well, if not fun, enjoyable.

This book aims to examine some of these strands by focusing on bands which are exemplars of particular styles, from sludge to post-metal, or which come from locales with a specific flavour. There's investigation of the variants unique to New Orleans or the South more broadly, and there's discussion of England's north. Artists with long and short careers are covered in a grab-bag that doesn't claim to be complete, but offers a taste to start readers on their inevitable crate-digging journey.

Unfortunately, I found the book to not live up to my expectations. But perhaps that's fitting, given the subject matter – and the title. Part of my disappointment with Doomed to Fail is perhaps hung on my misconception of the work: I had understood it would be more of a straight-ahead historical document rather than an extended collection of thumbnail reviews with surrounding biographical material. There's a certain amount of rigour with the earlier chapters, recounting early doom bands' tales, though this could stem from the fact that there's a load more sources on Sabbath's early days than there are for some of the other bands covered.

From the outset, Anselmi isn't worried about the health of sacred cows: he skewers the story of Black Sabbath's nomenclature for its lack of Coven respect. But this sometimes descends into fanboy declamation, including a lengthy interpretation of Sleep's weed epic Dopesmoker. It's that flipping between historian and enthusiast that jars.

There's some niggles with the writing that probably aren't as apparent if one dips into the book rather than consumes it whole. As a drummer, the author brings a musician's ear to his album examinations, and these are mostly enjoyable, but he repeats phrases when describing the music at hand, causing distraction. He also clouds the water by referring to the same bands as touchstones in different sections which doesn't really help the neophyte reader.

There's also some factual errors (such as the misattribution of roles in Khanate) which are either errors of mental transposition or of editing. I get that only music dorks are going to notice this, but given that music dorks (or wannabe music dorks) are the target of this text, it's the sort of thing that makes my teeth itch.

Doomed to Fail is perhaps the wrong title for this book. I get that it's about enjoying the downer vibe, and I understand that it's about accepting that failure is an inevitable part (or totality) of life, but it seems weird when applied to the musicians profiled. Most discussed here are still kicking on, churning out their particularly bleakly-tuned variant of metal. Wino, Dylan Carson, Sunn, Justin Broadrick, Neurosis – though some of them haven't attained the success they would like, they're still resolutely kicking against the pricks, each in their inimitable manner.

Look, I don't want to be too much of a bummer about this book. I mean, any writer who lists John Darnielle as an influence can't help but be headed in the right direction. I did enjoy reading Doomed to Fail despite my criticisms, and I especially appreciated learning a little more about bands that I'd either only heard about, or didn't know much of. The faults of the work are faults of enthusiasm rather than carelessness, it appears, and these are forgivable when it's remembered that we are dealing with a deeply tribal, deeply personal area of interest.

For all Anselmi's misses, the hit here is that he's upfront and unabashed about his love for this heavy, dark music, with all its hopelessness and all its emotion. That counts.

(Also, I ended up with a playlist of some 2000 songs made up of albums I either want to hear for the first time or needed to hear again after coming across them in the text – so in terms of prompting a connection with the real subject of the work, the music, that's a Good Thing.)

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A typical survey of musical genre sacrifices depth for breadth, while a memoir in music is often necessarily narrow in scope. Anselmi's exploration of doom metal and its bizarre children utilizes the best of both worlds, combining an academic's knowledge of his topic with a lifetime fan and musician's enthusiasm, inclinations, and subjectivity. Pithy and personal, Doomed to Fail presents a deep dive into a topic that, despite originating in sonicly subterranean country, never feels leaden or opaque. It's impossible to include every band in a book like this, especially given metal fans' love of hairsplitting genre debates, and Anselmi's goals are less a complete catalogue than a portrait of what drives musicians and listeners toward doom. Willing to look ugliness in the face and question which accepted aspects of extreme music have outlived their origins, equally willing to expound the thrill and beauty found in unexpected sounds, Doomed to Fail is a great addition to music-lovers' bookshelves.

[Mr. D · Rating 4 out of 5]

A history of doom metal, sludge metal and post metal written by someone with a clear passion for the music he covers.

[Richard Haynes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about the various metal bands with history and artists bios. The descriptive accounts of the music is the best I have ever read. Good book but only if you are a fan of heavy metal.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this! 5 stars and best reads pile.

[Mark Rzeszutek · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book that in my opinion could have been just as good if it were two-thirds the length. Here's what I mean by that. The first half of this book lives up to its title - or more precisely, its subtitle - in exemplary fashion. Anselmi is a skilled writer who gives us a comprehensive overview of the origins and early history of doom-specific heavy metal. Just as importantly, he avoids being long-winded.

As the book goes on, the chapters fall into a regular pattern: he discusses a band or a handful of closely-related bands, walks you through their discography and offers his interpretations and opinions of the music. As another reviewer noted, this can get a bit repetitive. When you're focusing on a very particular topic, there are only so many different combinations of adjectives and analogies you can use to describe what is basically the same thing over and over again. (A familiar challenge, since I spent a few years reviewing albums for a website.) There are a sporadic few instances where Anselmi's reach for eloquent imagery comes a little close to the kind of writing I expect from Ian Winwood - an author whose writing I can't stand - but these are few and far between and, other than noticing them while I was in the middle of reading, they don't lessen my enjoyment of the book.

As far as the content goes, I have no quibble with anything covered up through the Eyehategod and Kirk Windstein chapter, which is just over halfway through. Anselmi does a great job of singling out bands who had a formative influence in creating the genre and later bands who truly expanded or moved it forward. The back half of the book makes a really noticeable transition into essentially a tour of Anselmi's personal taste. There's nothing wrong about that per se - I too am a fan of a lot of the groups covered - but I am saying that it's a very evident changeover.

Anselmi acknowledges in the text that it's inevitable that some readers will wish that some of their own favorite bands had been covered. The paradox is that the book's target audience is also an audience who are already likely to know almost everything contained within. In a case like this, we're reading to share in a celebration and appreciation of something we already know and love. I'm no different, so I'll make an effort to speak only in a general sense here. I personally would have liked the book to spend proportionally a bit more time on the 80s era and a little bit less on bands whose heyday was in the 2000s and 2010s. This isn't merely because I like 80s bands more - in a lot of cases, I don't! It's because I think that doing so would have helped the book live up to its subtitle even more precisely than it does. Note that I don't mean that I think the book should be expanded to twice its length or anything - one of its strengths is its concise page count, which helps makes it accessible. Keeping things concise can be a challenge - hell, even this review I'm writing right now came out a lot longer than I thought it would when I started typing. So if you read this far into a book review, thanks, and I hope you enjoy Anselmi's book even more.

[Fastnbulbous · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my recent review of JR Moores’ Electric Wizards: A Tapestry of Heavy Music, 1968 to the Present, I noted that the entertaining but frustrating book took a quirky approach to covering heavy music. Rather than giving a linear history, Moores jumped around time, space and genres to form a kind of outsider art patchwork quilt view of heavy music, one that had a DOOM sized hole in it. It seemed crazy to avoid nearly all heavy metal, but to be fair, most metal has been well covered, and as of February 2020, doom metal, sludge metal and post-metal were finally properly covered by J. J. Anselmi. Perhaps Moores removed some chapters as he was working on Electric Wizards, when Anselmi’s book came out, to avoid overlap, though there was a little of that with the Melvins and a couple others.

As recently as 2019, I was amazed by the fact that there was no book about doom, and somewhat tempted to write a doom book myself. I figured there had to be someone a bit older who had at least covered the scene in the 80s who was working on something. Anselmi may have been born in 1985, but he wasn’t born too late to do a great job, even though his passion and firsthand experience really shined best in covering sludge and post-metal from the 2000s. There is still certainly room for separate books focusing solely on each of the three subgenres covered here, Anselmi gives a pretty good prehistory starting with Ma Rainey and Robert Johnson. He even provides handy playlists that you can listen to along the way. And thankfully he touches on most of the important psychedelic and proto-doom bands like Coven, Pentagram, Wicked Lady, Iron Claw, Dust, etc. And of course the big four of the original doomsters, Pagan Altar, The Obsessed, Saint Vitus and Trouble (five if you include NWOBHM associated Witchfinder General, which he does touch on).

Where a dedicated book on doom could fill in some gaps, however, is where Anselmi jumps from Paradise Lost and Cathedral to Sleep, Acid King, Goatsnake, and YOB. There’s definitely a lot more that could be covered there, including Dream Death, Revelation, Count Raven, Solitude Aeturnus, Internal Void, Lost Breed, Electric Wizard (!), Iron Man, Penance, Solstice and Blood Farmers, not to mention the pretty vast funeral doom subgenre, and newer bands like Reverend Bizarre, Lord Vicar, Pale Divine, Krux, Orchid, Magic Circle, Pilgrim, Witch Mountain, Pallbearer and Conan. Bonus points for covering the obscure Winter, however. At the end of the book, he does touch on a pretty random assortment of recent personal favorites that includes Spirit Adrift and (the sadly disbanded) SubRosa, bands that touches on a variety of metal subgenres in addition to doom. 40 Watt Sun, Elder, Blood Ceremony, Royal Thunder, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, Avatarium and Khemmis would also be worth mentioning along those lines.

Sludge metal to me has always kind of been like the redneck cousin — fun to watch stirring up shit at family gatherings, but not someone you want staying in the house for too long. I’ve got time for Flipper, mid-period Black Flag and Melvins, but I can’t say I’ve spent a lot of quality time with Eyehategod, Grief, Crowbar, Noothgrush or Primitive Man. Corrupted though, yes. Anselmi definitely hits his stride, spending more time in showing how the culture and drug scene of the poor parts of New Orleans, for example, and the difficult experience of Hurricane Katrina, informed Eyehategod’s music. I was always a fan of Floor and Torche, and it’s great to see them get a full chapter, alongside related projects from Cavity and Dove.

Post-metal covers a pretty wide range of sounds, which is understandable, given how difficult it is to define and identify. One passage stood out as being pretty astute — “If it’s supposed to reflect the transition of modernism into postmodernism, though, the label should apply to artists that explore metal’s spirit by defamiliarizing it, and presenting it in new forms.” Anselmi applies that principle pretty well, covering the early industrial soundscapes of Godflesh, the experimental home-made instrumentation of Author & Punisher, and the highly influential journey of Neurosis, which began with hardcore punk in 1985, and evolved into atmospheric sludge metal, post-metal, and even ambient post-rock. While bands clearly influenced by Neurosis like ISIS and Sumac get covered, as predicted, Anselmi ignores the European bands, most importantly Italy’s cosmic doom sludge lords Ufomammut, who eventually joined the roster at Neurot.

It would have made more sense for Part 3 to start with drone pioneers Earth, but at least they get ample coverage here, sharing the chapter with Sunn 0))). The rest of the bands covered don’t seem to really fit, with the noise rock Harvey Milk, post-hardcore The Body, and goth/ethereal/darkwave Chelsea Wolfe. All great artists, and I suppose an example of the expansive artistic grounds doom, sludge and post-metal has spawned. Big Brave kind of encapsulates that range too, and they basically conclude the book.

One additional chapter that talked about the influence of doom/sludge/post-metal on mainstream music and culture might have been interesting. While bands like Messa and Blackwater Holylight sound like they could potentially crossover, of course it hasn’t really happened. A bit more on the critical radar are women like Zola Jesus, Emma Ruth Rundle, Anna von Hausswolff, Lingua Ignota, Spellling and Circuit des Yeux, Its influence can arguably be heard in some of Billie Eilish’s music.

[Barış · Rating 4 out of 5]

In "Doomed to Fail," J.J. Anselmi provides us with a detailed examination of the doom metal genre's musicians, background, and cultural significance through many gripping stories/details that capture the genre's core. Doom metal is a genre that is closely linked to themes of despair and misery. Anselmi's evocative prose transports people like me aka old doomers to the hazy depths of the scene, highlighting the struggles that characterize belonging to this musical group. Anselmi embraces traits and portrays them as crucial elements of the genre's underground mentality.

One of the most striking elements of Anselmi’s work is his ability to blend personal anecdotes with a historical overview of doom metal. He deftly navigates the timelines of seminal bands, weaving stories that highlight both the triumphs and failures witnessed in the genre's evolution. The author’s passion for metal music is visible; his love for the raw emotional power that doom metal conveys resonates throughout the pages. It is a worthwhile read for metal fans due to the insights provided into sludge, doom and even post-metal subgenres and the examination of known and lesser-known bands along with the godfathers (aka Black Sabbath, Napalm Death.)

This is ultimately a celebration of the doom metal community's persistence. Anselmi's exploration of the challenges that influence the music and its listeners strikes a deep chord, encouraging a sense of camaraderie. This book promises to provide information and stimulate a sense of bittersweet nostalgia for the era and for those who are deeply involved in the scene. Anselmi -like all of us - boomers, finds beauty in every melancholy note and gloomy lyric, reminding us that despite failure, there is a deep sense of connection and purpose: There is no good end even if you believe in God.

But at least we knew it.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reads like a long rabbit hole through the doom and sludge content on Wikipedia and YouTube. And by that I mean it’s mostly a compendium of band facts, quotes from secondary sources, band drama, and music nerd references to lineup changes. The book spends too much time tangled up in unnecessary metaphors (e.g., the long winded explanation of the connection between Ents and Yob), forcing random events or geography into a band’s origins (e.g., The Golden State Killer and Chelsea Wolfe), and trying to concoct verbal explanations of music (“Roeder molds his tribal drub into a circular groove that causes further reversion to the lizard brain.” Huh?) There’s also a lot of references to Hessians and yetis. These all take up the space for what I was hoping to get: some kind of original thesis or a through line that connects the disparate sounds and makes sense of the genres. The hackneyed idea that it’s called doom because they’re “doomed” doesn’t cut it. And because so much of the book is lowest-hanging-fruit of the research pile (Facebook posts), fans of the genre should know much of this already. I agree with other reviewers that the breakdown of Sabbath is very good, and I appreciated the deeper dive on the various NoLa sludge legends, but before I even got halfway I started to skip-read, mostly checking to see what bands I’d never heard of before. And of course I have to be that guy and say a favorite band the author left out: Conan!!

[Benjamin Kahn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I almost stopped reading this book right near the beginning. When Anselmi starts to go back to the beginning of rock music, back to the blues, I thought "OMG, I've been down this road." I convinced myself to stick with it through the blues musicians, through the pre-heavy metal hard rock acts, through Black Sabbath. I managed to get to page 144, and was reading about Yob, and then paused and said "Is he going to talk about Electric Wizard?" I flipped forward and found out, no, he wasn't. Despite the fact that Lee Dorrian in his chapter talked about how Electric Wizard changed Doom and how important they are, Anselmi decided not to bother talking about them.

I could see if this was only about obscure doom bands. He talked about several bands that just put out one album. But it wasn't. He covered Trouble, all of Scott Weinrich's band, Candlemass, etc. He spend several time and energy arguing that Black Sabbath was influenced by Coven, despite the fact that they claim they were. It was important that he make that point, but he wasn't going to talk about Electric Wizard?

So I quit reading. Any book on doom metal that ignores EW isn't worth the reading.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was training at the Central Library Branch in Brooklyn. To kill some time I went to the music section. I found this book.

I was pleasantly surprised with how well written this book is. And that unlike Lords of Chaos the actual focus is doom metal, sludge, and post-metal.

As most of you already know my favorite genres are death metal and grindcore. Obviously, my favorite portion of this book was the death doom and funeral doom part. Katatonia is one of my favorite bands. Reading how they started was a trip for me. Because it confirmed what my ears always heard. Katatonia is a love letter to Paradise Lost, Iron Maiden, and post punk. Jonas was influenced by Nick Holmes from Paradise Lost. And Nick Holmes was influenced by Andrew from Sisters of Mercy.

The rest of the information I read was really cool to read about even if I don't like stoner doom, most sludge, and post metal. I like reading what musicians where thinking or going through when they wrote their music.

I wish they talked more about Baroness and Thergothon. There was no mention of Disembowelment either. But that's okay.

If you're nerdy or love reading about different music genres I recommend this book.

[D'Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love metal, but I don’t love a lot of the metal I read about in this book. I checked out the artists as Anselmi mentioned them, and while I won’t be going back for a second listen in most cases, I loved getting this guided tour through the world of doom. Anselmi’s knowledge of this subject is expansive and he’s damn good writer. At one point he writes that a band’s music is “like a plastic bag put over the face of joy.” And another as “a chemical noise compound that works as a paint thinner for happiness” (which as someone recently diagnosed with tinnitus, I feel like I understand far too well).

That’s not too say I don’t like any of the music mentioned in the book. I love like Black Sabbath, the grandfathers of doom. I also dig Bell Witch and Baroness for example. And I’d never heard of King Woman before reading this book, but have been listening to their album Created in the Image of Suffering on repeat for days.

Even if you don’t typically enjoy music that feels like punishment, Anselmi will make you understand why some people do. \m/

[Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written with passion and enthusiasm, this study of the most significant bands in the movements of doom, sludge and post-metal music is an instant essential for anyone who’s into these extreme genres. Anselmi (who plays in a rather good sludge band himself) begins with doom metal’s forefathers Black Sabbath as well as some other lesser known heavy bands from the 70s like Blue Cheer and Pentagram. He goes all the way through these genres’ most important groups, from Melvins to Godflesh to Sunn O))) and everything in between, with mentions of some lesser known entries along the way. Anselmi’s spirited analyses of dozens of albums make excellent reading, and his interviews reveal some surprising facts about this movement.

[Alejo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally!! Heavy Metal's underdog or one of its most underrated genres got a book telling its history, and in three parts that take account of the more traditional and extreme variants like Epic Doom and Funeral Doom, the punkier/HC Sludge Metal sound, and the vanguardist Post Metal. The book is still very band to band, but you're able to take context out of it and have a broad picture. The only hangup is that the author is not a very good writer, and it's sometimes difficult to follow him in his ramblings, and also if you're sensitive with the current zeitgeist of authors high on their pedestals about their personal opinions and pushing them as if the readers can't build their own (even if they agree), you might find it cringy.

Highly recommended

[Mike N. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to stop about halfway through. I can deal with little moments of the Authors own personal thoughts and feelings, but man did it take a turn once i got to the Eyehategod section. Here i am just wanting to read about the history of Doom metal, and the author decides to go on a couple page rant about how racist and appropriating some of the shit EHG did was. Like, i dont care. I dont care about Quentin Tarantino using the N Word in Pulp Fiction, its a movie. Why is that paragraph in this book on doom metal? Its got to a silly point, and i would have kept reading if it had slowed down after a sentence or two. But nope.

Book was decent until that point, JJ just had to let his own personal shit get in the way of a history.

[Marinus Olivier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doom! Doom! Doom!

Ever since Messiah Marcolin asked the crowd: " Are you ready to do some room dancing!!!? ", I was fascinated by this genre. I loved this very, very informative book. The author's total and unconditional love for Doom clearly shines through. All Doom Heads, get your hands on this and be prepared to cheat on your sleep, family and jobs to finish it as soon as possible. Enjoy!!!

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author goes off on some weird side bits. Definitely didn’t need half a page on Lord Of The Rings characters, or how dumpy Fresno is (a city which no band mentioned in this book is from). But when he sticks to the subject and doesn’t overdo the hyperbole, it can be pretty good. A little on the dull side, though.

[Phil Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed it.

[Ryan Laferney · Rating 3 out of 5]

A history of doom metal, sludge metal and post metal written by a passionate fan (and musician) of extreme metal. It ends sort of abruptly but it's an enjoyable survey of doom.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh

This book reads like a intern did a album review for one of those cheesy rock mags from the 80s.

[jule · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good and in-depth history of this gloomy metal subgenre. Lots of track naming so it's best to listen to the bands mentioned while you're reading the book.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not for me.

[Mark Pidgeon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book felt like spending ten hours with friends gushing about the metal bands you love. Easy to digest chapters and in depth analysis make this just read for metal/music lovers

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun!

[Dylan Stephenson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a good read. One of the hardest books on metal to get though for me.