The Harbinger of D.O.O.M. Turns Five!

The Harbinger of D.O.O.M. blog celebrates its fifth anniversary this weekend! It feels as if it were just yesterday that I first posted on September 19^th, 2020. I started the blog as a way to connect with other doom and metal aficionados and share my thoughts on music during the lonely pandemic months and it blossomed into this outlet for all things music (and some of my fiction writing as well). Before too long, I had bands, labels, and PR firms sending me music on a weekly basis. I’m not a musician and have no background in music other than my love of it for literally all my life since I first heard KISS at the tender age of five circa 1979. What I do is give my Distinct Opinions On Music (that’s the name of the blog, isn’t it?) going more by feeling and what speaks to me rather than doing elaborate analyses of the songs and music. The blog has evolved and gone through different iterations over the years. I Keep It Super Simple these days (see what I did there?) focusing mostly on one single magazine-type article per month giving my thoughts on my Top Five picks of the month. It might change yet again in the near future, who knows, but for now, I think it’s a good, concise formula for the blog. One stop every month and you get everything you need.

I’m very thankful for the hordes of bands, labels, and PR firms that continue to email me dozens of EPs and LPs every week. I do my best to pick a little from everyone and from most genres I enjoy listening to. I’d like to reiterate that I’m a bit picky in the type of music I review. I’m an old fart and I don’t like overly aggressive music. I’m more of an old school, traditional metal kind of guy. I absolutely will not review anything that falls under the extreme/death/black metal umbrella. That kind of music isn’t my cup of tea. At all. Apart from that, I dig all kinds of music, from hard rock to goth to doom to heavy psych. If it’s a good record, I’ll listen to it.

Here’s to many more years of the Harbinger of D.O.O.M. blog and hopefully my readers and metal fans get a kick out of reading my posts as much as I have fun writing them. I’m no longer on Twitter but if you wanna connect, give me a follow on Bluesky: @alandraven.bsky.social I’ll see you next week for this month’s edition of the Harbinger’s Killer Picks. Long Live the Harbinger of D.O.O.M.!