So last night, one of my chums wrote me an email asking what doom metal is and who are its most notable practitioners. That's like asking a NorCal hippie swine what reefers are and what are the best types. So, I thought I'd share the result with you Latewires. Also, c'mon and chime in if you've got some wizardy insight. Freshman remedial doom academy is in session!
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DOOM 093 - 3 credit hours
Doom metal is a genre defined by ponderously slow tempo, low despairing tones, and a dire atmosphere. In doom metal, virtuosity is of low importance compared to the ability to send chills into the listener. Black Sabbath are generally credited with founding the genre. The lyrics in doom metal (as you may have guessed) are usually cartoonish verse concerning the end of the world, the complete absence of hope, depression, profound abandonment, war, the occult, demonic topics, drug abuse (cannabis in particular), along with Dracula, goblins, witches, barbarians, and other filmic monsters.
The most significant practitioners of doom metal are :
1) Electric Wizard : paradoxically the most important and most cartoonish of the post-Sabbath doom bands. Their "Dopethrone" is flawless and the ultimate touchstone of modern doom metal.
3) St. Vitus : Genius, kickstarted the modern doom movement.
5) Sleep : The most prominent and wonderful figures in "stoner doom"
5) Goatsnake : Catchy popular doom
6) Trouble : Influential Christian doom from the '80s
7) Celtic Frost / Triptykon : Avant-garde bizarre doom metal
Candlemass : Unintentionally hilarious but undeniably accomplished epic opera doom
9) Corrupted and Boris : both great Japanese experimental doom bands
10) Sunn0))) and Earth : the endless drone doom, slow beyond belief
11) Cathedral and Pentagram : more classic early doom
Newer bands I like include the most excellent Witchsorrow, Acid Witch, and Salome. (19,815)
The Mac Pro (not to be confused with the similarly-named "Macbook Pro") is probably the one Apple product that you haven't heard of, as they haven't released a commercial overhyping it in about four years.
Like the Macbook Pro is supposedly just a Macbook with better specs, the Mac Pro is supposed to be an Apple desktop with better upgradability and specs than the Mac Mini or iMac. In those respects, the Mac Pro is still better. However, Apple has been steadily reducing the frequency at which it updates the Mac Pro, which has lead the products current irrelevance.
Unfortunately, even as the Mac Pros on the shelves age, their price tag does not. The current configuration is over 450 days old and has the same price tag as the day it was released onto the market (which was still hefty even then).
It's my contention that the reason Apple is having a hard time keeping the Mac Pro a decent product is because they've made it something that it shouldn't be: A custom form-factor albatross that nobody buys. This is not a Mac Mini, or an iMac. Nor is it a f**king cube. It's a bulky PC workstation that's supposed to have excellent price/performance in exchange for desk real estate. Instead, Apple's insistance of form over function has resulted in neglect of the line and has made it into a sleek-looking overpriced dinosaur.
The Mac Pro started out as a computer that was CHEAPER than a homebuilt alternative with the same specs. That's why I bought one. Todays Mac Pro is an overpriced over-customized rip-off that even Dell and HP can trounce on price/performance.
The following is something I trolled on a mac fanboy forum... for some reason they agreed:
Once you realize--I mean really realize--that a computer is just a bunch of parts, most of which are not special in any way (and are usually similar in quality), you really get annoyed with brand loyalty.
The difference between the Mac Pro and all other Macs is JUST that it's the only Mac that ignores (or should ignore) form factor.
You pay extra for the portability of the Laptops and the desk-space economization of the Mac Mini or the iMac. However, for the Mac Pro, the only distinguishing characteristic should be PRICE.
Mac Pros use (or should use) STANDARD FORM FACTOR parts, and therefore should be the LOWEST PRICE/PERFORMANCE ratio of the macs, not the highest. They are easy to assemble and use STANDARD parts.
The iMac/Mac Mini have an excuse for being expensive (even though they're not): they use extremely customized parts to fit into their small form factor. The Mac Pro does not. Economics of scale dictate the Mac Pro should be updated more frequently and should be of a higher value (ignoring aesthetics).
IMO, the fact that the Mac Pro isn't being updated and is still using old parts (and thus a worse value) is due to Apples over-customization of the motherboard and case components.
The "New" Mac Pro should have as few custom parts as possible. They should use inexpensive, mass-produced yet high quality components that are already on the market (or at least as much of them as possible). No more gigantic grey case fans, just use a standard 120MM. No more stupid aluminum cages that make it a bitch to swap out the CPU, just an empty box with the mobo screwed to the side-wall and case fans in the back. No more ridiculous [UNRELIABLE] PSU with no label on it, just cut a deal with Thermaltake for an all black 1.5KWatt monster.
Take a standard high-end Intel motherboard, tack on some EFI and design the case around it. Duct tape the thing together and sell it at a reasonable price. You could even stuff it inside a brushed aluminum case with an apple sticker on the side and call it good.
The hilarious part that fanboys don't get is: Apple's parts are lower quality than the consumer computer component market (like stuff out of newegg) that sells for a fraction of the cost. Apple uses SH*T hard drives (Maxtor/hitachi) and SH*T RAM. They use THE WORST DVD burners (Sony). Their video cards are buggy/crappy (Radeon 2600) and outdated. Even their "custom" looking components have mass failure like their PSUs. And by the way, they charge more for it.
It's not entirely their fault. Apple's painted themselves into a corner by making these "sleek" formfactors that require custom parts. The more customized the parts, the smaller the scale of fabrication, and therefore the higher the price to produce and to develop (per unit). It also costs more to engineer (or re-engineer, as they often do), on top of re-certifying everything at every step through the FCC. Their custom cases and PSUs have to be run through the regulators with practically each new revision. I'm suggesting they abandon that model for the Mac Pro and just make an "unsexy" 'PC-style' high-quality, high-value box. It's what pro-sumers really want (high-power/quality, low price), abandons the "Sleekness" that is really extraneous to professionals, and has very little cost to create new revisions. (48,888)
Candlemass : Unintentionally hilarious but undeniably accomplished epic opera doom
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Once you realize--I mean 
