Greetings! My name is Thomas Nadelhoffer. I am a professor of philosophy at the College of Charleston. I have been a fan of heavy metal since my teenage years during the 1980s. Back then, I was a die hard fan of punk and thrash metal--a love that hasn't dissipated. Lately, I have been on a Black Sabbath kick. So, I decided to put together a chronology of doom metal (broadly construed) from the blues of the 1920s until today. Given that the blues were a primary influence on Black Sabbath and most of the rock and roll bands, proto-doom bands, and first wave doom bands, I wanted to do my due diligence when it came to cataloguing as many singles and albums by blues guitarists and singers that I could track down. I was also purposely liberal in including bands from the 1960s and 1970s who experimented with the sounds that became not just doom but heavy metal more generally. For an expansive project like this, I wanted to err on the side of inclusivity so that the chronology is as complete as I can make it. There are currently 2,400+ singles, EPs, and LPs included.
Obviously, this list betrays my biases and preferences—e.g., I don't like funeral doom or epic doom while I do like traditional doom, stoner rock, sludge metal, and doom mixed with thrash, punk, hardcore, etc. If you have albums you think should be included in the chronology, feel free to email me at tnadelhoffer@gmail.com. This will remain a work in progress. That said, I hope you find my chronology useful in finding bands that you may not have listened to before. May the doom be with you!
p.s. I have also developed The Chronology of Thrash (1,000+ albums) and The Chronology of Punk (8,000+ albums). So, you might find those of interest as well.