Affiliation:
1. 0000000419368729Columbia University
Abstract
Mirror Reaper, by the funeral doom metal band Bell Witch, is an immense 83-minute composition in which tonal organization plays an essential role in enhancing and creating meaning. Little analytical attention has been paid to doom metal; armed with a flexible conception of theories
of tonal harmony and my full transcription of the album, I show that slow, repetitive music and rich engagement with musical details are not mutually exclusive. I present an analysis in which the tonal drama centres around slowly shifting bass support for a persistent melody F natural. At
first, this F appears as a dissonant ninth over an E♭, then as a hollow fifth above a B♭ and finally as a consonant major third above D♭. I understand this progression as a sonic analogue for the grieving process that, according to interviews with the band, is the album’s
main focus.
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