In an unprecedented scandal that has rocked the Doom Metal community to its very core, up-and-coming band Brief Abyss is facing severe backlash for their audacious decision to release a song that clocks in at a mere 2 minutes and 45 seconds.
The track in question, titled “Ephemeral Descent,” was unveiled last week as part of the band’s debut EP Shadows Fade Quickly. Within hours of its release, doom metal forums, social media, and niche cassette tape trading groups erupted in outrage, accusing the band of betraying the genre’s sacred tenets.
“This is an affront to everything doom metal stands for,” lamented one commenter on the popular subreddit r/DoomMetal4ever. “Doom metal is about immersing yourself in the eternal void. How can I do that in less time than it takes to boil an egg?”
Fans who had once praised the band for their “monolithic riffs” and “plodding dirges” were quick to turn on them. Some accused Brief Abyss of “selling out” and pandering to mainstream listeners who lack the patience for 12-minute intros comprised exclusively of single guitar notes reverberating into oblivion. Others labeled the song’s runtime as “far too peppy” to qualify as true doom.
Veteran doom metal vocalist Morbid Magnus of Funereal Depths weighed in on the controversy in a heated Instagram live rant. “When I started in this scene, the minimum song length was basically 8 minutes. And that’s just the intro. These so-called musicians are spitting in the face of doom ancestors like Saint Vitus, Candlemass, and Reverend Bizarre. You can’t call it doom if I can listen to it while microwaving a Hot Pocket.”
Despite the outrage, the band has defended their creative choices. In a statement released on their Bandcamp page, they explained, “The brevity of ‘Ephemeral Descent’ was meant to reflect the fleeting nature of existence and the futility of attempting to grasp the infinite. Time itself is a meaningless construct, so why does the length of a song matter?”
But the apology fell on deaf ears. Reports have surfaced of fans burning Brief Abyss merchandise in protest, and several independent record stores have pulled the band’s EP from their shelves. A particularly zealous group of doom purists has even started a petition demanding that Brief Abyss publicly re-record the song with a proper runtime of “at least 12 minutes,” including a 6-minute drone interlude and two tempo changes that feel “glacial.”
Musicologist Dr. Lydia Cimmerian, an expert in extreme subgenres, believes the controversy highlights a deeper issue within the doom metal scene. “This isn’t just about song length; it’s about identity and tradition. Doom fans take pride in their music’s ability to test the boundaries of time and patience. To them, anything short of an epic journey feels like a betrayal.”
As for Brief Abyss, the band has canceled their upcoming tour and announced plans to retreat into a remote cabin “to reconnect with the crushing despair that inspired our music in the first place.” Rumors suggest their next album will feature a single track—tentatively titled “Endless Echo”—that spans 79 minutes and will be released exclusively on wax cylinder.
“We’ve learned our lesson,” the band’s bassist, Abyssian Moan, said in a brief statement. “Doom is eternal, and so are its songs. Never again will we bow to the ephemeral trends of brevity. This time, we’ll make them wait.”
