Doom metal

When your legs want to quit, you need music that already gave up

By Rob Gordon

Mile 3, already negotiating with myself. This is where most people grab for some peppy bullshit with handclaps. Not me. This is where I need Black Sabbath.

Here's the thing about doom metal nobody tells you: it's the only genre that meets you exactly where you are when running gets hard. Not some aspirational "you can do it!" garbage. Doom metal says "yeah, this sucks, let's see how deep the suck goes." That riff—slow, heavy, inevitable as your next footfall—it doesn't lie to you. It just keeps grinding forward. Which is exactly what you're doing.

I sold a guy Electric Wizard's "Dopethrone" once. He came back a week later saying he ran his first sub-four-hour marathon listening to stoner doom on repeat. "It stopped being about speed," he said. "It became about inevitability." That's it. That's the whole game. Doom metal for running isn't about BPM matching or some Peloton instructor's idea of motivation. It's about locking into a rhythm so heavy and hypnotic that your brain stops negotiating and your legs just… go.

The playlists here—"PISSEDOFFEDNESS," "THE DRAGON," "PSYCHRUN"—they understand something crucial. When you're three miles in and already bargaining, you don't need faster music. You need heavier music. You need Greenleaf's sludgy grooves or The Heavy Eyes' psychedelic dirges. You need Lowrider reminding you that slow doesn't mean weak.

Dick and Barry think I'm insane. "How do you run to music with a 60 BPM tempo?" Easy. You don't match the tempo. You match the weight. Every step gets the full gravity of that guitar tone, that bass rumble. You're not sprinting. You're *processing*. Mile after mile after mile, letting the doom wash over you until you're not running—you're meditating at eight-minute pace with Tony Iommi as your guide.

This isn't music for your PR attempt. This is music for the run where you're figuring something out.

7 playlists

Top 10 Doom metal Running Songs

These tracks appear across multiple curated doom metal running playlists.

  1. 1. 302 — The Lippies
  2. 2. A Pack Of Wolves — Black Eyes
  3. 3. About A Girl — Nirvana
  4. 4. Attitude — Misfits
  5. 5. Be All, End All — Anthrax
  6. 6. Blast Off — Psychlona
  7. 7. Bring The Noise — Anthrax
  8. 8. Chrome Hammer — High Reeper
  9. 9. Communication Breakdown - 1990 Remaster — Led Zeppelin
  10. 10. Communication Breakdown - Remaster — Led Zeppelin

Frequently Asked Questions

What pace should I run when listening to doom metal?

Look, if you're trying to match stride cadence to Black Sabbath's "Electric Funeral," you're going to be shuffling like a zombie. That's not the point. Doom metal works for steady-state efforts—long runs between 8:30-10:00 pace, recovery runs where you're not racing anyone. The music isn't dictating your footspeed; it's occupying the part of your brain that wants to quit. Let the tempo be glacial. Let your pace be whatever keeps you moving. The heaviness does something else entirely—it turns suffering into atmosphere.

What's the typical BPM range for doom metal running playlists?

Most doom sits between 60-90 BPM, which sounds insane for running until you try it. Sabbath's classic stuff hovers around 80. Greenleaf and Lowrider kick it up to maybe 85-90 when they want to get "uptempo." The Heavy Eyes drift into psychedelic sludge territory—sometimes slower. But here's what matters: you're not counting beats. You're riding the riff. The slow, churning repetition creates this meditative state where miles disappear. It's the opposite of EDM's manic energy. This is trance through weight, not speed.

Which doom metal artists should I start with for running?

Start with Black Sabbath—they invented this whole thing, and tracks like "Into the Void" or "Supernaut" have enough forward motion to keep you honest. Then hit Greenleaf for stoner grooves that are heavy but not punishing. The Heavy Eyes bring psychedelic sprawl—perfect for long Sunday runs when you're in no hurry. Lowrider splits the difference between doom and desert rock. Avoid the funeral doom stuff at first—bands tuning down to like drop-Z, playing one note every thirty seconds. That's for experienced sufferers only.

What type of workouts does doom metal actually work for?

Long runs, absolutely. Recovery runs where you need mental occupation without physical intensity. Tempo runs if you're some kind of masochist who likes locking into a grind—it can work, but you're basically doing a moving meditation at threshold. Do NOT use this for intervals. Do not use this for race day unless your goal is to make your 10K feel like a vision quest. I tried running 400-meter repeats to Electric Wizard once. Once. This is music for endurance, for outlasting, for mile 18 when motivation is a joke and all you have left is momentum.

Why does doom metal work when I'm already feeling heavy and slow?

Because it doesn't gaslight you. Pop music at mile 8 when you're dying feels like someone cheerfully lying to your face. Doom metal meets you in the darkness and says "yeah, it's heavy, let's be heavy together." There's something honest about matching your internal state to the music. You're not trying to fake energy you don't have. You're accepting the weight—literal and metaphorical—and moving through it anyway. That's what Sabbath understood in 1970 and what every sludge band since has confirmed: heavy doesn't mean stopped. Heavy just means *heavy*. And sometimes heavy is exactly what you need.