Hangman's Chair
Hangman's Chair were a French doom metal band formed in Essonne in 2005. The final lineup consisted of vocalist and guitarist Cédric Toufouti, guitarist Julien Chanut, bassist Clément Hanvic and drummer Mehdi Birouk Thépegnier.
With roots in the hardcore punk scene and after participating in several local bands, Chanut, Thépegnier and Sid-Ahmed Azzouni formed Hangman's Chair. The band's debut album, (A Lament for...) The Addicts, released in 2007, featured Kéo Nackphouminhcode: lao promoted to code: lo on vocals. After Nackphouminhcode: lao promoted to code: lo 's departure and the band's reconfiguration, they released Leaving Paris in 2010. Azzouni died that year. Both albums blended doom, stoner and sludge metal.
With a stable lineup in place, Hangman's Chair launched a trilogy, beginning with the 2012 album Hope /// Dope /// Rope, when they found a musical identity and worked to dissociate from the stoner and sludge metal designations. This Is Not Supposed To Be Positive, released in 2015, marked the introduction of coldwave synths and gothic melodies into their doom metal. Their fifth album, Banlieue Triste (2018), showcased pronounced reverb and chorus effects and contained the song "Naive". Hangman's Chair have been praised for blending doom metal and post-punk atmospherics, one of the band's main influences. They then signed with Spinefarm Records for releases in all territories outside France; they also benefited from media exposure in the country.
Hangman's Chair left Spinefarm and signed with Nuclear Blast Records in 2021. The following year saw the release of A Loner, which was characterised by more melodies, introspection, and atmospheric and gothic sounds. The album, which spawned the songs "Who Wants To Die Old" and "Cold & Distant", was the first of a new trilogy. 2025's Saddiction continued where A Loner had left off, blending their doom metal with gothic, coldwave, while also integrating shoegaze, post-rock and various other musical styles, and spawned "2 am Thoughts" and "Kowloon Lights". The band's themes are generally dark and gloomy, set amidst mysterious, "claustrophobic" urban landscapes, with a gradual transition towards a clean singing voice throughout their discography. Hangman's Chair suspended their activities in November 2025 for an indefinite period.
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