Windhand was my gateway into this whole world, and I couldn't agree more. The first time I heard their stuff, it just blew my mind in a way I hadn't experienced in probably a decade.

I came into metal from metalcore, and there's no faster way to get yourself banned from the metal subs than posting metalcore, so I feel you in the gatekeeping, too. The doom scene really does pull from all sorts of influences and tends to be pretty accepting of a ton of fringe bands and sounds so you get people that are excited to talk about music instead of just shitting on other people's taste. So you get "doom wop," stoner rock, doom 'n' roll, fairy doom, witch metal, caveman battle doom, and so on.

Have fun exploring it all! There's a ton of good shit out there, and for my money, to this day, nothing hits like that first time hearing "Forest Clouds"