Gothic metal
Encyclopedia
Gothic metal or goth metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music
that combines the aggression of doom metal
with the dark melancholy of gothic rock
. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy metal music. The genre originated during the early 1990s in Europe originally as an outgrowth of doom/death, a fusion of death metal and doom metal. Lyrics are generally melodramatic and mournful with inspiration from gothic fiction
as well as personal experiences.
Pioneers of gothic metal (although the bands themselves never claim the title of gothic-metal) include Paradise Lost
, My Dying Bride
and Anathema
, all from the north of England. Other pioneers from the first half of the 1990s include Type O Negative
from the United States, Tiamat
from Sweden, and The Gathering
from the Netherlands. Norwegian
band Theatre of Tragedy
developed the "beauty and the beast" aesthetic of combining aggressive male vocals with clean female vocals, a contrast that has since been adopted by many gothic metal groups. During the mid-1990s, Moonspell
, Theatres des Vampires
and Cradle of Filth
brought the gothic approach to black metal
. By the end of the decade, a symphonic metal
variant of gothic metal had been developed by Tristania
and Within Temptation
.
In the 21st century, gothic metal has moved towards the mainstream in Europe, particularly in Finland where groups such as Entwine
, HIM, Lullacry
, Poisonblack
and Sentenced
have released hit singles or chart-topping albums. In the US, however, only a few bands such as HIM, Lacuna Coil
, Evanescence
and Cradle of Filth
have found commercial success.
's Gothic
album in 1991. Since then, fans have often been at odds with one another as to "which bands are, or most definitely are not, authentically Goth". Some musicians have disputed the gothic label associated with their bands, including Rozz Williams
of Christian Death
and Andrew Eldritch
of The Sisters of Mercy
. In the gothic metal subgenre, members from such groups as After Forever
, HIM and Nightwish
have similarly downplayed or dismissed the gothic label from their music.
Gothic metal is a varied genre with bands pursuing many different directions, from "slow and crushing variations" to "orchestral and bombastic". The doom metal
background of early pioneers like Anathema
, Paradise Lost
and My Dying Bride
has been taken up by groups like Artrosis
, Ava Inferi
and Draconian
. The black metal
approach of Cradle of Filth
, Theatres des Vampires
and early Moonspell
can be found in such subsequent bands as Graveworm
, Drastique
and Samsas Traum
while the symphonic metal
approach of Tristania
and Within Temptation
can be found in other groups like Epica
, Sirenia
and After Forever
. Other variations include the death metal
of Trail of Tears
, the folk metal
of Midnattsol
, the industrial metal
of Deathstars
, Gothminister
and Neon Synthesis and the alternative metal
of Katatonia
, Lacuna Coil
, and Evanescence
There is also a diverse range of vocal styles in gothic metal. Male singers in the genre range from the guttural growls and black metal shrieks of Dani Filth
and Morten Veland
to the clean baritone vocals of Østen Bergøy and the bass range of Peter Steele
. For the female singers, the different vocal styles includes the screams and growls of Cadaveria
, the "poppy" vocals of Tanja Lainio from Lullacry
and the operatic soprano style of Vibeke Stene
from Tristania
. There are more female singers in gothic metal than there are in any other heavy metal subgenres but female vocals are neither necessary nor synonymous with the genre. Liv Kristine of Theatre of Tragedy
and Leaves' Eyes
notes that the gothic tag is often misinterpreted and points out that "not every band with female vocals is a gothic band". The genre is also known to attract more female fans relative to other subgenres of heavy metal music.
has been noted as "dripping with treachery and pain" from a "lyrical fascination with deceit and transgressions of every variety". Lyrics that focus on suicide and the meaninglessness of life can be found in Anathema
while Paradise Lost
too has "never lost their depressive edge".
Gothic fiction
, a literary genre that blends horror
and romance
, has been a source of inspiration for the lyrics of many gothic metal bands like Cadaveria
, Cradle of Filth
, Moonspell
, Theatres des Vampires
and Xandria
. Critic Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic identifies drama and mournful beauty as requisite elements of the genre. For My Dying Bride
, the subjects of "death and misery and lost love and romance" has been approached repeatedly from different angles. The common gothic theme of lost love is a subject that has been tackled by such gothic metal bands as Theatre of Tragedy
and Leaves' Eyes
.
Lyrics based on personal experiences is another common feature of many gothic metal bands such as Anathema
, Elis
, Tiamat
, Midnattsol
and The Old Dead Tree
. Graveworm
moved away from fantasy stories in favor of personal lyrics after finding them more suitable for their style of music. The lyrics of fellow Italians Lacuna Coil
also do not feature any "fantasy stuff or something that you cannot find in reality" as their co-vocalist Cristina Scabbia
finds it desirable that people can relate themselves to her band's lyrics. Similarly, the band Lullacry
features lyrics on the subjects of "love, hate, passion and pain" because a person "can easily connect to a song" with lyrics "about human relationships".
Heavy metal music is perceived by many members of the goth subculture
as the "crass, crude macho antithesis of everything that their music
represents". In contrast to the "softer" and "more feminine" character of gothic music, the heavy metal genre is typically associated with aggression, sexism and masculinity. Despite this difference, "a few bold souls have identified Black Sabbath
’s eponymous 1970 debut album
as the first ever 'Goth-rock' record". The author Gavin Baddeley
notes that the title track of the album "describes a satanic rite, complete with driving-rain and tolling bell sound effects, while the cover focuses on a black-cloaked, spectral-looking girl in a graveyard, shot through a sickly pale ochre filter". Other commentators have described Black Sabbath as the "absolute prototype gothic heavies" and observed that by separating the band's music "from their heavy metallic connotations", one "could cull a killer Goth album from their first five LP's, with every future reference point and requirement intact".
The "vaguely medieval, minor-key sounds" of Rainbow
, Dio
and Judas Priest
has also been described as "gothic" prior to "the emergence of goth rock as a post-punk
genre". The bands Blue Öyster Cult
and Iron Maiden
have featured some gothic lyrics in their music on songs such as "(Don't Fear) The Reaper
" and "Phantom of the Opera
". Deep Purple's song "Stormbringer" has been called a "goth metal treasure". The Danish
metal band Mercyful Fate
had also demonstrated "a Gothic obsession with evil and the occult". Frontman King Diamond
continued exploring his interest in gothic storytelling after establishing a solo career under his own moniker, issuing "a series of concept albums which told Gothic horror tales with sound effects and song". During the 1980s, the former Misfits frontman Glenn Danzig
also "occupied the no man's land between Goth and heavy metal". With the dissolution of his second band Samhain
in 1988 and the creation of his own eponymous act
, Danzig went on to combine heavy metal riffs with "a heavily romanticized, brooding, gothic sensibility".
The Swiss group Celtic Frost
was another precursor to gothic metal, translating the influence they drew from gothic rock
acts Bauhaus
and Siouxsie and the Banshees into their own albums. The band's "radical fusion of violent black metal
and elements of classical music
" was dubbed "avant-garde" and had a huge impact "on the evolution of European heavy metal". Christofer Johnsson
of the Therion
cites Celtic Frost's 1987 album Into the Pandemonium
in particular for playing a key role in the development of the "gothic and symphonic wave of bands" in the 1990s, noting further that neither his group Therion nor Paradise Lost
"would have sounded the way we did without Celtic Frost".
had emerged as an offshoot of post-punk
in the 1980s but by the end of that decade, the genre had splintered into different directions with bands such as The Cure
, Mission U.K. and Siouxsie and the Banshees incorporating "more pop and alternative elements" while The Sisters of Mercy
, Fields of the Nephilim
and Christian Death
took on a "heavier, sometimes metal-influenced approach". The Sisters of Mercy was one of the leading goth bands of the 1980s, playing "a slow, gloomy, ponderous hybrid of metal and psychedelia, often incorporating dance beats". The band only released three full length albums with the debut First and Last and Always
released in 1985. Their last album Vision Thing
arrived in 1990 as one of the earliest attempts to mix gothic music with heavy metal. Fields of the Nephilim had also released only three studio albums before their initial dissolution in 1991. They have since reformed, released more albums and been recognized for their influence on the "glut of metal bands" in the early 21st century "that incorporated obvious elements of goth into their sound - especially detected in their appreciation of symphonic and keyboard sounds (as well as their fashion sense)".
According to Allmusic, "goth metal first emerged during the early to mid-'80s, centered around Los Angeles
' so-called 'death-rock
' scene headed by Christian Death". Acclaimed as the "founding fathers of American goth rock", Christian Death went through a major personnel change in 1985 with the departure of the band's leader and founder Rozz Williams
. Guitarist Valor Kand took over the reins and under his leadership, Christian Death subsequently pursued a more metal-oriented direction. In particular, their 1988 album Sex and Drugs and Jesus Christ
has been described by critic Steve Huey as "heavy goth-rock bordering on metal".
As a musical style, gothic metal "truly began in the early 1990s in the north of England" with the three bands Paradise Lost
, My Dying Bride
and Anathema
representing "the core of the movement". They are all also three of the bands that pioneered the death/doom
sub-genre, showing why gothic metal originated from death/doom. All three bands were signed to Peaceville Records
during the early 1990s and have since been known as the "Peaceville Three". They had roots in "frenetically abrasive death metal, but they were also influenced by what Paradise Lost vocalist, Nick Holmes, described as the 'really bleak, dark sound' of Dead Can Dance
".
Paradise Lost was the first to form in 1988 in Halifax, England. Their debut album Lost Paradise was released in 1990 and "helped define the rules of doom/death
metal: grinding, de-tuned anthems of woe topped with death metal-style guttural vocals" while demonstrating that the band was "already reaching for realms unknown to their then-amateurish abilities and latent promise". The band was "evolving at a fast clip" and in the following year, their second "aptly titled album" Gothic
came as "something of a departure for the band's earliest fans". With a "less deliberate, more energetic arrangements", the album featured a "slightly cleaner approach to guitar crunch" and "cautious use of keyboards and even female vocals, which together added atmospheric nuances to the group's ultra-depressive power chords". Gothic was a chart success across Europe, particularly in Germany
, and has since been acclaimed as "one of the most influential albums" in heavy metal music for creating the gothic metal genre. Their 1992 album Shades of God
continued the transition while the follow-up 1993 album Icon
represented "a turning point" for the band with the experimental use of synthesized strings, timpani, piano and angelic female vocals. By the time of 1995's Draconian Times
album, Paradise Lost's music firmly stood "between stark, oppressive goth rock and crunching heavy metal". With these five albums, the band had created "a bold collection of songs that sounded like Black
-era Metallica
played by a group who loved the Sisters Of Mercy". They have since been recognized as the band that "originally laid the gothic seed that other bands have been nicking and reaping in recent years".
Also from Halifax, My Dying Bride
was formed in 1990. An EP Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium
"sparked a lot of interest" upon its release in 1991. Their first full-length release As The Flower Withers
followed shortly after in the same year. The album was critically acclaimed by the press and "turned the Doom genre on its head". They added a violinist to their line-up for their 1993 sophomore effort Turn Loose the Swans
. On this "groundbreaking" album, the group introduced a "much greater element of dark romanticism to their doomy music". Vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe
explains the band's pursuit of this direction:
Their 1995 album The Angel and the Dark River
"marked a shift in the band's strategy, for the first time dropping the death growl
of Stainthorpe in favour of a 'clean' vocal delivery". The rest of the group "followed suit, setting aside any death metal influences, carefully using violins and keyboards to enhance the group's brooding excursions" into "fauna-wilting gothic doom metal". While the album was more experimental, the music was still sorrowful.
Also forming in 1990, the Liverpool
based band Anathema
released a "highly acclaimed" EP The Crestfallen
in 1992. The "crushing emotional doom/death" of this EP remained on their 1993 debut full-length Serenades
, "the most traditional doom-styled album in their catalog". Their juxtaposition of the fragile and ferocious "fostered a keen fan base". Pentecost III
was recorded in 1994 as another EP "that nonetheless ended up long enough to have qualified as a full-length". The year 1995 saw the release of this EP as well as the departure of Darren White. Guitarist Vincent Cavanagh
took over vocal duties for their subsequent album The Silent Enigma
released later in the same year. The album "marked an important turning point in the band's sound" with critics drawing upon comparisons to Pink Floyd
, "bringing new appreciation from a more mainstream band of listeners but also causing a withdrawal of support from hardened Doom fanatics". Like My Dying Bride, this transition involved leaving behind their traditional death metal sound. They continued experimenting with their 1996 album Eternity, "stretching its songs into sorrowful, orchestrated epics" that "quickly proved to be their most original work to date". While Anathema's music has "changed a lot", their "main features remained a heart-rending melancholy and intensity".
In North America, Peter Steele
had formed Type O Negative
in 1990 out of the remnants of his former thrash metal
band Carnivore
. With their debut album Slow, Deep and Hard in 1991, the New York
based outfit pursued a "melodramatic goth rock style" that "encompasses long songs built on simple riffs, theatrical shouting vocals, churchy-sounding organ and vocal-harmony passages, and the odd mechanical noise". The Origin of the Feces
followed in 1992 but it was their third album Bloody Kisses
in 1993 that became their breakthrough album with a "twistedly affectionate send-up of goth rock conventions" and lyrics that "gleefully wallow in goth clichés - sex, death, Christianity, vampires, more sex, and death". The album has since sold nearly a million copies in the United States
, a surprise success that "obliged Goths to take notice" of the group. The trademarks of Type O Negative's music include the use of "downtuned, fuzzy guitars" and a "deep baritone croon" from Peter Steele, an "intimidatingly large, sarcastically self-deprecating original, whose dry, dirty one-liners and morbid machismo challenge those who insist the archetypal Goth is a po-faced androgyne". Type O Negative has since been recognized as a pioneer of the genre. In a review of their 2007 album Dead Again
, critic Greg Prato of Allmusic declared that "before Type O Negative, there was really no such thing as goth metal".
The year 1988 saw not only the formation of Paradise Lost but another early gothic metal pioneer, the Swedish
band Tiamat
. Their debut album Sumerian Cry
arrived in 1990 and featured "slightly above average death metal". Their third album Clouds
was released in 1993 as the band's first turning-point, "starkly reducing speed and heaviness for melody and atmosphere". The album made an impact on the European metal community for its atmospheric doom metal approach "enhanced with keyboards which are never out of place or over-used". The next album Wildhoney
was unveiled in 1994 as an "artistic and commercial breakthrough, fully realizing the sound hinted at on previous releases and eliciting effusive praise in metal circles for its brooding, Gothic atmospherics". The album featured an interplay of contrasts between delicate acoustic guitar, gentle whispering vocals and angelic choruses on the one hand and massive riffs, industrial grind and death metal grunting on the other. On subsequent releases, Tiamat moved further into gothic territory with Johan Edlund "dropping the metal growling in favor of an unearthly croon". The result has seen critics comparing Edlund's vocals to the Sisters of Mercy's Andrew Eldritch
, "alongside musical comparisons to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds". The band has been recognized for producing some of the most "overtly Gothic material" from Scandinavia.
As far back as 1985, Celtic Frost had used female vocals for some songs on their To Mega Therion
album. Paradise Lost began making similar use of female vocals from their very first album Lost Paradise in 1990. Inspired by the use of female vocals on Paradise Lost's second album Gothic, The Gathering
released their debut album Always...
in 1992 with growling vocalist Bart Smits
supported by female singer Marike Groot
. The music on the album was "firmly rooted in the dark, midtempo style of gothic and doom metal". Their second album Almost a Dance
arrived in the following year with new vocalist Niels Duffhues
, "a strange choice for the band". Duffhues' "punk-ish" and "alt-rock" style of singing was widely seen as out of place with the music, a perception that was shared by the band themselves. and the album was "largely written off as a result." The Gathering decided to drop the use of male vocals altogether and instead brought in a lead female vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen
for their third full length Mandylion
, an album that "saw the band adventurously breaking away from the Gothic Doom fare of previous works". The result was considered a "groundbreaking achievement" upon its release in 1995 with critics lavishly describing it as "the perfect pinnacle of gothic metal". The Gathering's "introspective atmosphere owed a creative debt to Dead Can Dance, and established them as a leading band in their native Holland".
The term "beauty and the beast" refers to an aesthetic contrasting "angelic" female vocals with male growls or aggressive singing. Paradise Lost and The Gathering had already made use of this technique on some songs from their earlier albums but it was the Norwegian Theatre of Tragedy
that first released an entire album devoted to this approach with their self-titled debut
in 1995. A second album Velvet Darkness They Fear
arrived in the following year. Theatre of Tragedy's third album Aégis
in 1998 saw the band "venturing into fresh musical territory". The piano was replaced by electronic keyboards while Raymond Rohonyi opted to discard his death growls in favor of a "soft, spoken, sometimes whispering voice". The music was more clean and soft, "stripped of guitar harshness" but with a "near flawless execution" that "prompted many European critics to award Aégis perfect review scores".
Other bands that contrast aggressive male vocals and clean female vocals continued to emerge in the late 1990s. Trail of Tears
had formed in 1994 while Tristania
and The Sins of Thy Beloved
were formed in 1996. All three Norwegian groups released their debut albums in 1998. Tristania stood apart from the others with their use of three distinct vocal styles in the "operatic soprano Vibeke Stene
, clean-singing counter-tenor Østen Bergøy, and harsh, black metal-style shrieker Morten Veland
". Their second album Beyond the Veil
in 1999 made use of a ten members choir and featured violin passages from Pete Johansen of The Sins of Thy Beloved, earning "rave reviews" across Europe. By then, the band had risen to "the top of the goth metal heap" with their "lush, symphonically enhanced" approach. They were "dealt a potentially crippling blow" when singer, guitarist and principal composer Veland left the group to form Sirenia
. Tristania has continued to prosper with subsequent releases and has since been "regarded as one of the world's premiere goth metal bands".
For over a decade, this beauty and the beast aesthetic has flourished with many representatives across the European continent. Cradle of Filth has also been known to make use of this approach through guest female vocalists such as Liv Kristine and Sarah Jezebel Deva
. A few critics have since lament that the approach has been "done to death by countless bands" to the point that it has become something of a cliché in the genre.
Tristania was not the only gothic metal band that brought a symphonic edge to their music. Influenced by the Peaceville trio of Paradise Lost, Anathema and My Dying Bride, the Dutch band Within Temptation
was founded in 1996. A debut album Enter was unveiled in the following year, followed shortly by an EP The Dance
. Both releases made use of the beauty and beast approach delivered by vocalists Sharon den Adel
and Robert Westerholt
. Their second full length Mother Earth
was released in 2000 and dispensed entirely with the death metal vocals, instead "relying solely on den Adel's majestic vocal ability". The album was a commercial success with their lead single "Ice Queen" topping the charts in Belgium and their native Netherlands. Their third album The Silent Force
arrived in 2004 as an "ambitious project featuring a full orchestra and 80-voice choir accompanying the band". The result was another commercial success across Europe and introduced "the world of heavy guitars and female vocals" to "a mainstream audience".
Within Temptation's brand of gothic metal combines "the guitar-driven force of hard rock with the sweep and grandeur of symphonic music". The critic Chad Bowar of About.com
describes their style as "the optimum balance" between "the melody and hooks of mainstream rock, the depth and complexity of classical music and the dark edge of gothic metal". The commercial success of Within Temptation has since resulted in the emergence of a large number of other female-fronted gothic metal bands, particularly in the Netherlands.
Another Dutch band in the symphonic gothic metal strain is After Forever
. Their debut album Prison of Desire
in 2000 was "a courageous, albeit flawed first study into an admittedly daunting undertaking: to wed heavy metal with progressive rock arrangements and classical music orchestration - then top it all of with equal parts gruesome cookie-monster vocals and a fully qualified opera singer". A second album Decipher
followed in 2001 with music that was described by guitarist Sander Gommans
as being in the style of Within Temptation. Founding member, guitarist and vocalist Mark Jansen
departed After Forever only a few months after the release of this album. Jansen would go on to form Epica
, another band that performs a blend of gothic and symphonic metal. A debut album The Phantom Agony
emerged in 2003 with music that combines Jansen's death grunts with the "angelic tones of a classically trained mezzo-soprano named Simone Simons
, over a lush foundation of symphonic power metal
". The music of Epica has been described as combination of "a dark, haunting gothic atmosphere with bombastic and symphonic music". Like Within Temptation and After Forever, Epica has been known to make use of an orchestra. Their 2007 album The Divine Conspiracy
was a chart success in their home country.
This blend of symphonic and gothic metal has also been arrived at from the opposite direction. The band Nightwish
from Finland began as a symphonic power metal act before introducing gothic elements on their 2004 album Once
, particularly on the single "Wish I Had an Angel
". They continued to mix their style of "bombastic, symphonic and cinematic" metal with a gothic atmosphere on their next album Dark Passion Play
in 2007. In the book Rough Guide to Heavy Metal
, Essi Berelian describes Nightwish as "gothic film score metal". The Swedish group Therion
also introduced gothic elements to their brand of symphonic metal on their 2007 album Gothic Kabbalah
.
in 1997, Paradise Lost brought a more commercial and pop-oriented direction to the genre they had helped created but the success of Draconian Times
has not been overcome. Praised by Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic as a "radical but impressive departure", the album drew comparisons to Depeche Mode
with nothing remaining "of their early death/doom metal origins". Subsequent albums "progressively experimented with electronics and pop elements, with the guitars gradually getting pushed further into the background". The result was "an accessible sound and a strong emphasis on catchy choruses". Despite attaining "a huge reputation in Europe, where all of their albums have sold strongly", the group's status as "the progenitors of gothic metal" has been "constantly overlooked, both in their homeland and the US, possibly because of their determination to never make the same record twice".
, a level of success that has attracted accusations of "selling out" by the "black metal faithful".
debuting at number 1 on their native Portuguese charts. They were rewarded with the "Best Portuguese Act" award at the 2006 MTV European Music Awards
, a feat matched by Within Temptation in the following year
with the "Best Dutch & Belgian Act" award. Within Temptation further received recognition as their country's best selling artist at the 2007 World Music Awards
.
The Italian band Lacuna Coil
has also become a "premiere act" of the gothic metal genre. The group employs both a female vocalist in Cristina Scabbia
and a male vocalist in Andrea Ferro, although the group uses less of a 'beauty and the beast' style, with Ferro primarily using clean vocals. Formed in Milan
in 1994, they released a demo tape in 1996 strongly influenced by Paradise Lost and Type O Negative. The band "turned a lot of heads in Italy's ambient/goth scene" with their self-titled EP
in 1998. Their debut album In a Reverie
was released in 1999 with a style that bore "some similarities to contemporaries like the Gathering and Moonspell". Lacuna Coil's music was also "more accessible than many of their peers". A second album Unleashed Memories
arrived in 2001 but it was their third full length Comalies
that became their breakthrough album, "highly praised by the metal world after its release in October 2002". On the strength of Comalies, Lacuna Coil became the most successful artist in the history of their label Century Media Records
as well as the highest selling rock act in their home country Italy. The band has also achieved the distinction of being the first and, as of late 2007, the only European gothic metal band to successfully break into the United States market with radio airplay and impressive album sales. Their highly anticipated fourth album Karmacode
was even more successful, debuting at number 28 on the Billboard charts
, and also debuting on many European music charts. The Comalies and Karmacode albums "reportedly sold nearly 1 million units combined worldwide, a good chunk of that in the States". The band has also performed on the main stage of the American heavy metal festival Ozzfest
. Their latest album Shallow Life
debuted at number 16 on the Billboard charts.
from Arkansas
, United States also found commercial success with the release of their debut album Fallen
. Their style represents a blend of gothic and alternative metal
with critics drawing comparisons to other alternative metal acts like P.O.D.
and Linkin Park
. Further comparisons have since been drawn between Evanescence and gothic metal groups like Within Temptation and Lacuna Coil. Critic Adrien Begrand of PopMatters wryly notes that while Lacuna Coil "had been tirelessly building a fanbase in Europe since the late 1990s with their listener-friendly brand of goth metal", they had been overshadowed by "a bunch of corn-fed kids from Arkansas with a big publicity machine behind them [taking] the very sound the Italian sextet had helped pioneer, and present it to the American suburban goth kids in a much more pop-oriented, dumbed down variation". Cammila Albertson of Allmusic similarly locates Evanescence as one step further from gothic metal, offering the description of the band as "a pop version of an already diluted brand of metal". While Fernando Ribeiro of Moonspell contends that Evanescence is not a metal band, publications such as the New York Times, Rough Guides
, Rolling Stone
and Blender
have nonetheless identified Evanescence as a gothic metal act. Adrian Jackson, former bassist My Dying Bride feels the American group is doing something similar to My Dying Bride music, only in a more commercial direction. Gregor Mackintosh of Paradise Lost notes a generation gap between his group and Evanescence, suggesting that Paradise Lost has only influenced Evanescence indirectly through other acts like Lacuna Coil. The success of Evanescence has been recognized for opening "new grounds" for gothic metal bands to "explore and conquer".
in 2000. The band describes their "Sabbath-meets-Depeche Mode
sound" as Love Metal, the title of their fourth album in 2003. Their subsequent release two years later Dark Light was their breakthrough album in the United States with a debut at number 18 on the Billboard charts, a feat exceeded when their next album Venus Doom
in 2007 made a debut at number 12. Critic Lance Teegarden of PopMatters notes that HIM is not "not the sort of act that conjures up a lukewarm response [as] people either like them or discredit them outright". Vocalist Ville Valo
contends that the reason why so many rock fans dislike his band is because they are afraid to embrace their feminine side.
, Entwine
, For My Pain...
, Lullacry
, Poisonblack
, Sentenced
, and To/Die/For
have all found their singles or albums hitting the top ten of the Finnish charts. Of these band, Sentenced notably formed as far back as 1989 with their early albums in the melodic
and blackened death metal vein. For My Pain... was formed as a supergroup
with members from other prominent bands in Finland including Nightwish
, Embraze
, Eternal Tears of Sorrow
and Reflexion
.
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
that combines the aggression of doom metal
Doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other metal genres...
with the dark melancholy of gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy metal music. The genre originated during the early 1990s in Europe originally as an outgrowth of doom/death, a fusion of death metal and doom metal. Lyrics are generally melodramatic and mournful with inspiration from gothic fiction
Gothic fiction
Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. Gothicism's origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, subtitled "A Gothic Story"...
as well as personal experiences.
Pioneers of gothic metal (although the bands themselves never claim the title of gothic-metal) include Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost (band)
Paradise Lost are a heavy metal band that formed in 1988 in Halifax, England.-History:Their first three full-length albums are examples of the death/doom style, although the latter two incorporated some melodic and gothic elements...
, My Dying Bride
My Dying Bride
My Dying Bride are an English doom metal band formed in 1990. To date, My Dying Bride have released eleven full-length studio albums, three EPs, one demo, one box set, four compilation albums, one live album, and one live CD/DVD release. The band released their tenth studio album, For Lies I Sire,...
and Anathema
Anathema (band)
Anathema are an English band from Liverpool primarily known for their ever evolving sound. Beginning as pioneers of the death/doom metal sub-genre, their later albums have been associated with genres such as alternative rock, progressive rock, art rock, new prog, and post-rock.-History:Anathema...
, all from the north of England. Other pioneers from the first half of the 1990s include Type O Negative
Type O Negative
Type O Negative was a gothic metal band from Brooklyn, New York City. The band also incorporated elements of doom metal and thrash metal. Their dramatic lyrical emphasis on themes of romance, depression, and death resulted in the nickname "The Drab Four"...
from the United States, Tiamat
Tiamat (band)
-Biography:Initially, the band played straightforward black metal under the name Treblinka. After having recorded the album Sumerian Cry in 1989, vocalist/guitarist Johan Edlund and bassist Jörgen Thullberg parted ways with the other two founding members, and subsequently changed the name to Tiamat...
from Sweden, and The Gathering
The Gathering (band)
The Gathering is a Dutch alternative rock band, founded in 1989 by brothers Hans and René Rutten and vocalist Bart Smits in the small city of Oss, North Brabant....
from the Netherlands. Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
band Theatre of Tragedy
Theatre of Tragedy
Theatre of Tragedy was a Norwegian band from Stavanger, active between 1993 and 2010. They are best known for their earlier albums, which provided a great deal of influence to the gothic metal genre.-Biography:...
developed the "beauty and the beast" aesthetic of combining aggressive male vocals with clean female vocals, a contrast that has since been adopted by many gothic metal groups. During the mid-1990s, Moonspell
Moonspell
Moonspell is a Portuguese gothic metal band from Brandoa, Lisbon. Formed in 1992, the group released their first EP Under the Moonspell in 1994, a year before the release of their first album Wolfheart...
, Theatres des Vampires
Theatres des Vampires
Theatres des Vampires is an Italian gothic metal band with strong black metal influences, mostly noted for the predominant theme of vampirism within their lyrics.-History and background:In 1994, Alessandro Nunziati form Theatres des Vampires....
and Cradle of Filth
Cradle of Filth
Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band, formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic black metal, and other extreme metal styles, while their lyrical themes and imagery are heavily...
brought the gothic approach to black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
. By the end of the decade, a symphonic metal
Symphonic metal
Symphonic metal is a term used to describe heavy metal music that has symphonic elements; that is, elements that are either borrowed from classical music or, as with progressive rock music, create a style reminiscent of it, e.g...
variant of gothic metal had been developed by Tristania
Tristania (band)
Tristania is a band from Norway, formed in 1996 by Morten Veland, Einar Moen and Kenneth Olsson. Tristania's music is usually classified as symphonic gothic metal with doom/death metal influences , due to its strong ties with the goth metal's history...
and Within Temptation
Within Temptation
Within Temptation is a Dutch symphonic gothic metal/rock band founded in 1996 by vocalist Sharon den Adel and guitarist Robert Westerholt. Their music is described as symphonic metal, although their earlier material, such as Enter, was gothic metal. In an interview, Den Adel said they fell into a...
.
In the 21st century, gothic metal has moved towards the mainstream in Europe, particularly in Finland where groups such as Entwine
Entwine
Entwine is a Finnish gothic metal band.-Biography:Entwine was originally assembled as a death metal band in 1995 by guitarist and vocalist Tom Mikkola, drummer Aksu Hanttu and bassist Taipale. In 1997 they decided to change Entwine's musical style to gothic metal. Rhythm guitarist and vocalist Panu...
, HIM, Lullacry
Lullacry
Lullacry is a melodic band with gothic metal influences that hails from Helsinki, Finland. The band recorded their first demo in 1998 and in a short time they had enough of a following to safely attempt a full-length album – Sweet Desire – recorded in 1999. This got the attention of Spinefarm...
, Poisonblack
Poisonblack
Poisonblack is a Finnish heavy/gothic metal band led by singer/guitarist Ville Laihiala, known for his vocals with the band Sentenced from 1996 - 2005...
and Sentenced
Sentenced
Sentenced was a Finnish heavy metal band that played melodic death metal in their early years. The band formed in 1989, in the town of Muhos, Finland, and broke up in 2005.-Early years :...
have released hit singles or chart-topping albums. In the US, however, only a few bands such as HIM, Lacuna Coil
Lacuna Coil
Lacuna Coil is an Italian gothic metal band from Milan. Formed in 1994, the group has had two name changes since being previously known as Sleep of Right and Ethereal and was inspired by the combination of gothic imagery and music...
, Evanescence
Evanescence
Evanescence is an American rock band founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995 by singer/pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody. After recording private albums, the band released their first full-length album, Fallen, on Wind-up Records in 2003. Fallen sold more than 17 million copies worldwide...
and Cradle of Filth
Cradle of Filth
Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band, formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic black metal, and other extreme metal styles, while their lyrical themes and imagery are heavily...
have found commercial success.
Etymology
The term gothic entered heavy metal music with the release of Paradise LostParadise Lost (band)
Paradise Lost are a heavy metal band that formed in 1988 in Halifax, England.-History:Their first three full-length albums are examples of the death/doom style, although the latter two incorporated some melodic and gothic elements...
's Gothic
Gothic (album)
Gothic is the second full-length album released by British heavy metal band Paradise Lost.This album has been re-released twice, both of which contain remastered sound. The 2003 re-release of this album appended two remixes of songs from Lost Paradise, bringing the total running time to 49 minutes...
album in 1991. Since then, fans have often been at odds with one another as to "which bands are, or most definitely are not, authentically Goth". Some musicians have disputed the gothic label associated with their bands, including Rozz Williams
Rozz Williams
Rozz Williams was an American vocalist and musician of several varieties, most famous for fronting the band Christian Death, then later Shadow Project with musician Eva O, though his main project throughout his career was the industrial, Premature Ejaculation...
of Christian Death
Christian Death
Christian Death is an American deathrock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1979. The band was founded and fronted by Rozz Williams. Christian Death is most notable for their first album Only Theatre of Pain....
and Andrew Eldritch
Andrew Eldritch
Andrew Eldritch is the English frontman, singer, songwriter and only remaining original member of The Sisters of Mercy, a band that emerged from the British post-punk scene, transformed into a gothic rock band and, in later years, flirted with pop and hard rock.Eldritch also programs the tracks...
of The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band that formed in 1980. After achieving early underground fame in UK, the band had their commercial breakthrough in mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasing new recorded output in protest against their record company...
. In the gothic metal subgenre, members from such groups as After Forever
After Forever
After Forever was a Dutch symphonic metal band with strong progressive metal influences. The band relied on the use of both soprano vocals and death grunts. In February 2009, it was announced that After Forever had disbanded.-Biography:...
, HIM and Nightwish
Nightwish
Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee, Finland. Formed in 1996 by songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former vocalist Tarja Turunen, Nightwish's current line-up has five members, although Tarja has been replaced by Anette Olzon and the...
have similarly downplayed or dismissed the gothic label from their music.
Music
The music of gothic metal is generally characterised by its dark atmospheres. The adjective "dark" is commonly used to describe gothic music in general while other terms that are less frequently used include deep, depressing, romantic, passionate and intense. Gothic metal has also been described as "a combination of the darkness and melancholy of goth rock with heavy metal". Allmusic defines the genre as a fusion of "the bleak, icy atmospherics of goth rock with the loud guitars and aggression of heavy metal" and further notes that "true goth metal is always directly influenced by goth rock - ethereal synths and spooky textures are just as important as guitar riffs, if not moreso".Gothic metal is a varied genre with bands pursuing many different directions, from "slow and crushing variations" to "orchestral and bombastic". The doom metal
Doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other metal genres...
background of early pioneers like Anathema
Anathema (band)
Anathema are an English band from Liverpool primarily known for their ever evolving sound. Beginning as pioneers of the death/doom metal sub-genre, their later albums have been associated with genres such as alternative rock, progressive rock, art rock, new prog, and post-rock.-History:Anathema...
, Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost (band)
Paradise Lost are a heavy metal band that formed in 1988 in Halifax, England.-History:Their first three full-length albums are examples of the death/doom style, although the latter two incorporated some melodic and gothic elements...
and My Dying Bride
My Dying Bride
My Dying Bride are an English doom metal band formed in 1990. To date, My Dying Bride have released eleven full-length studio albums, three EPs, one demo, one box set, four compilation albums, one live album, and one live CD/DVD release. The band released their tenth studio album, For Lies I Sire,...
has been taken up by groups like Artrosis
Artrosis
Artrosis is a Polish gothic metal band founded in 1995 in Zielona Góra.In 2001 band was nominated to Fryderyk, an annual award in Polish music.-Band members:Current members* Magdalena "Medeah" Stupkiewicz-Dobosz – vocals, keyboards...
, Ava Inferi
Ava Inferi
Ava Inferi is a musical group created in Almada, Portugal, by guitarist and songwriter Rune Eriksen .The debut album, Burdens, was released in January 2006....
and Draconian
Draconian (band)
-External links:* at Napalm Records...
. The black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
approach of Cradle of Filth
Cradle of Filth
Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band, formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic black metal, and other extreme metal styles, while their lyrical themes and imagery are heavily...
, Theatres des Vampires
Theatres des Vampires
Theatres des Vampires is an Italian gothic metal band with strong black metal influences, mostly noted for the predominant theme of vampirism within their lyrics.-History and background:In 1994, Alessandro Nunziati form Theatres des Vampires....
and early Moonspell
Moonspell
Moonspell is a Portuguese gothic metal band from Brandoa, Lisbon. Formed in 1992, the group released their first EP Under the Moonspell in 1994, a year before the release of their first album Wolfheart...
can be found in such subsequent bands as Graveworm
Graveworm
Graveworm is a symphonic black metal band from Bruneck, Italy with strong influences from gothic metal .-History:...
, Drastique
Drastique
Drastique is an avant-garde gothic metal band from Italy with progressive metal and symphonic black metal influences.- Biography :...
and Samsas Traum
Samsas Traum
Samsas Traum is a band from Germany fronted by Alexander Kaschte now based in Austria. Their music consists of elements of Symphonic metal, Neue Deutsche Härte and Cantastoria. The name is derived from the 1915 novel The Metamorphosis's character Gregor Samsa by Franz Kafka.- Biography :Samsas...
while the symphonic metal
Symphonic metal
Symphonic metal is a term used to describe heavy metal music that has symphonic elements; that is, elements that are either borrowed from classical music or, as with progressive rock music, create a style reminiscent of it, e.g...
approach of Tristania
Tristania (band)
Tristania is a band from Norway, formed in 1996 by Morten Veland, Einar Moen and Kenneth Olsson. Tristania's music is usually classified as symphonic gothic metal with doom/death metal influences , due to its strong ties with the goth metal's history...
and Within Temptation
Within Temptation
Within Temptation is a Dutch symphonic gothic metal/rock band founded in 1996 by vocalist Sharon den Adel and guitarist Robert Westerholt. Their music is described as symphonic metal, although their earlier material, such as Enter, was gothic metal. In an interview, Den Adel said they fell into a...
can be found in other groups like Epica
Epica (band)
Epica is a Dutch symphonic metal band founded by guitarist and vocalist Mark Jansen subsequent to his departure from After Forever. They are known for their symphonic sound and the use of female vocals and male growls performed by Simone Simons and Mark Jansen, respectively. All six members write...
, Sirenia
Sirenia
Sirenia is an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit swamps, rivers, estuaries, marine wetlands, and coastal marine waters. Four species are living, in two families and genera. These are the dugong and manatees...
and After Forever
After Forever
After Forever was a Dutch symphonic metal band with strong progressive metal influences. The band relied on the use of both soprano vocals and death grunts. In February 2009, it was announced that After Forever had disbanded.-Biography:...
. Other variations include the death metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
of Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears (band)
Trail of Tears is a Norwegian gothic/symphonic black metal band originally formed in 1994 by vocalist Ronny Thorsen, under the name of Natt...
, the folk metal
Folk metal
Folk metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. As the name suggests, the genre is a fusion of heavy metal with traditional folk music...
of Midnattsol
Midnattsol
Midnattsol is a Symphonic metal band from Germany and Norway, The band was formed in 2002 by singer Carmen Elise Espenæs and guitarist Christian Hector.- History :...
, the industrial metal
Industrial metal
Industrial metal is a musical genre that draws from industrial music and many different types of heavy metal, using repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Founding industrial metal acts include Ministry, Godflesh, and KMFDM.Industrial metal's...
of Deathstars
Deathstars
Deathstars is a Swedish band from Stockholm that perform industrial and gothic metal. Formed in 2000, the group are noted for their dark horror-themed lyrics, pessimistic and misanthropic social commentary, distinctive trademark face paint, dark stage uniforms and physical appearances that...
, Gothminister
Gothminister
Gothminister is an industrial metal band from Norway. Formed in 1999, they have released four albums and have had success in Germany, playing many German music festivals, including Wave-Gotik-Treffen , the Dark Storm Festival, the M'era Luna Festival, and performing for over 10,000 people at the...
and Neon Synthesis and the alternative metal
Alternative metal
Alternative metal is a genre of alternative rock and heavy metal that gained popularity in the early 1990s. Most notably, alternative metal bands are characterized by heavy guitar riffs and experimental approaches to heavy music.-Origins:...
of Katatonia
Katatonia
Katatonia is a Swedish metal band formed in Stockholm in 1991 by Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström .-1991-1993:The early Katatonia releases, such as the EP Jhva Elohim Meth.....
, Lacuna Coil
Lacuna Coil
Lacuna Coil is an Italian gothic metal band from Milan. Formed in 1994, the group has had two name changes since being previously known as Sleep of Right and Ethereal and was inspired by the combination of gothic imagery and music...
, and Evanescence
Evanescence
Evanescence is an American rock band founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995 by singer/pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody. After recording private albums, the band released their first full-length album, Fallen, on Wind-up Records in 2003. Fallen sold more than 17 million copies worldwide...
Vocals
Dani Filth
Dani Filth is the lyricist, vocalist and founding member of the metal band Cradle of Filth.-Personal life:...
and Morten Veland
Morten Veland
Morten Veland is a Norwegian musician. He was one of the founding members of the Norwegian gothic metal band Tristania and later founded Sirenia....
to the clean baritone vocals of Østen Bergøy and the bass range of Peter Steele
Peter Steele
Peter Thomas Ratajczyk , better known by his stage name Peter Steele, was the lead singer, bassist, and composer for the gothic metal band Type O Negative...
. For the female singers, the different vocal styles includes the screams and growls of Cadaveria
Cadaveria
The extreme metal band Cadaveria was born in April 2001, forged by the erstwhile Opera IX personnel Cadaveria and Flegias, , the latter reverting back to his real name. The band signed to Scarlet Records for the opening 2002 album The Shadows' Madame...
, the "poppy" vocals of Tanja Lainio from Lullacry
Lullacry
Lullacry is a melodic band with gothic metal influences that hails from Helsinki, Finland. The band recorded their first demo in 1998 and in a short time they had enough of a following to safely attempt a full-length album – Sweet Desire – recorded in 1999. This got the attention of Spinefarm...
and the operatic soprano style of Vibeke Stene
Vibeke Stene
Vibeke Stene is a Norwegian soprano singer. She is most often recognized as the former vocalist of the gothic metal band Tristania. Stene met the members of Tristania during her first years in high school. She joined the band shortly before they started recording their self-titled demo...
from Tristania
Tristania
Tristania is a monotypic genus, native to New South Wales, Australia, closely related to Cistemon. The genus had a number of species, but some have been reclassified as Lophostemon and Tristaniopsis....
. There are more female singers in gothic metal than there are in any other heavy metal subgenres but female vocals are neither necessary nor synonymous with the genre. Liv Kristine of Theatre of Tragedy
Theatre of Tragedy
Theatre of Tragedy was a Norwegian band from Stavanger, active between 1993 and 2010. They are best known for their earlier albums, which provided a great deal of influence to the gothic metal genre.-Biography:...
and Leaves' Eyes
Leaves' Eyes
Leaves' Eyes is a German-Norwegian symphonic metal band from Stavanger, Norway and Ludwigsburg, Germany. They were formed in 2003 by Liv Kristine, the former lead singer of Theatre of Tragedy and the entire line-up of Atrocity...
notes that the gothic tag is often misinterpreted and points out that "not every band with female vocals is a gothic band". The genre is also known to attract more female fans relative to other subgenres of heavy metal music.
Lyrics
The lyrics of gothic metal are known to be "epic and melodramatic". For the three English bands that helped to pioneer the genre, their sorrowful and depressive lyrics reflect their background in doom metal. The music of My Dying BrideMy Dying Bride
My Dying Bride are an English doom metal band formed in 1990. To date, My Dying Bride have released eleven full-length studio albums, three EPs, one demo, one box set, four compilation albums, one live album, and one live CD/DVD release. The band released their tenth studio album, For Lies I Sire,...
has been noted as "dripping with treachery and pain" from a "lyrical fascination with deceit and transgressions of every variety". Lyrics that focus on suicide and the meaninglessness of life can be found in Anathema
Anathema (band)
Anathema are an English band from Liverpool primarily known for their ever evolving sound. Beginning as pioneers of the death/doom metal sub-genre, their later albums have been associated with genres such as alternative rock, progressive rock, art rock, new prog, and post-rock.-History:Anathema...
while Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
too has "never lost their depressive edge".
Gothic fiction
Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. Gothicism's origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, subtitled "A Gothic Story"...
, a literary genre that blends horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
and romance
Romance (genre)
As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as...
, has been a source of inspiration for the lyrics of many gothic metal bands like Cadaveria
Cadaveria
The extreme metal band Cadaveria was born in April 2001, forged by the erstwhile Opera IX personnel Cadaveria and Flegias, , the latter reverting back to his real name. The band signed to Scarlet Records for the opening 2002 album The Shadows' Madame...
, Cradle of Filth
Cradle of Filth
Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band, formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic black metal, and other extreme metal styles, while their lyrical themes and imagery are heavily...
, Moonspell
Moonspell
Moonspell is a Portuguese gothic metal band from Brandoa, Lisbon. Formed in 1992, the group released their first EP Under the Moonspell in 1994, a year before the release of their first album Wolfheart...
, Theatres des Vampires
Theatres des Vampires
Theatres des Vampires is an Italian gothic metal band with strong black metal influences, mostly noted for the predominant theme of vampirism within their lyrics.-History and background:In 1994, Alessandro Nunziati form Theatres des Vampires....
and Xandria
Xandria
Xandria is a German symphonic metal band, founded by Marco Heubaum in 1997. The band's music combines elements of symphonic metal with light electronic elements and rock....
. Critic Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic identifies drama and mournful beauty as requisite elements of the genre. For My Dying Bride
My Dying Bride
My Dying Bride are an English doom metal band formed in 1990. To date, My Dying Bride have released eleven full-length studio albums, three EPs, one demo, one box set, four compilation albums, one live album, and one live CD/DVD release. The band released their tenth studio album, For Lies I Sire,...
, the subjects of "death and misery and lost love and romance" has been approached repeatedly from different angles. The common gothic theme of lost love is a subject that has been tackled by such gothic metal bands as Theatre of Tragedy
Theatre of Tragedy
Theatre of Tragedy was a Norwegian band from Stavanger, active between 1993 and 2010. They are best known for their earlier albums, which provided a great deal of influence to the gothic metal genre.-Biography:...
and Leaves' Eyes
Leaves' Eyes
Leaves' Eyes is a German-Norwegian symphonic metal band from Stavanger, Norway and Ludwigsburg, Germany. They were formed in 2003 by Liv Kristine, the former lead singer of Theatre of Tragedy and the entire line-up of Atrocity...
.
Lyrics based on personal experiences is another common feature of many gothic metal bands such as Anathema
Anathema (band)
Anathema are an English band from Liverpool primarily known for their ever evolving sound. Beginning as pioneers of the death/doom metal sub-genre, their later albums have been associated with genres such as alternative rock, progressive rock, art rock, new prog, and post-rock.-History:Anathema...
, Elis
Elis (band)
Elis is a gothic metal band from Liechtenstein, formed by Sabine Dünser and Pete Streit in 2003 after the split of Erben der Schöpfung in 2002.-God's Silence, Devil's Temptation:...
, Tiamat
Tiamat (band)
-Biography:Initially, the band played straightforward black metal under the name Treblinka. After having recorded the album Sumerian Cry in 1989, vocalist/guitarist Johan Edlund and bassist Jörgen Thullberg parted ways with the other two founding members, and subsequently changed the name to Tiamat...
, Midnattsol
Midnattsol
Midnattsol is a Symphonic metal band from Germany and Norway, The band was formed in 2002 by singer Carmen Elise Espenæs and guitarist Christian Hector.- History :...
and The Old Dead Tree
The Old Dead Tree
The Old Dead Tree was a Progressive death metal band from the city of Paris, France active between 1997 and 2009.-Musical style:Their musical style is a mixture of death metal elements, such as double bass drumming and heavy guitar riffing, and more mellow, progressive, gothic metal and doom metal...
. Graveworm
Graveworm
Graveworm is a symphonic black metal band from Bruneck, Italy with strong influences from gothic metal .-History:...
moved away from fantasy stories in favor of personal lyrics after finding them more suitable for their style of music. The lyrics of fellow Italians Lacuna Coil
Lacuna Coil
Lacuna Coil is an Italian gothic metal band from Milan. Formed in 1994, the group has had two name changes since being previously known as Sleep of Right and Ethereal and was inspired by the combination of gothic imagery and music...
also do not feature any "fantasy stuff or something that you cannot find in reality" as their co-vocalist Cristina Scabbia
Cristina Scabbia
Cristina Adriana Chiara Scabbia is an Italian singer, best known as one of the two vocalists in the Italian gothic metal band Lacuna Coil. She also writes an advice column in the popular rock magazine Revolver, alongside musician Vinnie Paul. Scabbia is featured in a Megadeth song, "À Tout le...
finds it desirable that people can relate themselves to her band's lyrics. Similarly, the band Lullacry
Lullacry
Lullacry is a melodic band with gothic metal influences that hails from Helsinki, Finland. The band recorded their first demo in 1998 and in a short time they had enough of a following to safely attempt a full-length album – Sweet Desire – recorded in 1999. This got the attention of Spinefarm...
features lyrics on the subjects of "love, hate, passion and pain" because a person "can easily connect to a song" with lyrics "about human relationships".
Heavy metal
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
as the "crass, crude macho antithesis of everything that their music
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
represents". In contrast to the "softer" and "more feminine" character of gothic music, the heavy metal genre is typically associated with aggression, sexism and masculinity. Despite this difference, "a few bold souls have identified Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
’s eponymous 1970 debut album
Black Sabbath (album)
Black Sabbath is the debut studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath. Released on 13 February 1970 in the United Kingdom, and later on 1 June 1970 in the United States, the album reached number eight on the UK Albums Chart and has been recognised as the first main album to be credited...
as the first ever 'Goth-rock' record". The author Gavin Baddeley
Gavin Baddeley
Gavin Baddeley is an ordained Reverend in the Church of Satan, and an experienced journalist who has worked for The Observer and Metal Hammer. He is the occult authority for the BBC and Channel 4, has addressed Cambridge University, and has been profiled in The Independent and The London Evening...
notes that the title track of the album "describes a satanic rite, complete with driving-rain and tolling bell sound effects, while the cover focuses on a black-cloaked, spectral-looking girl in a graveyard, shot through a sickly pale ochre filter". Other commentators have described Black Sabbath as the "absolute prototype gothic heavies" and observed that by separating the band's music "from their heavy metallic connotations", one "could cull a killer Goth album from their first five LP's, with every future reference point and requirement intact".
The "vaguely medieval, minor-key sounds" of Rainbow
Rainbow (band)
Rainbow were an English rock band, controlled by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore from 1975 to 1984 and 1994 to 1997. It was originally established with American rock band Elf's members, though over the years Rainbow went through many line-up changes with no two studio albums featuring the same line-up...
, Dio
Dio (band)
Dio was an American heavy metal band from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Formed in 1982 and led by vocalist Ronnie James Dio, after he left Black Sabbath with intentions to form a new band with fellow former Black Sabbath member, drummer Vinny Appice. Naming the band Dio made sense from a commercial...
and Judas Priest
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, England, formed in 1969. The current line-up consists of lead vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis. The band has gone through several drummers over the years,...
has also been described as "gothic" prior to "the emergence of goth rock as a post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
genre". The bands Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult, often abbreviated BÖC, is an American rock band, most of whose members first came together in Long Island, NY in 1967 as the band Soft White Underbelly...
and Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
have featured some gothic lyrics in their music on songs such as "(Don't Fear) The Reaper
(Don't Fear) The Reaper
" The Reaper" is a song by the rock band Blue Öyster Cult from their 1976 album, Agents of Fortune. It was written and sung by the band's lead guitarist, Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser and was produced by David Lucas, Murray Krugman, and Sandy Pearlman. It is built around Dharma's guitar riff that...
" and "Phantom of the Opera
Phantom of the Opera (song)
"Phantom of the Opera" is a song from Iron Maiden's self-titled debut album. It was written by Steve Harris. It is the fourth track from the original US & UK album releases, and was the fifth track from the remastered 1998 release CD. It is based on the French novel The Phantom of the Opera by...
". Deep Purple's song "Stormbringer" has been called a "goth metal treasure". The Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
metal band Mercyful Fate
Mercyful Fate
Mercyful Fate was a Danish heavy metal band from Copenhagen. Initially active from 1981 to 1985, they reunited in 1992. The band went on hiatus again in 2000, when frontman King Diamond decided to continue his solo career...
had also demonstrated "a Gothic obsession with evil and the occult". Frontman King Diamond
King Diamond
Kim Bendix Petersen , better known by his stage name King Diamond, is a Grammy Award nominated Danish heavy metal musician. As a vocalist, he is known for his extensive vocal range, in particular his usage of falsetto. He is the lead vocalist for both Mercyful Fate and the eponymous King Diamond...
continued exploring his interest in gothic storytelling after establishing a solo career under his own moniker, issuing "a series of concept albums which told Gothic horror tales with sound effects and song". During the 1980s, the former Misfits frontman Glenn Danzig
Glenn Danzig
Glenn Danzig Glenn Danzig Glenn Danzig (born Glenn Allen Anzalone; June 23, 1955 is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, entrepreneur, and a progenitor of the horror punk subgenre of music. He is a founder of bands the Misfits, Samhain, and Danzig...
also "occupied the no man's land between Goth and heavy metal". With the dissolution of his second band Samhain
Samhain (band)
Samhain was an American rock band formed by singer Glenn Danzig in 1983, immediately following his departure from the Misfits. Samhain played in more of a deathrock and heavy metal-infused style of horror punk than Danzig's previous band. By 1987 Samhain's membership evolved into a new band,...
in 1988 and the creation of his own eponymous act
Danzig (band)
Danzig is an American heavy metal band, formed in 1987 in Lodi, New Jersey. The band serves as a musical outlet for the singer/songwriter Glenn Danzig. Danzig can be seen as the third stage in Glenn Danzig's musical career, preceded by the horror punk bands The Misfits and Samhain...
, Danzig went on to combine heavy metal riffs with "a heavily romanticized, brooding, gothic sensibility".
The Swiss group Celtic Frost
Celtic Frost
Celtic Frost was a metal band from Zürich, Switzerland. They are known for their heavy influence on the extreme metal genres. The group was first active from 1984 to 1993, and re-formed in 2001. Following Tom Gabriel Fischer's departure in 2008, Celtic Frost decided to break up again...
was another precursor to gothic metal, translating the influence they drew from gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
acts Bauhaus
Bauhaus (band)
Bauhaus was an English rock band formed in Northampton in 1978. The group consisted of Peter Murphy , Daniel Ash , Kevin Haskins and David J . The band was originally Bauhaus 1919 before they dropped the numerical portion within a year of formation...
and Siouxsie and the Banshees into their own albums. The band's "radical fusion of violent black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
and elements of classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
" was dubbed "avant-garde" and had a huge impact "on the evolution of European heavy metal". Christofer Johnsson
Christofer Johnsson
Christofer Johnsson is a Swedish musician. He is a founding member and the guitar player for Therion and used to be in Carbonized, Liers in Wait, Messiah and Demonoid. He is a member of the magical order Dragon Rouge and founder of the defunct Dark Age Music label...
of the Therion
Therion (band)
Therion is a Swedish symphonic metal band founded by Christofer Johnsson in 1987. The word "therion" comes from the Greek therion , meaning "Beast," i.e., that of the Christian Book of Revelation...
cites Celtic Frost's 1987 album Into the Pandemonium
Into the Pandemonium
Into the Pandemonium is the 1987 album by avant-garde metal band Celtic Frost. The album is more varied than many of Celtic Frost's past LPs, with unlikely covers , emotionally charged love songs, the album's recurring industrial-influenced rhythmic songs of demons and destruction and thrash metal...
in particular for playing a key role in the development of the "gothic and symphonic wave of bands" in the 1990s, noting further that neither his group Therion nor Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost (band)
Paradise Lost are a heavy metal band that formed in 1988 in Halifax, England.-History:Their first three full-length albums are examples of the death/doom style, although the latter two incorporated some melodic and gothic elements...
"would have sounded the way we did without Celtic Frost".
Gothic rock
Gothic rockGothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
had emerged as an offshoot of post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
in the 1980s but by the end of that decade, the genre had splintered into different directions with bands such as The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
, Mission U.K. and Siouxsie and the Banshees incorporating "more pop and alternative elements" while The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band that formed in 1980. After achieving early underground fame in UK, the band had their commercial breakthrough in mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasing new recorded output in protest against their record company...
, Fields of the Nephilim
Fields of the Nephilim
Fields of the Nephilim are an English gothic rock band formed in Stevenage, Hertfordshire in 1984. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Carl McCoy, saxophonist Gary Whisker, Tony Pettitt on bass, guitarist Paul Wright and drummer Alexander "Nod" Wright...
and Christian Death
Christian Death
Christian Death is an American deathrock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1979. The band was founded and fronted by Rozz Williams. Christian Death is most notable for their first album Only Theatre of Pain....
took on a "heavier, sometimes metal-influenced approach". The Sisters of Mercy was one of the leading goth bands of the 1980s, playing "a slow, gloomy, ponderous hybrid of metal and psychedelia, often incorporating dance beats". The band only released three full length albums with the debut First and Last and Always
First and Last and Always
First and Last and Always is the debut album by the British gothic rock band The Sisters of Mercy, which was released in 1985 and proved to be style-shaping in the musical category of gothic rock.- Background :...
released in 1985. Their last album Vision Thing
Vision Thing
-2006 Re-issue:Along with the group's previous two releases, Vision Thing was re-issued in November 2006 with bonus tracks, which, listed as follows:-Personnel:*Andrew Eldritch - vocals, guitar, keyboards*Andreas Bruhn - guitar*Tim Bricheno - guitar...
arrived in 1990 as one of the earliest attempts to mix gothic music with heavy metal. Fields of the Nephilim had also released only three studio albums before their initial dissolution in 1991. They have since reformed, released more albums and been recognized for their influence on the "glut of metal bands" in the early 21st century "that incorporated obvious elements of goth into their sound - especially detected in their appreciation of symphonic and keyboard sounds (as well as their fashion sense)".
According to Allmusic, "goth metal first emerged during the early to mid-'80s, centered around Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
' so-called 'death-rock
Deathrock
Deathrock is a term used to identify a sub-genre of punk rock incorporating horror elements and spooky atmospherics, that emerged on the West Coast of the United States in 1979.-Characteristics:...
' scene headed by Christian Death". Acclaimed as the "founding fathers of American goth rock", Christian Death went through a major personnel change in 1985 with the departure of the band's leader and founder Rozz Williams
Rozz Williams
Rozz Williams was an American vocalist and musician of several varieties, most famous for fronting the band Christian Death, then later Shadow Project with musician Eva O, though his main project throughout his career was the industrial, Premature Ejaculation...
. Guitarist Valor Kand took over the reins and under his leadership, Christian Death subsequently pursued a more metal-oriented direction. In particular, their 1988 album Sex and Drugs and Jesus Christ
Sex and Drugs and Jesus Christ
Sex and Drugs and Jesus Christ is the sixth album for Christian Death.-Album Cover:The cover for Sex and Drugs and Jesus Christ is an image of Jesus Christ in a self-made tourniquet, using heroin, an implicit attempt to incite controversy. The cover had an impact on the band, leading to a...
has been described by critic Steve Huey as "heavy goth-rock bordering on metal".
The Peaceville Three
Paradise Lost (band)
Paradise Lost are a heavy metal band that formed in 1988 in Halifax, England.-History:Their first three full-length albums are examples of the death/doom style, although the latter two incorporated some melodic and gothic elements...
, My Dying Bride
My Dying Bride
My Dying Bride are an English doom metal band formed in 1990. To date, My Dying Bride have released eleven full-length studio albums, three EPs, one demo, one box set, four compilation albums, one live album, and one live CD/DVD release. The band released their tenth studio album, For Lies I Sire,...
and Anathema
Anathema (band)
Anathema are an English band from Liverpool primarily known for their ever evolving sound. Beginning as pioneers of the death/doom metal sub-genre, their later albums have been associated with genres such as alternative rock, progressive rock, art rock, new prog, and post-rock.-History:Anathema...
representing "the core of the movement". They are all also three of the bands that pioneered the death/doom
Death/doom
Death/doom, sometimes writes as death-doom or deathdoom, is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It combines the slow tempos and pessimistic or depressive mood of doom metal with the deep growling vocals and double kick drumming of death metal...
sub-genre, showing why gothic metal originated from death/doom. All three bands were signed to Peaceville Records
Peaceville Records
Peaceville Records is a British independent metal-oriented record label. The label was founded by Paul "Hammy" Halmshaw in 1987, in Dewsbury, England...
during the early 1990s and have since been known as the "Peaceville Three". They had roots in "frenetically abrasive death metal, but they were also influenced by what Paradise Lost vocalist, Nick Holmes, described as the 'really bleak, dark sound' of Dead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance are an ethereal neoclassical duo formed in Melbourne, Australia, in August 1981, by Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry. The band relocated to London in May 1982 and disbanded in 1998. Their 1996 album Spiritchaser reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top World Music Albums Chart...
".
Paradise Lost was the first to form in 1988 in Halifax, England. Their debut album Lost Paradise was released in 1990 and "helped define the rules of doom/death
Death/doom
Death/doom, sometimes writes as death-doom or deathdoom, is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It combines the slow tempos and pessimistic or depressive mood of doom metal with the deep growling vocals and double kick drumming of death metal...
metal: grinding, de-tuned anthems of woe topped with death metal-style guttural vocals" while demonstrating that the band was "already reaching for realms unknown to their then-amateurish abilities and latent promise". The band was "evolving at a fast clip" and in the following year, their second "aptly titled album" Gothic
Gothic (album)
Gothic is the second full-length album released by British heavy metal band Paradise Lost.This album has been re-released twice, both of which contain remastered sound. The 2003 re-release of this album appended two remixes of songs from Lost Paradise, bringing the total running time to 49 minutes...
came as "something of a departure for the band's earliest fans". With a "less deliberate, more energetic arrangements", the album featured a "slightly cleaner approach to guitar crunch" and "cautious use of keyboards and even female vocals, which together added atmospheric nuances to the group's ultra-depressive power chords". Gothic was a chart success across Europe, particularly in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and has since been acclaimed as "one of the most influential albums" in heavy metal music for creating the gothic metal genre. Their 1992 album Shades of God
Shades of God
Shades Of God is the third album by Paradise Lost. It features the use of growling noticeable in the band's previous efforts although shows the beginning of the transition to more 'clean' vocals seen on the album 'Icon'.-Track listing:...
continued the transition while the follow-up 1993 album Icon
Icon (Paradise Lost album)
Icon is the fourth studio album recorded by British doom metal/gothic band Paradise Lost in 1993. This marked the end of their early death/doom sound.-Track listing:#"Embers Fire" – 4:44#"Remembrance" – 3:26#"Forging Sympathy" – 4:43...
represented "a turning point" for the band with the experimental use of synthesized strings, timpani, piano and angelic female vocals. By the time of 1995's Draconian Times
Draconian Times
Draconian Times is the fifth album released by British metal act Paradise Lost.Two tracks from the album, "The Last Time" and "Forever Failure," were released as singles...
album, Paradise Lost's music firmly stood "between stark, oppressive goth rock and crunching heavy metal". With these five albums, the band had created "a bold collection of songs that sounded like Black
Metallica (album)
Metallica is the self-titled fifth studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica. Mainly produced by Bob Rock, it was released on August 12, 1991 through Elektra Records to critical acclaim...
-era Metallica
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
played by a group who loved the Sisters Of Mercy". They have since been recognized as the band that "originally laid the gothic seed that other bands have been nicking and reaping in recent years".
My Dying Bride
My Dying Bride are an English doom metal band formed in 1990. To date, My Dying Bride have released eleven full-length studio albums, three EPs, one demo, one box set, four compilation albums, one live album, and one live CD/DVD release. The band released their tenth studio album, For Lies I Sire,...
was formed in 1990. An EP Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium
Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium
Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium is the second EP by death/doom metal band My Dying Bride. "Symphonaire" was made only a few months after signing to the Peaceville Records label. The song was also released as a vinyl record and an audio tape...
"sparked a lot of interest" upon its release in 1991. Their first full-length release As The Flower Withers
As the Flower Withers
As The Flower Withers was the first album by Yorkshire-based doom metal band My Dying Bride. The artwork was designed by Dave McKean.-Song information:Many of the tracks on this album have appeared in a different form on other MDB releases...
followed shortly after in the same year. The album was critically acclaimed by the press and "turned the Doom genre on its head". They added a violinist to their line-up for their 1993 sophomore effort Turn Loose the Swans
Turn Loose the Swans
Turn Loose the Swans was the second album by the British doom metal band My Dying Bride.It marked a radical departure from the band's first full length, As the Flower Withers...
. On this "groundbreaking" album, the group introduced a "much greater element of dark romanticism to their doomy music". Vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe
Aaron Stainthorpe
Aaron Stainthorpe is the vocalist for doom metal band My Dying Bride. He was born in England but moved to Germany when he was six months old, because his British army officer father was stationed in the country...
explains the band's pursuit of this direction:
Their 1995 album The Angel and the Dark River
The Angel and the Dark River
The Angel and the Dark River is the third album by the British doom/death metal band My Dying Bride. The 1996 re-release contains one bonus track "The Sexuality of Bereavement" and a bonus CD titled Live at the Dynamo...
"marked a shift in the band's strategy, for the first time dropping the death growl
Death growl
A death growl, also known as death metal vocals, guttural vocals, death grunts, and harsh vocals among other names, is a vocalisation style usually employed by vocalists of the death metal and black metal music genre, but also used in a variety of heavy metal and hardcore punk subgenres.Death...
of Stainthorpe in favour of a 'clean' vocal delivery". The rest of the group "followed suit, setting aside any death metal influences, carefully using violins and keyboards to enhance the group's brooding excursions" into "fauna-wilting gothic doom metal". While the album was more experimental, the music was still sorrowful.
Also forming in 1990, the Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
based band Anathema
Anathema (band)
Anathema are an English band from Liverpool primarily known for their ever evolving sound. Beginning as pioneers of the death/doom metal sub-genre, their later albums have been associated with genres such as alternative rock, progressive rock, art rock, new prog, and post-rock.-History:Anathema...
released a "highly acclaimed" EP The Crestfallen
The Crestfallen
The Crestfallen is an EP by the British doom metal band Anathema. It was the first official release in Anathema's discography. In 2001, it was re-issued together with Pentecost III on one disc.-Track listing:# "...And I Lust" – 5:47...
in 1992. The "crushing emotional doom/death" of this EP remained on their 1993 debut full-length Serenades
Serenades (album)
Serenades is the debut full-length album of the British rock band Anathema. It was released in February 1993 through Peaceville Records.-Track listing :# "Lovelorn Rhapsody" – 6:12# "Sweet Tears" – 4:06# "J'ai Fait Une Promesse" – 2:32...
, "the most traditional doom-styled album in their catalog". Their juxtaposition of the fragile and ferocious "fostered a keen fan base". Pentecost III
Pentecost III
Pentecost III is an EP by the British doom metal band Anathema. It was recorded in 1994 but, due to a merging between labels Peaceville Records and Music For Nations, was not released until 1995. By this time, Darren White had been ousted from the band, whose remaining members were already working...
was recorded in 1994 as another EP "that nonetheless ended up long enough to have qualified as a full-length". The year 1995 saw the release of this EP as well as the departure of Darren White. Guitarist Vincent Cavanagh
Vincent Cavanagh
Vincent Cavanagh is an English singer and guitarist best known as a co-founder of British art rock band Anathema. Vincent took over as Anathema's vocalist following the departure of Darren "Daz" White from the group after the Pentecost III EP...
took over vocal duties for their subsequent album The Silent Enigma
The Silent Enigma
The Silent Enigma is a studio album by the British rock band Anathema, released on October 23, 1995 through Peaceville Records.The Silent Enigma represents a turning point in Anathema's career; it is the first album to feature guitarist Vincent Cavanagh singing lead vocals, replacing Darren White),...
released later in the same year. The album "marked an important turning point in the band's sound" with critics drawing upon comparisons to Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
, "bringing new appreciation from a more mainstream band of listeners but also causing a withdrawal of support from hardened Doom fanatics". Like My Dying Bride, this transition involved leaving behind their traditional death metal sound. They continued experimenting with their 1996 album Eternity, "stretching its songs into sorrowful, orchestrated epics" that "quickly proved to be their most original work to date". While Anathema's music has "changed a lot", their "main features remained a heart-rending melancholy and intensity".
Other pioneers
Peter Steele
Peter Thomas Ratajczyk , better known by his stage name Peter Steele, was the lead singer, bassist, and composer for the gothic metal band Type O Negative...
had formed Type O Negative
Type O Negative
Type O Negative was a gothic metal band from Brooklyn, New York City. The band also incorporated elements of doom metal and thrash metal. Their dramatic lyrical emphasis on themes of romance, depression, and death resulted in the nickname "The Drab Four"...
in 1990 out of the remnants of his former thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
band Carnivore
Carnivore (band)
Carnivore was an American crossover thrash band formed in Brooklyn, New York by Peter Steele , and was formed out of the ruins of the Brooklyn hard rock group Fallout in 1982.-History:...
. With their debut album Slow, Deep and Hard in 1991, the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
based outfit pursued a "melodramatic goth rock style" that "encompasses long songs built on simple riffs, theatrical shouting vocals, churchy-sounding organ and vocal-harmony passages, and the odd mechanical noise". The Origin of the Feces
The Origin of the Feces
The Origin of the Feces is the second album by Brooklyn band Type O Negative, which was released in 1992. The album was produced to sound as if it had been recorded at a live show by adding crowd noises, banter with the fictitious audience, and even a song stopping because the venue supposedly had...
followed in 1992 but it was their third album Bloody Kisses
Bloody Kisses
Bloody Kisses is the third album by Brooklyn band Type O Negative. It marked significant stylistic growth for the band in terms of songwriting and production values, and it is also the last recording to feature Sal Abruscato on drums...
in 1993 that became their breakthrough album with a "twistedly affectionate send-up of goth rock conventions" and lyrics that "gleefully wallow in goth clichés - sex, death, Christianity, vampires, more sex, and death". The album has since sold nearly a million copies in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, a surprise success that "obliged Goths to take notice" of the group. The trademarks of Type O Negative's music include the use of "downtuned, fuzzy guitars" and a "deep baritone croon" from Peter Steele, an "intimidatingly large, sarcastically self-deprecating original, whose dry, dirty one-liners and morbid machismo challenge those who insist the archetypal Goth is a po-faced androgyne". Type O Negative has since been recognized as a pioneer of the genre. In a review of their 2007 album Dead Again
Dead Again (Type O Negative album)
Dead Again is the seventh and final studio album by Type O Negative, released through SPV/Steamhammer. This is the final Type O Negative studio album released before the death of frontman Peter Steele. The album sees the band using studio drums instead of a drum machine for the first time since...
, critic Greg Prato of Allmusic declared that "before Type O Negative, there was really no such thing as goth metal".
The year 1988 saw not only the formation of Paradise Lost but another early gothic metal pioneer, the Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
band Tiamat
Tiamat (band)
-Biography:Initially, the band played straightforward black metal under the name Treblinka. After having recorded the album Sumerian Cry in 1989, vocalist/guitarist Johan Edlund and bassist Jörgen Thullberg parted ways with the other two founding members, and subsequently changed the name to Tiamat...
. Their debut album Sumerian Cry
Sumerian Cry
Sumerian Cry is the debut album from the Swedish then-death metal band Tiamat.The album was recorded at Sunlight Studio, Stockholm, Sweden, in 1989, when the band was known under the original name Treblinka. The track Sumerian Cry, Pt. 1 is a re-interpretation of the intro melody from Crawling in...
arrived in 1990 and featured "slightly above average death metal". Their third album Clouds
Clouds (Tiamat album)
-Track listing:All tracks by Tiamat#"In a Dream" – 5:12#"Clouds" – 3:40#"Smell of Incense" – 4:29#"A Caress of Stars" – 5:26#"The Sleeping Beauty" – 4:10#"Forever Burning Flames" – 4:22#"The Scapegoat" – 4:56#"Undressed" – 7:10-Credits:...
was released in 1993 as the band's first turning-point, "starkly reducing speed and heaviness for melody and atmosphere". The album made an impact on the European metal community for its atmospheric doom metal approach "enhanced with keyboards which are never out of place or over-used". The next album Wildhoney
Wildhoney
Wildhoney is the critically acclaimed 1994 album by Tiamat. Released after their worldwide tour with Entombed and Unleashed, the record made the band one of the first to progress beyond genre lines in the renowned Swedish death metal scene....
was unveiled in 1994 as an "artistic and commercial breakthrough, fully realizing the sound hinted at on previous releases and eliciting effusive praise in metal circles for its brooding, Gothic atmospherics". The album featured an interplay of contrasts between delicate acoustic guitar, gentle whispering vocals and angelic choruses on the one hand and massive riffs, industrial grind and death metal grunting on the other. On subsequent releases, Tiamat moved further into gothic territory with Johan Edlund "dropping the metal growling in favor of an unearthly croon". The result has seen critics comparing Edlund's vocals to the Sisters of Mercy's Andrew Eldritch
Andrew Eldritch
Andrew Eldritch is the English frontman, singer, songwriter and only remaining original member of The Sisters of Mercy, a band that emerged from the British post-punk scene, transformed into a gothic rock band and, in later years, flirted with pop and hard rock.Eldritch also programs the tracks...
, "alongside musical comparisons to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds". The band has been recognized for producing some of the most "overtly Gothic material" from Scandinavia.
As far back as 1985, Celtic Frost had used female vocals for some songs on their To Mega Therion
To Mega Therion (album)
To Mega Therion is the second album by the Swiss extreme metal band Celtic Frost, released in October 1985. The cover artwork is a painting by H.R. Giger entitled Satan I...
album. Paradise Lost began making similar use of female vocals from their very first album Lost Paradise in 1990. Inspired by the use of female vocals on Paradise Lost's second album Gothic, The Gathering
The Gathering (band)
The Gathering is a Dutch alternative rock band, founded in 1989 by brothers Hans and René Rutten and vocalist Bart Smits in the small city of Oss, North Brabant....
released their debut album Always...
Always...
Always... is the debut album of the Dutch band The Gathering. It was first released in 1992 in Europe by Foundation 2000 and in North America by Pavement Music. In 1994, a first remixed version was released by Foundation 2000. In 1999, a second remixed version was released by Psychonaut Records...
in 1992 with growling vocalist Bart Smits
Bart Smits
Bart Smits is a Dutch heavy metal singer. He was the original singer in The Gathering, and he sang on their first album Always..., released in 1992. The following year he left them to form Wish. After one full-length album and four EPs, the band split up in 2003...
supported by female singer Marike Groot
Marike Groot
Marike Groot is a Dutch singer. She started her career in the mid eighties as the singer for punk band The Grabbits, with whom she recorded the EP Aliens. From 1989 to 1992 she was the vocalist of Little Mary Big, which transformed into Visions of Johanna and later Johan...
. The music on the album was "firmly rooted in the dark, midtempo style of gothic and doom metal". Their second album Almost a Dance
Almost a Dance
Almost a Dance is the second studio album of the Dutch band The Gathering, released in 1993 by Foundation 2000.-Track listing:...
arrived in the following year with new vocalist Niels Duffhues
Niels Duffhuës
Niels Duffhuës is a Dutch multi-instrumentalist, composer and writer. From 1993 to 1994 he was the vocalist and acoustic guitarist in the Doom metal band The Gathering, and he played on their album Almost a Dance, released in 1993. From 1997 to 1998, he played drums in U-Charger...
, "a strange choice for the band". Duffhues' "punk-ish" and "alt-rock" style of singing was widely seen as out of place with the music, a perception that was shared by the band themselves. and the album was "largely written off as a result." The Gathering decided to drop the use of male vocals altogether and instead brought in a lead female vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen
Anneke van Giersbergen
Anneke van Giersbergen is the former lead singer of the Dutch progressive/alternative rock band The Gathering which she departed in August 2007. Since then, she has been involved in a solo project called Agua de Annique which also included her husband & drummer of the band, Rob Snijders...
for their third full length Mandylion
Mandylion (album)
Mandylion is the third album by the Dutch alternative rock band The Gathering. It was released on August 22, 1995 by Century Media Records. It is their first album to feature vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen...
, an album that "saw the band adventurously breaking away from the Gothic Doom fare of previous works". The result was considered a "groundbreaking achievement" upon its release in 1995 with critics lavishly describing it as "the perfect pinnacle of gothic metal". The Gathering's "introspective atmosphere owed a creative debt to Dead Can Dance, and established them as a leading band in their native Holland".
Beauty and the beast
Theatre of Tragedy
Theatre of Tragedy was a Norwegian band from Stavanger, active between 1993 and 2010. They are best known for their earlier albums, which provided a great deal of influence to the gothic metal genre.-Biography:...
that first released an entire album devoted to this approach with their self-titled debut
Theatre of Tragedy (album)
Theatre of Tragedy is the self-titled debut album of Norwegian metal band Theatre of Tragedy. The album sold approximately 75,000 copies.-Track listing:# "A Hamlet for a Slothful Vassal" – 4:05 # "Cheerful Dirge" – 5:02...
in 1995. A second album Velvet Darkness They Fear
Velvet Darkness They Fear
Velvet Darkness They Fear is the second album of Norwegian metal band Theatre of Tragedy. It was released in 1996 through Massacre Records.- Music :...
arrived in the following year. Theatre of Tragedy's third album Aégis
Aégis
Aégis is the third music album of Norwegian metal band Theatre of Tragedy, and the last album of their musical period defined by gothic stylings and Early Modern English lyrics.- Music and lyrics :...
in 1998 saw the band "venturing into fresh musical territory". The piano was replaced by electronic keyboards while Raymond Rohonyi opted to discard his death growls in favor of a "soft, spoken, sometimes whispering voice". The music was more clean and soft, "stripped of guitar harshness" but with a "near flawless execution" that "prompted many European critics to award Aégis perfect review scores".
Other bands that contrast aggressive male vocals and clean female vocals continued to emerge in the late 1990s. Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears (band)
Trail of Tears is a Norwegian gothic/symphonic black metal band originally formed in 1994 by vocalist Ronny Thorsen, under the name of Natt...
had formed in 1994 while Tristania
Tristania (band)
Tristania is a band from Norway, formed in 1996 by Morten Veland, Einar Moen and Kenneth Olsson. Tristania's music is usually classified as symphonic gothic metal with doom/death metal influences , due to its strong ties with the goth metal's history...
and The Sins of Thy Beloved
The Sins of Thy Beloved
The Sins Of Thy Beloved is a gothic-doom metal band from Bryne, Norway.- Biography :The band was formed in November 1996 by Glenn Morten Nordbø, Arild Christensen and Stig Johansen. The band was initially called "Purgatory" but they soon decided to change their name to something less common...
were formed in 1996. All three Norwegian groups released their debut albums in 1998. Tristania stood apart from the others with their use of three distinct vocal styles in the "operatic soprano Vibeke Stene
Vibeke Stene
Vibeke Stene is a Norwegian soprano singer. She is most often recognized as the former vocalist of the gothic metal band Tristania. Stene met the members of Tristania during her first years in high school. She joined the band shortly before they started recording their self-titled demo...
, clean-singing counter-tenor Østen Bergøy, and harsh, black metal-style shrieker Morten Veland
Morten Veland
Morten Veland is a Norwegian musician. He was one of the founding members of the Norwegian gothic metal band Tristania and later founded Sirenia....
". Their second album Beyond the Veil
Beyond the Veil (album)
Beyond The Veil is the second full-length album by the Norwegian band Tristania. It is the last album to feature the band's former vocalist, guitarist and core songwriter, Morten Veland.-Track listing:...
in 1999 made use of a ten members choir and featured violin passages from Pete Johansen of The Sins of Thy Beloved, earning "rave reviews" across Europe. By then, the band had risen to "the top of the goth metal heap" with their "lush, symphonically enhanced" approach. They were "dealt a potentially crippling blow" when singer, guitarist and principal composer Veland left the group to form Sirenia
Sirenia (band)
Sirenia is a gothic metal band from Stavanger, Norway which incorporates a mixture of gothic metal and symphonic metal, as well as extreme metal and death metal elements...
. Tristania has continued to prosper with subsequent releases and has since been "regarded as one of the world's premiere goth metal bands".
For over a decade, this beauty and the beast aesthetic has flourished with many representatives across the European continent. Cradle of Filth has also been known to make use of this approach through guest female vocalists such as Liv Kristine and Sarah Jezebel Deva
Sarah Jezebel Deva
Sarah Jane , better known by her stage name Sarah Jezebel Deva, is a British vocalist. She was the female vocalist in Cradle of Filth for 14 years and also fronts her own band, Angtoria. In 2009, Deva started her self-titled solo project. The debut album A Sign of Sublime was released in February...
. A few critics have since lament that the approach has been "done to death by countless bands" to the point that it has become something of a cliché in the genre.
Symphonic gothic metal
Within Temptation
Within Temptation is a Dutch symphonic gothic metal/rock band founded in 1996 by vocalist Sharon den Adel and guitarist Robert Westerholt. Their music is described as symphonic metal, although their earlier material, such as Enter, was gothic metal. In an interview, Den Adel said they fell into a...
was founded in 1996. A debut album Enter was unveiled in the following year, followed shortly by an EP The Dance
The Dance (EP)
The Dance is the first EP from Dutch Gothic Metal band Within Temptation.It was released after the single "Restless" and the album Enter. The sound is rather gothic and melancholic, unlike the later albums, e.g. Mother Earth and The Silent Force...
. Both releases made use of the beauty and beast approach delivered by vocalists Sharon den Adel
Sharon den Adel
Sharon Janny den Adel is a Dutch singer and composer, best known as the lead vocalist and one of the main songwriters in the Dutch symphonic metal/rock band Within Temptation...
and Robert Westerholt
Robert Westerholt
Robert Westerholt is a Dutch musician, known as the guitarist, backing vocalist and co-founder of the symphonic metal band Within Temptation. He also writes music for the band, along with the band's vocalist, and his partner, Sharon den Adel...
. Their second full length Mother Earth
Mother Earth (album)
Mother Earth is the second studio album by Dutch symphonic metal/rock band Within Temptation. Originally released on December 4, 2000 in the Netherlands, and August 21, 2001 in other parts of Europe, it quickly became a success in the band's heartland, reaching platinum status in the Netherlands...
was released in 2000 and dispensed entirely with the death metal vocals, instead "relying solely on den Adel's majestic vocal ability". The album was a commercial success with their lead single "Ice Queen" topping the charts in Belgium and their native Netherlands. Their third album The Silent Force
The Silent Force
The Silent Force is the third studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation, released on November 15, 2004, by GUN Records. This album is the first to feature Ruud Jolie on lead guitar, as well as Martijn Spierenburg on keyboards, after Martijn Westerholt had to leave the band due to...
arrived in 2004 as an "ambitious project featuring a full orchestra and 80-voice choir accompanying the band". The result was another commercial success across Europe and introduced "the world of heavy guitars and female vocals" to "a mainstream audience".
Within Temptation's brand of gothic metal combines "the guitar-driven force of hard rock with the sweep and grandeur of symphonic music". The critic Chad Bowar of About.com
About.com
About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....
describes their style as "the optimum balance" between "the melody and hooks of mainstream rock, the depth and complexity of classical music and the dark edge of gothic metal". The commercial success of Within Temptation has since resulted in the emergence of a large number of other female-fronted gothic metal bands, particularly in the Netherlands.
Another Dutch band in the symphonic gothic metal strain is After Forever
After Forever
After Forever was a Dutch symphonic metal band with strong progressive metal influences. The band relied on the use of both soprano vocals and death grunts. In February 2009, it was announced that After Forever had disbanded.-Biography:...
. Their debut album Prison of Desire
Prison of Desire
Prison of Desire is the debut album by Dutch symphonic metal band After Forever. It was released in 2000 in Europe. The album contains the first four installments of "The Embrace That Smothers" collection of songs by Mark Jansen...
in 2000 was "a courageous, albeit flawed first study into an admittedly daunting undertaking: to wed heavy metal with progressive rock arrangements and classical music orchestration - then top it all of with equal parts gruesome cookie-monster vocals and a fully qualified opera singer". A second album Decipher
Decipher (album)
Decipher is the second album by Dutch symphonic metal band After Forever, released in 2001. The music of the band reaches its full potential in this album with the use of live classical instruments and a complete choir to back up the soprano voice of lead singer Floor Jansen...
followed in 2001 with music that was described by guitarist Sander Gommans
Sander Gommans
Sander Gommans is a Dutch musician. He founded the symphonic metal band Apocalypse with Mark Jansen in 1995, which later changed its name to After Forever. He played guitar and did the grunting parts in the band...
as being in the style of Within Temptation. Founding member, guitarist and vocalist Mark Jansen
Mark Jansen
Mark Jansen, , is a heavy metal musician.As guitarist, Jansen founded After Forever with Sander Gommans, and was one of the main songwriters since their debut album Prison of Desire. He left After Forever in 2002, and after his departure the band took a new musical direction...
departed After Forever only a few months after the release of this album. Jansen would go on to form Epica
Epica (band)
Epica is a Dutch symphonic metal band founded by guitarist and vocalist Mark Jansen subsequent to his departure from After Forever. They are known for their symphonic sound and the use of female vocals and male growls performed by Simone Simons and Mark Jansen, respectively. All six members write...
, another band that performs a blend of gothic and symphonic metal. A debut album The Phantom Agony
The Phantom Agony
The Phantom Agony is the first full-length studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Epica. It was released in 2003 by the Dutch label Transmission Records. It is the first album recorded by guitarist Mark Jansen after his departure from the band After Forever. On this album, Mark Jansen continues...
emerged in 2003 with music that combines Jansen's death grunts with the "angelic tones of a classically trained mezzo-soprano named Simone Simons
Simone Simons
Simone Johanna Maria Simons is a Dutch coloratura mezzo-soprano singer who is the lead vocalist of symphonic metal band Epica.-Biography:...
, over a lush foundation of symphonic power metal
Power metal
Power metal is a style of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a...
". The music of Epica has been described as combination of "a dark, haunting gothic atmosphere with bombastic and symphonic music". Like Within Temptation and After Forever, Epica has been known to make use of an orchestra. Their 2007 album The Divine Conspiracy
The Divine Conspiracy
The Divine Conspiracy is the third full-length studio album by Dutch symphonic metal band Epica as well as their first concept album. It was released on September 7, 2007 through Nuclear Blast in Europe...
was a chart success in their home country.
This blend of symphonic and gothic metal has also been arrived at from the opposite direction. The band Nightwish
Nightwish
Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee, Finland. Formed in 1996 by songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former vocalist Tarja Turunen, Nightwish's current line-up has five members, although Tarja has been replaced by Anette Olzon and the...
from Finland began as a symphonic power metal act before introducing gothic elements on their 2004 album Once
Once (Nightwish album)
Once is the fifth studio album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, released on June 7, 2004 by Nuclear Blast and on November 24 by Spinefarm, with the US release on October 5 by Roadrunner Records. In an interview, Tuomas Holopainen said that it is up to the listener to find out the meaning...
, particularly on the single "Wish I Had an Angel
Wish I Had an Angel
"Wish I Had An Angel" is the eleventh single for Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, the second from their fifth album Once. The song features vocals by then-vocalist Tarja Turunen and bassist Marco Hietala, but is still performed live with current vocalist Anette Olzon and is often used as the...
". They continued to mix their style of "bombastic, symphonic and cinematic" metal with a gothic atmosphere on their next album Dark Passion Play
Dark Passion Play
Dark Passion Play is the sixth studio album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, released on 26 September, 2007 in Finland, 28 September in Europe and 2 October 2007 in the United States. It was the first Nightwish album with the band's current lead singer, Anette Olzon, and the first album...
in 2007. In the book Rough Guide to Heavy Metal
Rough Guides
Rough Guides Ltd is a travel guidebook and reference publisher, owned by Pearson PLC. Their travel titles cover more than 200 destinations, and are distributed worldwide through the Penguin Group...
, Essi Berelian describes Nightwish as "gothic film score metal". The Swedish group Therion
Therion (band)
Therion is a Swedish symphonic metal band founded by Christofer Johnsson in 1987. The word "therion" comes from the Greek therion , meaning "Beast," i.e., that of the Christian Book of Revelation...
also introduced gothic elements to their brand of symphonic metal on their 2007 album Gothic Kabbalah
Gothic Kabbalah
-External links:* * at Nuclear Blast USA* at Nuclear Blast Europe* Gothic Kabbalah at MusicBrainz: ,...
.
Paradise Lost
With the release of their sixth album One SecondOne Second (Paradise Lost album)
One Second is the sixth album release by Paradise Lost. Following Draconian Times, the album reflected the group's first complete departure from death/doom in favour of a more gothic rock and synthpop direction...
in 1997, Paradise Lost brought a more commercial and pop-oriented direction to the genre they had helped created but the success of Draconian Times
Draconian Times
Draconian Times is the fifth album released by British metal act Paradise Lost.Two tracks from the album, "The Last Time" and "Forever Failure," were released as singles...
has not been overcome. Praised by Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic as a "radical but impressive departure", the album drew comparisons to Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
with nothing remaining "of their early death/doom metal origins". Subsequent albums "progressively experimented with electronics and pop elements, with the guitars gradually getting pushed further into the background". The result was "an accessible sound and a strong emphasis on catchy choruses". Despite attaining "a huge reputation in Europe, where all of their albums have sold strongly", the group's status as "the progenitors of gothic metal" has been "constantly overlooked, both in their homeland and the US, possibly because of their determination to never make the same record twice".
Cradle of Filth
In contrast, Cradle of Filth has become "one of the very biggest names" in their black metal genre with impressive albums sales and mainstream appearances on MTVMTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, a level of success that has attracted accusations of "selling out" by the "black metal faithful".
Moonspell and Within Temptation
Moonspell too has "lost a lot of fans who couldn't keep up with the changes" to their music. In the opinion of vocalist Fernando Ribeiro, fans of the early 1990s were "less cynical and more open-minded in their hearts and minds" than they are in 2007. Nonetheless, the band has continued to experience success with their 2006 album MemorialMemorial (Moonspell album)
Memorial is Moonspell's seventh full-length album, released on April 24, 2006 by SPV. The album is available in two versions: a standard edition and a limited 'digipack' edition with the "Atlantic" bonus track....
debuting at number 1 on their native Portuguese charts. They were rewarded with the "Best Portuguese Act" award at the 2006 MTV European Music Awards
MTV Europe Music Awards 2006
The MTV Europe Music Awards hit Copenhagen at the Bella Center/Rådhuspladsen in 2006. The venue was made to feel like a VIP club with exclusive, intimate performances...
, a feat matched by Within Temptation in the following year
MTV Europe Music Awards 2007
2007 was the 14th MTV European Music Awards, taking place at the Olympiahalle in Munich with hip-hop legend Snoop Dogg as host. The show attracted 78 million votes, the biggest in MTV Europe Music Awards history....
with the "Best Dutch & Belgian Act" award. Within Temptation further received recognition as their country's best selling artist at the 2007 World Music Awards
World Music Awards
The World Music Awards is an international awards show founded in 1989 that annually honors recording artists based on worldwide sales figures provided by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry . John Martinotti is an executive producer and co-founder of the show...
.
Lacuna Coil
Lacuna Coil
Lacuna Coil is an Italian gothic metal band from Milan. Formed in 1994, the group has had two name changes since being previously known as Sleep of Right and Ethereal and was inspired by the combination of gothic imagery and music...
has also become a "premiere act" of the gothic metal genre. The group employs both a female vocalist in Cristina Scabbia
Cristina Scabbia
Cristina Adriana Chiara Scabbia is an Italian singer, best known as one of the two vocalists in the Italian gothic metal band Lacuna Coil. She also writes an advice column in the popular rock magazine Revolver, alongside musician Vinnie Paul. Scabbia is featured in a Megadeth song, "À Tout le...
and a male vocalist in Andrea Ferro, although the group uses less of a 'beauty and the beast' style, with Ferro primarily using clean vocals. Formed in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
in 1994, they released a demo tape in 1996 strongly influenced by Paradise Lost and Type O Negative. The band "turned a lot of heads in Italy's ambient/goth scene" with their self-titled EP
Lacuna Coil (EP)
Lacuna Coil is an EP by the Italian alternative metal band Lacuna Coil, released on April 7, 1998, by Century Media.-Track listing:# "No Need to Explain" – 3:37# "The Secret..." – 4:16# "This Is My Dream" – 4:06# "Soul into Hades" – 4:52...
in 1998. Their debut album In a Reverie
In a Reverie
In a Reverie, is the debut album by Italian gothic metal band Lacuna Coil, released in 1999. The album was released through Century Media. In 2005, the album was re-released with new artwork and a new cover.-Track listing:All arrangements by Lacuna Coil...
was released in 1999 with a style that bore "some similarities to contemporaries like the Gathering and Moonspell". Lacuna Coil's music was also "more accessible than many of their peers". A second album Unleashed Memories
Unleashed Memories
Unleashed Memories is the second album by Italian gothic metal band Lacuna Coil. The album was released through Century Media. American releases append the Halflife EP to this album.-Track listing:...
arrived in 2001 but it was their third full length Comalies
Comalies
- Ozzfest Edition Bonus Disc :- Release history :- Charts :Album - Billboard...
that became their breakthrough album, "highly praised by the metal world after its release in October 2002". On the strength of Comalies, Lacuna Coil became the most successful artist in the history of their label Century Media Records
Century Media Records
Century Media Records is an Independent record label with offices in the United States, Germany, Australia, France, Italy, Sweden, Finland, and the United Kingdom.- Background :...
as well as the highest selling rock act in their home country Italy. The band has also achieved the distinction of being the first and, as of late 2007, the only European gothic metal band to successfully break into the United States market with radio airplay and impressive album sales. Their highly anticipated fourth album Karmacode
Karmacode
Karmacode is the fourth studio album by Italian gothic metal band Lacuna Coil, released on 31 March 2006 in several countries in Europe, 3 April in the UK and other European countries, April 4th in North America, and 5 April in several other European countries...
was even more successful, debuting at number 28 on the Billboard charts
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
, and also debuting on many European music charts. The Comalies and Karmacode albums "reportedly sold nearly 1 million units combined worldwide, a good chunk of that in the States". The band has also performed on the main stage of the American heavy metal festival Ozzfest
Ozzfest
Ozzfest is an annual festival tour of the United States featuring performances by many heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon Osbourne, both of whom also organize each yearly tour with their son Jack Osbourne...
. Their latest album Shallow Life
Shallow Life
Shallow Life is the fifth album by Italian band Lacuna Coil. The album was released on April 20, 2009 in Europe and April 21 in North America. As of September, 2009, it has sold over 75,000 copies in the U.S. and 225,000 worldwide.-Background:...
debuted at number 16 on the Billboard charts.
Evanescence
In 2003, the rock group EvanescenceEvanescence
Evanescence is an American rock band founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995 by singer/pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody. After recording private albums, the band released their first full-length album, Fallen, on Wind-up Records in 2003. Fallen sold more than 17 million copies worldwide...
from Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, United States also found commercial success with the release of their debut album Fallen
Fallen (Evanescence album)
-Critical response:Fallen has received generally mixed to positive reviews from music critics. Johnny Loftus of Allmusic scored the album three and a half stars out of five, and named it an AMG Album Pick, saying, "The album does include flashes of the single's PG-rated nu-metal...
. Their style represents a blend of gothic and alternative metal
Alternative metal
Alternative metal is a genre of alternative rock and heavy metal that gained popularity in the early 1990s. Most notably, alternative metal bands are characterized by heavy guitar riffs and experimental approaches to heavy music.-Origins:...
with critics drawing comparisons to other alternative metal acts like P.O.D.
P.O.D.
Payable on Death is an American Christian metal band formed in 1992. The band's line-up consists of vocalist Sonny Sandoval, drummer Wuv Bernardo, guitarist Marcos Curiel, and bassist Traa Daniels. Their Christian faith is an important part of their music.They have released seven studio albums and...
and Linkin Park
Linkin Park
Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. Formed in 1996, the band rose to international fame with their debut album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and multi-platinum in several other countries...
. Further comparisons have since been drawn between Evanescence and gothic metal groups like Within Temptation and Lacuna Coil. Critic Adrien Begrand of PopMatters wryly notes that while Lacuna Coil "had been tirelessly building a fanbase in Europe since the late 1990s with their listener-friendly brand of goth metal", they had been overshadowed by "a bunch of corn-fed kids from Arkansas with a big publicity machine behind them [taking] the very sound the Italian sextet had helped pioneer, and present it to the American suburban goth kids in a much more pop-oriented, dumbed down variation". Cammila Albertson of Allmusic similarly locates Evanescence as one step further from gothic metal, offering the description of the band as "a pop version of an already diluted brand of metal". While Fernando Ribeiro of Moonspell contends that Evanescence is not a metal band, publications such as the New York Times, Rough Guides
Rough Guides
Rough Guides Ltd is a travel guidebook and reference publisher, owned by Pearson PLC. Their travel titles cover more than 200 destinations, and are distributed worldwide through the Penguin Group...
, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
and Blender
Blender (magazine)
Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....
have nonetheless identified Evanescence as a gothic metal act. Adrian Jackson, former bassist My Dying Bride feels the American group is doing something similar to My Dying Bride music, only in a more commercial direction. Gregor Mackintosh of Paradise Lost notes a generation gap between his group and Evanescence, suggesting that Paradise Lost has only influenced Evanescence indirectly through other acts like Lacuna Coil. The success of Evanescence has been recognized for opening "new grounds" for gothic metal bands to "explore and conquer".
HIM
Another act that has attracted both commercial success and controversy is the band HIM. The group has "not only dominated the charts in their native Finland but also across Europe and in particular Germany". Their debut album arrived in 1997 as Greatest Lovesongs, Vol. 666 with music that "combines metal with '80s rock and some goth influences". HIM began moving towards a more "polished pop" direction on their next album Razorblade RomanceRazorblade Romance
Razorblade Romance is the second studio album by HIM, released on 19 December 1999 in Finland and 24 January 2000 in the rest of Europe - except for the UK, where it was released 15 May 2000. It was produced by John Fryer and recorded at Rockfield recording studios in Wales by John Fryer and Paul...
in 2000. The band describes their "Sabbath-meets-Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
sound" as Love Metal, the title of their fourth album in 2003. Their subsequent release two years later Dark Light was their breakthrough album in the United States with a debut at number 18 on the Billboard charts, a feat exceeded when their next album Venus Doom
Venus Doom
Venus Doom is the sixth studio album by Finnish rock band HIM, released on 14 September 2007 , 17 September 2007 internationally and 18 September 2007 in the United States...
in 2007 made a debut at number 12. Critic Lance Teegarden of PopMatters notes that HIM is not "not the sort of act that conjures up a lukewarm response [as] people either like them or discredit them outright". Vocalist Ville Valo
Ville Valo
Ville Hermanni Valo is a Finnish singer, songwriter and frontman of the Finnish rock band HIM. He has received the "Golden God" award in 2004 by the heavy metal magazine Metal Hammer. Valo has a baritone vocal range. Valo was ranked number 80 in Hit Paraders Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time...
contends that the reason why so many rock fans dislike his band is because they are afraid to embrace their feminine side.
Finnish scene
In the 21st century, gothic metal has enjoyed a strong mainstream presence in Finland with many representatives enjoying commercial success. In addition to the aforementioned HIM, the bands CharonCharon (band)
Charon was a Finnish gothic metal band from Raahe, Finland.-Biography:Charon was founded in 1992 by Mario Tepšić, Teemu Hautamäki, Pasi Sipilä, and Jasse Hast and was originally a brutal death metal act. After releasing three promo albums and two demos, all self-released, the band signed a record...
, Entwine
Entwine
Entwine is a Finnish gothic metal band.-Biography:Entwine was originally assembled as a death metal band in 1995 by guitarist and vocalist Tom Mikkola, drummer Aksu Hanttu and bassist Taipale. In 1997 they decided to change Entwine's musical style to gothic metal. Rhythm guitarist and vocalist Panu...
, For My Pain...
For My Pain...
For My Pain... is a gothic metal supergroup from Oulu, Finland, featuring members from Embraze, Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Nightwish, Charon and Reflexion...
, Lullacry
Lullacry
Lullacry is a melodic band with gothic metal influences that hails from Helsinki, Finland. The band recorded their first demo in 1998 and in a short time they had enough of a following to safely attempt a full-length album – Sweet Desire – recorded in 1999. This got the attention of Spinefarm...
, Poisonblack
Poisonblack
Poisonblack is a Finnish heavy/gothic metal band led by singer/guitarist Ville Laihiala, known for his vocals with the band Sentenced from 1996 - 2005...
, Sentenced
Sentenced
Sentenced was a Finnish heavy metal band that played melodic death metal in their early years. The band formed in 1989, in the town of Muhos, Finland, and broke up in 2005.-Early years :...
, and To/Die/For
To/Die/For
To/Die/For is a gothic metal band from the town of Kouvola in southeast of Finland, assembled in 1993 as a hard rock band under the name Mary-Ann. In 1999, they decided to change their musical style to gothic metal, changing their band name as well...
have all found their singles or albums hitting the top ten of the Finnish charts. Of these band, Sentenced notably formed as far back as 1989 with their early albums in the melodic
Melodic death metal
Melodic death metal is a heavy metal music style that combines elements from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal with elements of death metal. The style was developed during the early and mid-1990s, primarily in England and Scandinavia...
and blackened death metal vein. For My Pain... was formed as a supergroup
Supergroup (music)
In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe "a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups"....
with members from other prominent bands in Finland including Nightwish
Nightwish
Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee, Finland. Formed in 1996 by songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former vocalist Tarja Turunen, Nightwish's current line-up has five members, although Tarja has been replaced by Anette Olzon and the...
, Embraze
Embraze
Embraze was a group from Kiiminki, Finland. Their music could be described as a combination of traditional metal and dark/gothic elements. The band's last album The Last Embrace was released on 16 August 2006...
, Eternal Tears of Sorrow
Eternal Tears of Sorrow
Eternal Tears of Sorrow is a Finnish symphonic death metal band formed in Pudasjärvi in Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland...
and Reflexion
Reflexion (band)
Reflexion is a mix of Gothic Metal, Alternative Metal and Melodic Hard Rock band from Finland.Formed as Enchanted in 1995, but in 1996 they changed their name to Barbarianz, and then to Reflexion in 2000.-Members:* Juha Kylmänen – Vocals...
.
External links
- [ Goth metal] at Allmusic