White Gothic is the debut album by the German gothic metal

Gothic metal

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...

 band Necromance

Necromance

Necromance was a Christian gothic metal band from Spremberg, Germany, formed in 1987, disbanded in 2002. Originally signed to Morbid Records as a death metal act and later signed to Pleitegeier Records after changing the music style, the band built a reputation in the underground scenes touring...

 released in 1997.

Recording

The album was released on independently in 1997 and the band self-marketed the album to magazines. Afterwards the band signed a record deal with Pleitegeier Records.

Musically, the album's style is gothic metal. The output is characterized by distorted power chord guitars, symphonic keyboards, and steril computer drums. Other characteristical elements are Runhardt Scheffler's rough and half growled vocals, a relic from the band's death metal roots. Some vocals are sung by the female singer-guitarist Sandra. Her mid-range, melancholic voice is a very dominant element on songs such as "Morgenlied in Böser Zeit." The songstructures on the album are somewhat simple, basing more emphasis on dark, introspective, and decadentic atmosphere rather than rich soundscapes or technical playing. Some of the songs such as "Mysterious Night" and "Eternal Glory" contain more traditional guitar playing reminiscent of the early deathrock

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:...

 and 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...

 bands, and cleaner vocals. The production on the album is dry and thin, and the drums and keyboards are more up-front in the mix.

The word "white" in the album title refers to the Christian lyrical themes that collide with gothic dark romantic thematics. The lyrics contain Bible citations on End times

End times

The end time, end times, or end of days is a time period described in the eschatological writings in the three Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios in various other non-Abrahamic religions...

 on songs such as the outro "Voice in the Wilderness." Two of the album's songs are sung in German.

Reception

Although criticized for production issues, varying song material and sometimes playing out of key, the album received positive reviews from the underground media. For example The German gothic music and subculture magazine Orkus wrote about the album in its November issue in 1997: "Metallic guitars combined with hypnotic—melancholic—melodic keyboard sounds, a strongly whispering singing and a beautiful female voice to a symbiosis that is not only fun, but also very fresh sounding!" Other zines also gave the album favorable reviews. Refraktor 6 wrote: "Here is now my masterpiece of Necromance... Friends of gothic sounds can access this without hesitation." Different Frequenzies gave it 3 out of 4 and wrote: "Necromance gave me an interesting insight into a religious world and created with White Gothic a very innovative piece of music that music fans should not miss..." Dark Heart wrote in winter 1997/1998: "Every song on the album is a gem in itself, you would not want to miss that if you heard it once... on its CD Necromance establishes their status as gothic - outright cult band."

Track listing

1. "Wait for Me" - 3:47
2. "Morgenlied in Böser Zeit" - 4:54
3. "The Harvest of the Earth" - 3:59
4. "Our Seats Are Empty" - 3:28
5. "Lilies of the Field" - 4:30
6. "Signs of the End of the Age" - 2:04
7. "Mysterious Night" - 3:46
8. "God Is Might" - 4:08
9. "Eternal Glory" - 2:35
10. "Sounds of Brainstorms" - 3:18
11. "Vom Sterben" - 4:27
12. "Waiting for the Lord" - 3:03
13. "Vom Hindern" - 4:04
14. "Voice in the Wilderness" - 4:08

External links

• White Gothic at Metal-Archives