Pioneers 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 The 69 Eyes, 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[1], Lacuna Coil[2], Evanescence[3]and Cradle of Filth[4] have found commercial success.
Etymology
The term gothic entered heavy metal music with the release of Paradise Lost'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 Gothic".[5] 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.[6] In the gothic metal subgenre, members from such groups as After Forever,[7] HIM[8] and Nightwish[9] have similarly downplayed or dismissed the gothic label from their music.Characteristics
Music
The music of gothic metal is generally characterised by its dark atmospheres.[10] 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.[11] Gothic metal has also been described as "a combination of the darkness and melancholy of goth rock with heavy metal".[12] 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".[13]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,[14] Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride has been taken up by groups like Artrosis,[15] Ava Inferi[16] and Draconian.[17] The black metal approach of Cradle of Filth, Theatres des Vampires and early Moonspell can be found in such subsequent bands as Graveworm,[18] Drastique and Samsas Traum[19] 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
Vocals
Lyrics
The lyrics of gothic metal are known to be "epic and melodramatic".[12] For the three English bands that helped to pioneer the genre, their sorrowful and depressive lyrics reflect their background in doom metal.[26] The music of My Dying Bride has been noted as "dripping with treachery and pain" from a "lyrical fascination with deceit and transgressions of every variety".[27] Lyrics that focus on suicide and the meaninglessness of life can be found in Anathema[28] while Paradise Lost too has "never lost their depressive edge".[29]
Lyrics based on personal experiences is another common feature of many gothic metal bands such as Anathema,[41] Elis,[42] Tiamat,[43] Midnattsol[44] and The Old Dead Tree.[45] Graveworm moved away from fantasy stories in favor of personal lyrics after finding them more suitable for their style of music.[46] 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.[47] 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".[48]
History
Precursors
Heavy metal
Heavy metal music is perceived by many members of the goth subculture as the "crass, crude macho antithesis of everything that their music represents".[49] In contrast to the "softer" and "more feminine" character of gothic music, the heavy metal genre is typically associated with aggression, sexism and masculinity.[50] Despite this difference, "a few bold souls have identified Black Sabbath’s eponymous 1970 debut album as the first ever 'Goth-rock' record".[49] 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".[49] Other commentators have described Black Sabbath as the "absolute prototype gothic heavies"[51] 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".[52]
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".[13] 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".[53] Deep Purple's song "Stormbringer" has been called a "goth metal treasure".[54] The Danish metal band Mercyful Fate had also demonstrated "a Gothic obsession with evil and the occult".[55] Frontman King Diamond continued exploring his interest in gothic storytelling after establishing a solo career under his own moniker,[56] issuing "a series of concept albums which told Gothic horror tales with sound effects and song".[57] During the 1980s, the former Misfits frontman Glenn Danzig also "occupied the no man's land between Goth and heavy metal".[57] 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".[58]
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.[59] 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".[60] 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".[61]
Gothic rock
Gothic rock 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".[62] 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".[63] 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.[64] Fields of the Nephilim had also released only three studio albums before their initial dissolution in 1991.[65] 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)".[66]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".[13] 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.[67] Guitarist Valor Kand took over the reins and under his leadership, Christian Death subsequently pursued a more metal-oriented direction.[67][68] 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".[69]
Origins
The Peaceville Three
Paradise Lost was the first to form in 1988 in Halifax, England.[74] 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".[75] 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".[76] 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".[76] Gothic was a chart success across Europe, particularly in Germany,[77] 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[78] 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.[79] By the time of 1995's Draconian Times album, Paradise Lost's music firmly stood "between stark, oppressive goth rock and crunching heavy metal".[80] 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".[81] 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".
| “ | We knew that when Celtic Frost disappeared and turned into a glam rock band, we knew there was a market there for this sort of over-the-top avant-garde band, someone who were doing something a bit weird and unusual. Paradise Lost were doing similar-ish kind of things, but I don't think they had this more romantic edge. We definitely worked for that gothic appeal, and I'm not really sure why.[85] | ” |
 | Doom/death metal meets gothic music on this title track of Paradise Lost's second album Gothic. Clean, melancholic vocals can be heard in this sample from My Dying Bride's third album The Angel and the Dark River. |
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Other pioneers
| A gothic interpretation of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" with a reduced tempo, ambient keyboards and crooning baritone vocals can be found on the 1994 reissue of Type O Negative's second album The Origin of the Feces. Gentle whispered vocals are alternated with death metal grunts in this 30 second sample from Tiamat's fourth album Wildhoney. |
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As far back as 1985, Celtic Frost had used female vocals for some songs on their To Mega Therion album.[106] Paradise Lost began making similar use of female vocals from their very first album Lost Paradise in 1990.[75] 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.[107] The music on the album was "firmly rooted in the dark, midtempo style of gothic and doom metal".[108] Their second album Almost a Dance arrived in the following year with new vocalist Niels Duffhues, "a strange choice for the band".[109] Duffhues' "punk-ish" and "alt-rock" style of singing was widely seen as out of place with the music,[108][109] a perception that was shared by the band themselves.[110] and the album was "largely written off as a result."[109] 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".[111] The result was considered a "groundbreaking achievement" upon its release in 1995[112] with critics lavishly describing it as "the perfect pinnacle of gothic metal".[113] The Gathering's "introspective atmosphere owed a creative debt to Dead Can Dance, and established them as a leading band in their native Holland".[105]
Development
Gothic black metal
The Portuguese band Moonspell debuted in 1994 with Under the Moonspell, "one of the more worthy black metal releases of the early '90s".[115] The music on this EP was "atmospheric with folk and Middle Eastern influences",[116] drawing inspiration from Dead Can Dance[105] through the use of guest musicians on the flute, violin, timpani, gongs and Arabic vocals.[117] On the strength of this EP, the band became "the frontrunners" in the Portuguese metal scene and were offered a recording deal by the "major German independent label Century Media Records".[117] It was through this label that they released their first full length album Wolfheart in 1995 "incorporating the genre's trademark elements" of "morbid lyrical schemes, dreary and melancholy riffs, ambient keyboards" and "demonic chorales".[118] While the music of Moonspell has "always flirted between Metal music and Darkwave and Gothic",[119] the inspiration for this first album was still black metal groups like Celtic Frost and Bathory.[120] Their next album Irreligious in 1996 was inspired instead by the goth pioneers Type O Negative,[120] a group that they soon toured with.[117] Other influences that Moonspell has recognized include the goth rock acts Mission U.K., the Sisters of Mercy and "especially" Fields of the Nephilim.[119] Wolfheart had "caused a minor sensation on the European underground with its epic metallic hymns" while Irreligious had "reinforced their position as heralds of the Gothic metal movement".[105] By the time of their fourth album Butterfly Effect in 1999, Moonspell had "quickly evolved into one of the major players of the European goth-metal scene".[121]
| Black metal screams collide with deep baritone vocals over some ambient keyboards in this 30 second sample from Moonspell's debut album Wolfheart. A mid-paced passage from Cradle of Filth's second album Dusk... and Her Embrace exposes the gothic side of this black metal band more clearly. |
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Beauty and the beast
The term "beauty and the beast" refers to an aesthetic contrasting "angelic" female vocals with male growls or aggressive singing.[24] 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.[126] Theatre of Tragedy's third album Aégis in 1998 saw the band "venturing into fresh musical territory".[126] 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".[127] The music was more clean and soft,[127] "stripped of guitar harshness" but with a "near flawless execution" that "prompted many European critics to award Aégis perfect review scores".[126]
| A simultaneous duet between soprano and death vocals can be heard in this 24 second sample from Theatre of Tragedy's self-titled debut album. This 30 second sample from Tristania's second album Beyond the Veil feature three distinct vocal styles with a black metal shriek followed by soprano and baritone vocals. |
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For over a decade, this beauty and the beast aesthetic has flourished with many representatives across the European continent.[24] 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.[133] A few critics have since lament that the approach has been "done to death by countless bands"[134] to the point that it has become something of a cliché in the genre.
Symphonic gothic metal
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.[135] A debut album Enter was unveiled in the following year, followed shortly by an EP The Dance.[136] 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".[136] The album was a commercial success with their lead single "Ice Queen" topping the charts in Belgium and their native Netherlands.[137] Their third album The Silent Force arrived in 2004 as an "ambitious project featuring a full orchestra and 80-voice choir accompanying the band".[138] The result was another commercial success across Europe[138] and introduced "the world of heavy guitars and female vocals" to "a mainstream audience".[139]
Within Temptation's brand of gothic metal combines "the guitar-driven force of hard rock with the sweep and grandeur of symphonic music".[138] 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".[140] 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.[141]
| Rapid orchestral strings move to the forefront on the chorus of this title track from Within Temptation's second album Mother Earth. Orchestral strings underline this beauty and the beast exchange from Epica's debut album The Phantom Agony. |
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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[150] before introducing gothic elements on their 2004 album Once,[151] particularly on the single "Wish I Had an Angel".[152] 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.[153] In the book Rough Guide to Heavy Metal, Essi Berelian describes Nightwish as "gothic film score metal".[154] The Swedish group Therion also introduced gothic elements to their brand of symphonic metal on their 2007 album Gothic Kabbalah.[155][156]
Commercial success
Paradise Lost
With the release of their sixth album One Second 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.[157] 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".[158] Subsequent albums "progressively experimented with electronics and pop elements, with the guitars gradually getting pushed further into the background".[81] The result was "an accessible sound and a strong emphasis on catchy choruses".[159] Despite attaining "a huge reputation in Europe, where all of their albums have sold strongly",[77] 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".[72]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[133] and mainstream appearances on MTV,[160] a level of success that has attracted accusations of "selling out" by the "black metal faithful".[20]Moonspell and Within Temptation
Moonspell too has "lost a lot of fans who couldn't keep up with the changes" to their music.[120] 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.[161] Nonetheless, the band has continued to experience success with their 2006 album Memorial debuting at number 1 on their native Portuguese charts.[117] They were rewarded with the "Best Portuguese Act" award at the 2006 MTV European Music Awards,[162] a feat matched by Within Temptation in the following year with the "Best Dutch & Belgian Act" award.[163] Within Temptation further received recognition as their country's best selling artist at the 2007 World Music Awards.[164]
Lacuna Coil
The Italian band Lacuna Coil has also become a "premiere act" of the gothic metal genre.[165] The group employs both a female and a male vocalist in Cristina Scabbia and 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.[166] The band "turned a lot of heads in Italy's ambient/goth scene" with their self-titled EP in 1998.[167] Their debut album In a Reverie was released in 1999 with a style that bore "some similarities to contemporaries like the Gathering and Moonspell".[168] Lacuna Coil's music was also "more accessible than many of their peers".[169] 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".[167] 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.[165] 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[24] and impressive album sales.[165] Their highly anticipated[170] fourth album Karmacode was even more successful, debuting at number 28 on the Billboard charts, and also debuting on many European music charts.[165] The Comalies and Karmacode albums "reportedly sold nearly 1 million units combined worldwide, a good chunk of that in the States".[24] The band has also performed on the main stage of the American heavy metal festival Ozzfest.[171] Their latest album "Shallow Life" debuted at number 16 on the billboard charts.
Evanescence
In 2003, the rock group Evanescence from Arkansas, United States also found commercial success with the release of their debut album Fallen.[172] Their style represents a blend of gothic and alternative metal[173] with critics drawing comparisons to other alternative metal acts like P.O.D.[174] and Linkin Park.[175] Further comparisons have since been drawn between Evanescence and gothic metal groups like Within Temptation and Lacuna Coil.[176] 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".[177] 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".[176] While Fernando Ribeiro of Moonspell contends that Evanescence is not a metal band,[178] publications such as the New York Times, Rough Guides, Rolling Stone and Blender have nonetheless identified Evanescence as a gothic metal act.[179][180][181][182] 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.[183] 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.[184] The success of Evanescence has been recognized for opening "new grounds" for gothic metal bands to "explore and conquer".[185]
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