Gothic metal
It is called gothic metal (in English: Gothic Metal or Goth Metal) to a trend and musical genre that began taking inspiration from both Doom Metal (which was born out of Heavy Metal) and the gothic rock of the gothic subculture. It usually addresses themes related to love, passion, loneliness, sadness, blood, sensuality, sexuality, innocence and darkness, and is influenced by poetry, vampirism, literature, philosophy and romanticism. This suggests that this music is a trending metal bent stemming from the gothic movement and vice versa. However, there is no verifiable data to know if this is officially correct, just as there is no verifiable data to the contrary.
This music simply consists of the heaviness of metal (more specifically Doom Metal) with the dark atmospheres of gothic rock and some of its musical characteristics, together with other atmospheric and musical elements typical of Gothic Metal, that is, original elements created through the fusion of Gothic Rock and Doom Metal.
You can start talking about Gothic Metal from the nineties, because it was during that time when the first bands were born and with it the musical genre. During that time there was a decline in the gothic music scene in terms of the repercussion of the genre in the media, but even so groups of unquestionable importance continued to be born. The new subgenres that were appearing unbalanced some fans who until then had described their groups as Gothic Rock, Darkwave, Industrial etc, depending on the music practiced by them. In this way, and thanks to the new trends that created musical combinations or hybrids, new subgenres would appear that would help to rekindle the flame of the scene. One of the subgenres that appeared and had the greatest relevance in an underground or commercial way (depending on the band and its location) at the time was Gothic Metal in the mid-90s.
Pioneers
The pioneers were bands like Type O Negative, Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride with some of their work, and later, Tristania, The Sins of Thy Beloved, The Gathering, Theater of Tragedy, Tiamat, Moonspell, Lacrimas Profundere among many others (mostly bands from Europe), would finish consolidating the genre.
These formations would apply gradual changes to their music, initially practicing subgenres such as doom/death or death/doom, to later move away from it in order to enter another side of the musical spectrum to add gothic influences but without abandon Metal altogether, thus creating the first sounds and therefore the first gothic metal bands. However, not all bands have gone through this process because various groups have started in one way and have continued with slight changes but staying more faithful to their original sound, but this varies depending on the group, as there are even bands that did not start with influences. of Doom Death, such as The Sins of Thy Beloved that began with a gothic style and continued towards its end. On the other hand, we can see how there are bands that, although they started with a classic Doom Metal sound, still didn't do it with Doom/Death in mind, but simply Doom/Gothic, as is the case with Tristania's first album.
Many bands have included classical music influences to their music, thus adding pianos, violins, among others. Other bands have also been more faithful to gothic or darkwave rock, thus including drum machines, synthesizers, baritone and/or harsh voices, along with more decadent guitars typical of the gothic/sinister environment. There were also bands that would begin to add influences from styles such as Synth Rock, industrial and more electronic sounds to their music, thus creating a deeper fusion of Darkwave and Gothic Rock, as is the case of the band Theaters Des Vampires on their album Suicide Vampire.
Some of the line-ups in later years (examples of this would be Paradise Lost's Host albums, Moonspell's Sin / Pecado and Butterfly FX or Tiamat's A Deeper Kind Of Slumber among others) would use these influences. It's all about a phase of experimentation for some of these bands, who would later choose to recover the heavy sound of their guitars and others would continue the experimentation, totally moving away from the subgenre and even leaving the gothic influence. (Anathema, for example, opted for the atmospheric and progressive and many others would remain permanently anchored to the subgenre.
The first two waves were the ones that experimented with things never seen before, fusing elements of extreme metal and gothic/sinister, creating what inspired later bands.
This genre developed more on the European continent, the US saw the appearance of the genre with bands like Type O Negative, who would be in charge of fusing heavy guitars influenced by groups like Black Sabbath with a musical style that communicates the atmosphere gothic rock. Later they would appear following the path traced by them, the band The 69 Eyes, which had previously released works in which they practiced glam rock, a style that they would abandon to switch to gothic metal. Gothic singers Eva O and her husband Rozz Williams from the Death Rock band Christian Death would end up creating a Gothic Rock, Death Rock and Gothic Metal project called Shadow Project.
Features
Music
Although gothic metal does not focus on an exact specific sound, it is equally recognizable for the fusion of elements from both scenes (Doom Metal - gothic subculture), not always being in the same measure or quantity of each one, this being a "random" elaborated by the preferences of the members of the bands. However, thanks to the fact that most of the bands tend to be influenced by the same elements, this has caused the existence of certain key parameters that tend to be repeated in most of the songs despite the differences between them, which allows us to be able to recognize Gothic Metal even and even then when it is combined with other types of music such as Black Metal.
If we listen to the songs "Venus" and "Cassandra" from Theater of Tragedy, "December Elegy", "Opus Relinque" and "A Sequel of Decay" by Tristania, "Mournful Euphony", "Until the Dark" and "Forever" from the band The Sins Of Thy Beloved, "Solitude and Salvation" by the band Avrigus, the song "Dark Erotica" of Galadriel, "Cauda Draconis" from Draconian, "Queen Of The Damned" and "Theater of Horrors" by Theaters des Vampires, or the songs "Realm of Darkness" or "Suspiria" from the band Darkwell, we will be able to basically understand what and how Gothic Metal is aurally.
It should also be noted that there are bands that sound much more like Doom Metal such as Draconian or Tales of Dark, which despite their greater inclination towards Doom Death are also bands that fit within the Gothic Metal subgenre because they are more influenced by this compared to other Doom bands such as Saturnus which has nothing to do with Gothic Metal. Another important detail of these bands that sound more like Doom Death but are still Gothic Metal, is the simple fact that they comply with the rest of the Gothic Metal characteristics already mentioned up to now, which means that this type of Bands normally characterized as "Gothic Doom", within an imaginary "gothic metal/doom metal" spectrum, are more "on the side" of the "gothic" but without losing the rest of the Doom's features. Even, the more a Gothic Metal band sounds like Doom, the more it moves away from looking like Symphonic Metal and therefore sounds more like Gothic Metal, which makes it more faithful to the genre; this means that among fans' there may be the consideration and opinion that "the more a Gothic Metal band sounds like Doom, the more Gothic Metal it is", as long as it is obviously faithful to the influences Gothic Rock and Darkwave in regards to what is the sound and theme in the dark atmospheres created by the music and lyrics. On the other hand, there are "Gothic Doom" that do not have that brutal and/or aggressive sound of Doom Death, but rather tend to have a much calmer and more atmospheric sound, but without losing the dark or sinister atmosphere of Gothic Metal by being more influenced by Gothic Rock, Darkwave and even from the Ethereal Wave, a genre that mixes quite well with Doom. A notable example of this would be the Australian band Avrigus, more specifically their first two albums and Theater of Tragedy on their album Aegis, which has a sound where the only Doom thing is the heavy guitar, because of the rest, from the bass and the melodic guitar to the drums sounds fully Goth Rock.
We also cannot forget that there are bands that have all these characteristics, but due to their particularity they have also chosen to have Extreme Metal influences, which has led to the existence of Gothic Metal songs with guitars and/or drums that recall the Death Metal or Black Metal, as is the example of the songs "Angel of Destiny" by the band Via Mística, the song "The Hand of Death" by Vampiria, or the songs "The Mournful Euphony" and "Pandemonium" from The Sins Of Thy Beloved. There are even bands where Doom is scarce in its sound and therefore they are a Goth Metal that seems more like a Goth Rock with elements of Metal and not the opposite, as is the case of the gothic band Luna Reign that calls their music as "Gothic Rock/Metal Darkwave". There are other bands that play a Doom Metal strongly influenced by Goth Rock, such as the already mentioned case of the band Theater of Tragedy that played a Doom Metal with strong nuances of Gothic Rock on their album Aegis, or the Gothic Metal band Dawn of Oblivion in their song "Years", which consists of a full-fledged Gothic Rock, but keeping some Doom nuances, which creates a Gothic sound similar to that of the Theater of Tragedy album Aegis. Within this we can also name bands like Theaters des Vampires that in their album Suicide Vampire played a Gothic Metal with influences in their guitars, songs and keyboards added to danceable and electronic environments typical of Darkwave and Goth Rock, you can't help but name the theme "Until The Dark" from The Sins Of Thy Beloved, which is a Gothic Doom that meets many traditional Goth Rock nuances, even what it has from Doom is only heavy guitar, the rest can easily be classified as a Gothic Rock theme. Or Mandragora Scream that on the albums Madhouse and A Whisper of Dew also played a Gothic Metal with strong Goth Rock nuances. Even the latter has also been considered as a Gothic Metal, Goth Rock and Industrial band. And we cannot fail to mention the Gothic Metal, Industrial and Symphonic Black Metal band Lord Vampyr, which in their album "Carpathian Tragedies", among many hybrid songs between Gothic Doom, Industrial, Black Metal, there is one of traditional Goth Rock, that song is When the Death is Not the End, in which only at the end of the song does a Gothic Doom drum sound, but the rest is Goth Rock and even Darkwave in its entirety.
Although it is commonly believed that there is not, or really is not much direct musical influence of Gothic Rock or Darkwave in Gothic Metal in most of the bands, because these are more often inspired and influenced by Gothic music through from the dark/sinister and mysterious atmospheres created through music with certain melodies, songs and themes dealt with in the songs, there are also Gothic Metal bands and Gothic Rock if they took musical influences more than environmental ones, with which We understand that they apply and/or applied Gothic musical techniques in their sound, thus creating a Gothic Metal that complies to a greater extent with the musical parameters of Goth Rock despite being Metal. There are even Goth Rock, Ethereal Wave, Darkwave and Deathrock bands whose sounds when heard are able to contemplate elements that could undoubtedly serve as inspiration to create Gothic Metal regardless of the date the bands were founded.
This idea, although it is not official (therefore it cannot be denied or accepted, which gives room for subjectivity), was born thanks to the similarity of the sounds of various traditional gothic bands with the sounds of many bands of Gothic Metal and Gothic Doom.
Thanks to these examples that could have led to the creation of Gothic Metal, not only can you notice the influences of Goth Rock in Gothic Metal, but you can also contemplate the musical equality of both genres due to the high sound similarity with many Gothic Metal songs, which in turn also shows how Gothic Metal could have really been nurtured and influenced by Goth Rock. And this, added to the previously mentioned Gothic Doom bands, whose sound is faithful to Goth Rock, we can strongly deduce and consider the fact that Gothic Metal was born, or could have really been born from the fusion between Goth Rock and Doom Metal, with which a musical hybrid was created, a perfect symbiosis, where both genres become one, where the Gothic and the heaviness of Doom form a unique musical genre, a Gothic music without equal.
Among the most notable examples that could influence Gothic Metal we find the songs "Eternal Passion" and "The Omen" by the Goth Rock band Two Witches, the song "Catherine" by the Goth Rock band Inkubus Sukkubus, the songs "Prokletí domu slunečnic", "Měsíc Lovce" and "Elizabeth" from the gothic Goth Rock and Hard Rock band XIII. Století, the song "Of The Fear" by the Gothic Rock and Ethereal Wave band Dyonisis, the songs "A Ona Ona", "W Moin Kraju", "Władza" and "agnieszka" by the Polish Gothic Rock band Closterkeller, the songs "Roses from the Yard", "Fell a Dance", "Below the baleful star", " The Vain Stroke" and "Song for a Sick Child" by the Ethereal Wave band Mors Syphilitica, the song "Tortured" by the band "Catherines Cathedral", the song "Wet Ground" by the Goth Rock and Ethereal Wave band Violet Tears, the song "Cold Wind" by the Gothic Rock band Paralyzed Age, the songs "Not Seen" and " Children Of The Night" by the famous Deathrock singer Eva O, the song "Sacriface" by the gothic Goth Rock and Darkwave band London After Midnight, the song "All I Have" by the famous and important Darkwave band Clan of Xymox, and the songs "Moundshroud" and "Sadist Sagittarius" from the deathrock band Cinema Strange.
In this way, there are many other similar cases where certain characteristics (musical and environmental) can be noticed directly from the music of the batcave scene that could influence and nurture Gothic Metal, and there are even examples where even Goth Rock bands would add influences of Metal to its sound.
Basically and based on everything already said so far, we can say that the genre germinated and started in Doom Metal with a dark character but later other bands would add gothic influences typical of Goth Rock, Darkwave, and Wave Ethereal to Doom (although this doesn't always happen) and even other extreme metal influences, thus creating the current Gothic Metal as we know it. All these combinations exist because most of the bands of this musical genre tend to be formations that like experimentation, the fusion of genres and contrasts, but without losing the dark and gloomy atmosphere typical of the Gothic and Doom.
Summarizing, gothic metal is the musical genre that maintains and fuses the influences of both the subgenres of Heavy Metal, Doom Metal and the music of the "Batcave" (Gothic Rock, Darkwave, etc...) and each band has its variable according to its particular mixture of elements of the subgenres of both styles, both in environment, as well as in voices and instrumentation, thus finding inspiration in all the elements of both scenes. music, thus creating music that consists of the combination of darkly slow (or fast, depending on the band and the subject) heavy (and in some cases explosive) guitars that are commonly accompanied by melodic guitars whose melodies are usually sublime but at the same time times abysmal that go hand in hand with heavy and dense basses predominant in many cases, romantic or disastrous keyboards and synthesizers, slow drums with an echo effect (or fast and extreme), gloomy baritone chants or gloomy male gutturals accompanied by mysterious, ethereal and romantic female songs and both songs communicate themes in the lyrics that consist of dark, occult, romantic, gloomy, introspective and mysterious topics you are
Vocal Styles
Vocal styles generally used in Gothic Metal range from gutturals in the style of Death Metal or Black Metal to clean and melodic voices such as baritone or low-pitched voices, soprano voice, mezzo-soprano, tenor, singing Gregorians, choirs, and even voices reminiscent of pop music. Usually bands use combinations of all these types of songs to create a theatrical and poetic atmosphere. However, the style typically used is "beauty and the beast" which consists of the combination of feminine sopranos or mezzosopranos with masculine gutturals.
As mentioned before, the origins of the style lie mainly in Doom metal bands. However, various bands have been inspired by the "batcave" (traditional gothic scene), with respect to the way of singing to thus give a greater gothic atmosphere to the matter. Based on this, we can understand that among the vocal styles we have both the guttural or clean voices of Doom Metal and typical songs of Gothic Rock, Darkwave, among others, such as: clean voices, generally baritones or with low tones, whispers, confused voices, and even ragged but without falling into the guttural voice. Normally all these tend to create a sinister, dark and gloomy environment typical of gothic music and Doom Metal.
On the basis of this, certain phenomena occurred, such as the fact that various bands that started playing Doom Death Metal moved away from this and began to incorporate clean voices, generally baritones or with low tones, inherited from rock gothic, an example of this would be Johan Edlund, lead singer of Tiamat and Lucyfire or the late Peter Steele of Type O Negative. Rougher voices can also be heard at some points in the careers of these bands. Examples of this would be Tiamat's Wildhoney album or Paradise Lost's Icon and Draconian Times works. And we also have the bands that combine both styles: both the guttural and the clean voices, but without losing the dark and gloomy atmosphere, and in some cases hybrid between happy and gloomy, which is a contrast used in all gothic music in general..
All this means that within the genre there is, as already mentioned at the beginning, a combination of all these types of songs, regardless of whether they are typical metal voices, or gothic rock and darkwave.
Themes covered in the songs
As in Doom Metal, Gothic Rock and Darkwave, the themes covered in Gothic Metal songs are usually a range of varied content, although they all tend to go hand in hand.
Among the most typical contents there is a great influence of romanticism, German expressionist cinema, literature and horror movies (ghosts, nightmares, vampires, among others...), including topics such as religion, mythology, legends, the occult, introspection, love, hate, philosophy, stories about characters like the Byronian hero, including life issues in general that are treated from a darkly introspective perspective or with a tendency towards nihilism. Other bands, thanks to the influence of Doom Metal, tend more towards themes such as existentialism and depression among other strong feelings, but this varies according to the band, because there are even very happy bands where even the themes are treated in a way contrary to darkness., and therefore consist of light and everything that poetically has to do with it.
All these tend to be the most traditional themes, but even so there are variations depending on the bands and their particular inspirations.
Development
Beauty and the Beast
The term "beauty and the beast" refers to the contrasts of a clean female angelic or soprano voice with aggressive or guttural male singing. It should be noted and clarified that this technique does not determine if a band is Gothic Metal or not, since there are Death Doom, Funeral Doom, Black Metal, Symphonic Death Metal and Symphonic/Melodic Metal bands that use this technique and have little or nothing to do with it. do with Gothic Metal.
Paradise Lost and The Gathering had already made use of this technique in some songs on their first albums, but the Norwegian Theater of Tragedy, with the release of their first self-titled LP, was the pioneer in consecrating the use of the technique in 1995. The second album Velvet Darkness They Fear arrived the following year.
Theater of Tragedy's third album titled Aégis and released in 1998, the band ventures into gothic musical territory entirely. The piano becomes more abundant, while Raymond Rohonyi opted to eliminate his guttural voices in favor of soft singing or also sometimes baritone whispers. The music on this record was cleaner and smoother, shedding the guitar distortion but offsetting it with a full performance that prompted many European critics to give Aegis perfect or outstanding album.
Other groupings contrasting aggressive male vocals and clean female vocals continued to emerge into the 1990s. Trail of Tears formed in 1994, while Tristania and The Sins Of Thy Beloved emerged in 1996. All three Norwegian groups released their debut albums in 1998.
Tristania sets itself apart from the other groups, with their use of three distinct vocal styles: Vibeke Stene's operatic soprano, Østen Bergøy's baritone, and Morten Veland's throaty death-black metal style. Their second album Beyond The Veil in 1999 used ten-piece backing vocals and prominent violin passages from Pete Johansen, also a collaborator on The Sins Of Thy Beloved and later Sirenia. By then, the band had risen to the top of symphonic-style gothic metal.
Then, they later suffered a major loss in creative songwriting and imagery when lead singer/guitarist/songwriter Morten Veland left the group to form Sirenia, though Tristania have continued to thrive albeit veering away from the Gothic Metal of their first jobs.
The band Crematory from the album Act Seven would use a similar technique but using the guttural vocals of their lead singer, Gerhard "Felix" Stass together with the clean and melodic sounds of Matthias Hechler and some collaboration from other artists. In this case, there are two male singers. The band was also incorporating electronic elements in some of their work, by their pianist Katrin Jüllich. In 2015 Matthias Hechler left the band.
For this decade, the "beauty and the beast" technique has flourished with many representatives throughout the European continent. Cradle of Filth also became known for making use of this technique through guest vocalists Liv Kristine and Sarah Jezebel Deva. Some critics lament that the approach to this technique has caused the disappearance of countless bands, to the point that it has become a cliché in the genre of gothic metal the use or appearance of a female vocalist in the band.
Relation between Gothic Metal and Black Metal
Portuguese band Moonspell debuted in 1994 with Under The Moonspell, one of the most important black metal releases of the early nineties. The music on this EP was atmospheric with Middle Eastern folk influences, through the use of guest musicians on flute, violin, timpani, gonges, and Arabic voices. With the strength of this EP, the band took the lead in the Portuguese metal scene and signed a contract with the important independent German label Century Media Records.
Moonspell released their first full-length album Wolfheart in 1995, making a transition into gothic metal incorporating the elements of the genre: morbid lyrical schemes, sad and melancholic structures or ambient keyboards. While Moonspell's music has always flirted between heavy metal music and the gothic subculture, the inspiration for this first album was still black metal inspired by Celtic Frost and Bathory. Their next album, Irreligious, was released in 1996 and you can find the inspiration for Type O Negative using more baritone vocals on it. Other influences Moonspell has recognized include gothic rock bands like The Sisters Of Mercy and most notably Fields Of The Nephilim for their baritone voice. Wolfheart had caused a minor sensation in the European underground with their epic anthems closer to extreme metal while Irreligious had reinforced their position as the heralds of the gothic metal movement.
In 1998, their third album titled Sin / Pecado, the band undergoes a radical change in what was known from Moonspell, incorporating electronic sounds. Moonspell had quickly evolved into one of the greatest exponents of the European gothic metal scene, however in the process, the band had disassociated themselves from their relationship with black metal. His next job would be his most experimental work, a job where industrial rock music was added to his particular sound. In this work they would recover the torn or aggressive voices that related it to black metal. After this work the band would stop experimenting to focus their sound between gothic metal and black metal, using more elements of one genre or another in each work or composition.
English band Cradle Of Filth have combined black metal's distinctive heavy guitars and guttural vocals, with the strong cliché of gothic imagery. While other groups have included gothic trappings in their music, Cradle Of Filth is a band that has managed to turn two styles into one solid one, making gothic music with many of its defining elements while being just as aggressive as black metal.. The sound consists of the long keyboard formula, intermittent operatic vocals, fast and aggressive guitars along with the typical black metal ripping vocals, which were combined with other low and high tones.
For years it has received a mixed reception from both scenes, however, in the classic original black metal scene, Cradle of Filth is a controversial band, due to the band's efforts to break the mold or stereotypes of black metal, mocking the more radical and closed-minded, accusing the band of its commercialization and abandonment of the underground, in which the band was proud of its generational heritage in black metal.
The band entered a transformation process through some member changes, some of whom formed another gothic metal outfit The Blood Divine, with former Anathema vocalist Darren White.
The most important and recognized works of the band have been those released between 1994 and 2000: The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh, Dusk... And Her Embrace, Vempire Or Dark Fairy Tales In Phallustein, Cruelty And The Beast and Midian, although they have since successfully continued their career, editing many other works of the same quality.
Relation between Gothic Metal and Symphonic Metal
The music and lyrics of the gothic subculture would be fused with symphonic and classical music by the duet Lacrimosa, a group that would also add influences from gothic metal on subsequent albums, collaborating with numerous heavy metal bands on various aspects, for example, Atrocity or Kreator. It would not be until 1993 when Lacrimosa became a duet and not just a project by Tilo Wolff, with the singer and pianist Anne Nurmi forming part of Lacrimosa. They have gone on to record with the London Symphony Orchestra
On albums like Fassade or Lichtgestalt is where you can find hard guitars inspired by gothic metal.
Therion formation created by Christofer Johnsson, would be a band that would begin practicing death metal to later fuse elements of heavy metal with symphonic instruments, orchestras and reminiscences of classical music. His association with gothic metal is sporadic, adding elements of this genre and the gothic subculture in some of his works, such as his acclaimed album Theli, in songs like Cult Of The Shadows.
As you can see, Lacrimosa and Therion have symphonic and classical aspects in common, but each one came from opposite currents.
The aforementioned Tristania weren't the only gothic metal band to have a symphonic edge to their music after Therion's appearance.
Influenced by Paradise Lost, Anathema and My Dying Bride along with The Gathering or Theater Of Tragedy, Dutch band Within Temptation were founded in 1996. Their debut album Enter was released the following year, followed briefly by an EP called The Dance. Both releases made use of the "beauty and the beast" by vocalists Sharon Den Adel and Robert Westerholt.
Her second full-length album Mother Earth was released in 2000, characterized by completely abandoning guttural vocals, relying solely on Sharon Den Adel's majestic vocal ability. The album was a commercial success with its single Ice Queen reaching the top spots in Belgium and the Netherlands. Their third album The Silent Force arrived in 2004 as an ambitious project featuring a large symphony orchestra and 80-person choir backing the band. The result was another commercial success across Europe and introduced the world of heavy guitars and female vocals to a larger audience. Within Temptation's gothic metal. The commercial success of Within Temptation has produced the emergence of a large number of other groups with female singers, where gothic metal would begin to be misrepresented with symphonic metal bands that would not use any inspiration from the gothic subculture or gothic metal pioneers. Within Temptation and other groups that can be considered of the genre would gradually move away from it in some of their works, generating even more confusion in the term.
There was more confusion with groups like After Forever formed in 1995 or later Epica, formed in 2002, which only added guttural voices to their music in their first works, these formations move between symphonic metal and power metal, inspired by Therion although with an absence of gothic reminiscences that there are in some of the compositions of this band, focusing on the symphonic. The confusion is also due to the wide range of influences of these formations and the large amount of miscegenation of subgenres or genres that exist in them, making it quite easy to get lost today to ears that are little linked to the gothic subculture and taking into account the clichés and misrepresentations that gothic metal has suffered.
The band Nightwish is another band more detached from gothic metal, being exclusively a symphonic metal and power metal band, initially inspired by bands like Stratovarius or Helloween on albums like Oceanborn. Despite this, many people from the gothic subculture have shown interest in it or similar bands due to the influence exerted by bands like Lacrimosa or Therion in said subculture. Creating an interest in the symphonic in some followers, far from being related to it. Being another reason for confusion when classifying these bands in a style.
Confusions.
Thanks to the fact that many Gothic Metal bands have added classical music influences to their sound through its instruments, this has caused the scene to live a misrepresentation of the genre since the year 2000 thanks to the wide range of influences from These formations and the large number of them that exist, which can confuse younger generations or new listeners, which has caused them to call what is not Gothic metal for the simple fact of containing dark or melancholic elements in their music. music, also for having classical instruments, orchestras, choirs or lyrical voices. Also for having a similar performance or lyrics, among other elements that can be similar or related.
The general tendency is to confuse symphonic metal with gothic metal thanks to certain elements that make them similar, such as the female voice, the neoclassical musical background and dark environments and even guttural voices. Some bands have mixed elements of both genres, such is the case of Within Temptation in its beginnings or Sirenia. Thus, a mistake is made in labeling bands that do not contain influences from the gothic/sinister scene or the first wave of Gothic Metal bands as gothic metal, because they do not have Doom Metal and Gothic rock sounds as their base, and because not contain in its lyrics the type of topics covered in the genre, among other similar details. That is why bands that are actually Symphonic Metal cannot be classified within the subgenre, whose music is completely focused on symphonic metal, Heavy Metal, and Power Metal, in addition to not having any inspiration from Doom Metal, much less from Gothic Rock or Darkwave.
This mistake of cataloging Symphonic Metal bands with Gothic Metal is something that many have taken advantage of to do their business within music instead of clarifying it, trying to somehow justify the link of certain formations with the style, misrepresenting the elements that gothic metal originally has in its music and that identifies it, generating a lot of confusion among listeners.
The scene of each country
Finnish Scene
In Finland a style of gothic metal would develop with greater emphasis on melodic heavy metal and sometimes hard rock and glam rock but at the same time inspired by previous gothic metal bands.
Paradise Lost influenced this style with their album entitled Gothic, appearing bands like Sentenced that would start from a death metal ending up being one of the percussors of this form of gothic metal years later, finding the influence of Paradise Lost. The style over the years became more melodic to what it is today. Other popular bands in this vein are Charon, To/Die/For, Entwine, Sinamore among others.
The band that has had the most commercial success in this genre has been HIM. The band has managed to reach a mainstream audience.
Scene in Spanish-speaking countries
There are few bands that belong to Spanish-speaking countries that have had a global impact within gothic metal. Despite this, bands such as Gothic Sex from Zaragoza, formed in 1998 and currently inactive, have stood out on the Spanish scene. In their concerts they tried to dramatize ironic scenes about religion, perversion, false morality, cruelty, hypocrisy, absurd violence, the deformation of beings among other topics, criticizing all these topics through "FX -Gore” full of allegories and symbols, with a tragic-comic halo in all its stagings. Gothic Sex opened for the band Umbra Et Imago on a tour of Central Europe.
His musical career is endorsed by more than 200 performances in countries such as Germany, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Portugal, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, among other places.
In Venezuela we have the band Nota Profana, whose current vocalist is former Haggard vocalist Gaby Koss. This band, in addition to having guitars, bass and drums, also has a whole symphony orchestra among its members, although not too big, however, in total it is a band of eleven people and although they are not currently active, they are not separated either.
Within the Argentine scene we can name Vampiria that had an international scope although they are currently separated.
Another band to highlight would be Helevorn from Mallorca (Spain). The band was founded in 1990. Their sound is inspired by the doom/gothic that Paradise Lost or My Dying Bride practiced in their beginnings. His first album, Fragments, had excellent reviews in his country, getting to tour with the band Swallow The Sun, ending up playing in Rotterdam (Holland), at the Dutch Doom Day VI festival.
Between March and April 2009 they managed to record together with the producers Jens Bogren and Johan Ornborg (known for having recorded works for bands like Katatonia, Opeth or Paradise Lost) their second album entitled Forthcoming Displeasures and released in 2010. Having a repercussion and favorable criticism abroad.
In 2002 the band changed its name to Circus, which would later become Circus A.D. for legal issues. The band's sound takes a turn resembling the Finnish gothic metal of bands like HIM or Entwine among others.
In 2003 the band was a finalist for the Rock Villa trophy in Madrid, and was the support band or opening act for Metallica at the Estadio de la Peineta in Madrid (Spain). In 2004 the band released their debut as Circus A.D, an album recorded in Los Angeles (United States) supervised by William Faith. His last work to date was Still El Sol, released in 2008.
In the new millennium, Spanish bands such as Son of Sorrow, Diabulus in Música, Antalgia or Secret Signs, the latter opening act for Theater of Tragedy on its farewell tour in Madrid, and Argentine bands such as Chrisallys, Bloodparade and Moonlight Requiem have achieved relative success.
Clash of opinions
For years and more specifically shortly after the birth of Gothic Metal, the debate between goths and Metalheads/Goths has arisen, about whether or not Gothic Metal is Gothic because it was not born directly from the "batcave"scene 3. 4; and because many goths argue that gothic music "can never be carried out through metal, because goth is not metal". On the other hand, the followers of Gothic Metal tend to argue that Gothic Metal is Gothic, because it contains all the details and characteristics of Gothic music, especially in dark, romantic, melodramatic atmospheres and themes, from cinema and music. horror literature, etc, as well as various musical aspects themselves. However, there is no official record that denies or affirms the previous statements or the two contrary arguments about whether or not Gothic Metal is Gothic, therefore said belief about "if it is or is not Gothic" It is subject to the subjectivity of each person.
On the other hand, throughout the world there are endless followers of Gothic Metal who have led to the existence of a subculture analogous or identical to the Gothic subculture with respect to ideology, clothing, worldview and life in general., philosophy, interests, passion for the arts, a taste for the mysterious, the dark and the occult, among other aspects of the gothic subculture, and even, in addition to listening to Gothic Metal, also (although that depends on each person) they listen to Gothic Rock, Darkwave, Electro-Dark, Deathrock, among other musical genres born in the batcave scene, without forgetting that they admire the pioneering old school bands of this scene. And also not to mention the fact that some even attend Cybergoth parties. That is why the followers of Gothic Metal, although they know that it is born from metal, which is not connected with the batcave scene, they also feel alien to the stereotype of the "traditional metalhead" Heavy Metal or Death Metal style, and this occurs because the ideology, attitude and cultural tastes of those who listen to Gothic Metal, including their nihilistic and counter-cultural sentiments, resemble or are the same as those of the Gothic subculture, which are totally contrary. to those of Death Metal, Thrash and Heavy, among others... And that is why these feel alien to the rest of the metal subgenres, because they generally live according to the gothic subculture dictates, or at least they do in a great approximation in comparison with the rest of the followers of the metal. Without forgetting also that like many of the followers of the gothic culture, those who follow Gothic Metal tend to also be attracted and have an interest in neopaganism, spiritualism, Wicca and the occult. Also, they adopt almost entirely, or entirely, the clothing of the gothic subculture. For this reason, those who usually listen to Gothic Metal and feel well integrated within it, tend to say and/or affirm that they are part of the Gothic subculture. Despite this, on the contrary, there are followers of Gothic Metal who do feel alien to the Gothic subculture and say they have nothing to do with it.
Speaking of another aspect on this subject, it is worth remembering that there are goths who are part of the subculture on their own terms, that is, they do it according to their personal style and others simply prefer to ignore, put aside or not give it importance to what it is to be gothic, and therefore they decide to appropriate the gothic term for themselves and redefine the idea of gothic according to their own opinion and vision, even within the original subculture. These statements can give us to understand that there is exactly no correct way of "how to be Gothic", which implies that if you personally consider Gothic Metal to be, and that listening to it makes you to be, then you are, since the previous statement gives space to subjectivity, thus validating the idea that if you can be gothic in this gothic/metal way even though for many it does not make sense.
On the other hand, although the sound of Metal is not born from the gothic subculture and has little to do with it because it was not born from Post-punk and the New wave movement (argument which is used by many goths in search of make Gothic Metal look like fashion or absurd pose), we can analyze the fact that Cybergoth (subculture of Gothic culture), has Electro Industrial and Aggrotech music in its list of musical genres, which belong to the Rivethead culture that in ideology and philosophy it is foreign to the gothic, without forgetting the fact that the Cybergoth is born from the fusion between the gothic movement and the rave culture that have nothing to do with each other. In conclusion, the Cybergoth is born from the combination between the gothic subculture (for its ideology), the Rivethead movement (for Electro Industrial music and dance (Industrial Dance), and the rave culture (for parties), but nevertheless and Despite the fact that the components of the Cybergoth are alien to each other with respect to music and ideology, the Cybergoth is still legitimately considered Gothic and on the basis of this analysis it can be concluded that it is possible and may even be correct to mix cultures. foreign to the gothic subculture with it, even so they have little or nothing to do with each other, as is the case of Gothic Metal, which is born from Doom Metal and the influence of the dark environment of Gothic Rock, its themes, and the like, in addition to certain sound influences.Based on this, Gothic Metal can be properly Gothic, and therefore a Gothic if it can make metal music with its dark ideology, or a Gothic if it can adopt metal to its os heals atmosphere (in the same way that the Cybergoth adopted the Electro Industrial), and therefore a group of goths if they can form a musical band with a metal influence or a group of metalheads if they can feel attracted to the goth subculture and therefore form a metal band with influences from Darkwave and Gothic Rock, and thus a long list of variants regardless of whether musical elements are added that have nothing to do with each other, because as was demonstrated with Cybergoth, what is important after all it is the ideology, and therefore Gothic Metal if it can be.
However, it is time to remember the important fact that this entire debate is purely and solely subject to the subjectivity of opinions and personal perspectives of each person, since as mentioned before, nothing officially proves that this can be correct or incorrect.
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Data: Q178145
Multimedia: Gothic metal / Q178145
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