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Gothic metal (also called Goth metal much to the bereavement of its fans) is a genre of music that is often mistaken for a crossover between heavy metal music and gothic music itself. It developed in the early 1980s in Europe as a subgenre of Doom Metal, the genre later forming from that subgenre. Gothic metal is a pretty linear genre but due to much debate amongst non Gothic Metal fans, its actual definition is not commonly known. The fans and musicians have a firm concept of the genre having been around through its growth and nurturing, but newer fans reject such categorisation as limiting or useless on the pretense it is not what they want it to be.
Sounds, Constructs and Lyrics
Gothic Metal is a genre of Metal that first appeared in the early 90's. It grew from the Doom Metal scene in parallel with the subgenre of Doom Metal; Gothic Doom. Its first origins was with bands such as The Gathering, Sweet Nightmare, Moonspell and Theatre of Tragedy. These bands created the first symbiotes of Gothic Doom, which later went on to further Gothic Metal. Over time Gothic Metal was knocked back in its growth several times, the most well known being the surge of Symphonic Metal bands in the mid 90's and the surge of Nu Metal bands using Keyboards in the Early 2000's.
Gothic Metal is a relatively loose genre in the way it sounds because the genre is built and weighed upon its construction of songs and their parts. The overall sound in Gothic Metal plays a minor role to suffice only to depict between itself and other genres. Gothic Metal tends to lend itself musically to both Doom Metal and Black Metal. Bands often tend to take their musical influence from both Doom Metal bands and Black Metal bands, taking the melody ideas from these genres. Thus, added in with Gothic Metals unique use of Duel Vocalists, Keyboarding and Acoustic guitar help distinguish the music. Keyboards in Gothic Metal often play a major role in the music, sufficing to replace the second guitarist in bands, taking on the role of either lead or rhythm. Acoustic guitars are often present in Gothic Metal, and if a second guitarist is used, often is playing a form of acoustic guitar. Bass in Gothic Metal pays akin to the deep lowness of Doom Metal, and the brash harshness of Black Metal.
Gothic Metal generally has a high sound quality, but that's only due to the fact the only bands in the genre have the money for high quality equipment. It's become a general rule of thumb, and unspoken treaty of respect in the Gothic Metal community, that bands don't put out stuff unless they use good quality equipment.
Lyrically Gothic Metal is concerned with one thing, Romanticide and Fantacide. The time setting for lyrics is often in the New Age or Dark Ages, but can also be in Victorian, Edwardian, Romanian, or even modern day. Most people mistake Gothic Metal for having depressive lyrics, or those focused around anger or satanism. Another unique thing to note about Gothic Metal is that lyrically bands don't write in the form of songs, they write in the form of books. This is so that each song acts as a story, or, chapter, inspiring people to listen to the whole album in order to hear the story, instead of just certain songs.
Vocalists in Gothic Metal borrow from two notes. First you have the Male vocalist who will use vocals akin to Black or Death metal. The second vocalist is usually female, often using Soprano based vocals, or harmonic singing. You will never find females doing Black or Death type vocals in Gothic Metal, as duel vocalists in the manner prescribed are the signature of Gothic Metal. Drums are used to complement the music, using influences from many varying forms of music. The atmosphere is tailored to fit the song, warm and energetic, empty and enclosing. The atmosphere doesn't share the morbidity of Doom Metal, however.
History (1990-present)
In the 1990s, a group of young bands in Northern England borrowed from the early gothic rock sound of the 1980s and incorporated it with the slow, down tuned guitar dirges of Black Sabbath. Gothic Doom, as it is known, was the first stage of the genre. Bands most notable for this style included Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, and Anathema. Gothic Metal originated from this with bands such as The Gathering taking the Gothic Doom sound that had arisen and making romanticide themed bands that borrowed from Black Metal.
Although the Scandinavian region was known more for its death metal and black metal fertility, many bands who started in either genre had progressed and conformed more to gothic doom styles - Tiamat, and Theatre of Tragedy, being two examples. Although Paradise Lost, Anathema used some female vocals in their music, Norway's Theatre of Tragedy was the first gothic doom band with a leading female singer, Liv Kristine Espenaes Krull (later replaced by another female singer, named Nell). This impacted on Gothic Metal by adding the first ideas of using two vocalists in the bands, which later became a signature of Gothic Metal.
A softer genre known as Symphonic Metal had evolved in the mid-late 1990s. These bands focused on female vocals as well, although not necessarily operatic ones, with no Doom Metal elements and little use of male death vocals. These bands include, Within Temptation (Netherlands), Epica (Netherlands) and Lacrimosa (Germany), focusing more on Opera and Classical music themes than those akin to Gothic Metal. Some of these bands also combined electronic sounds and mainstream rock music with the traditional Symphonic metal sound to create a lighter and more accessible form of the genre. During this time the divide between Gothic Metal and Symphonic Metal became greater, Gothic Metal becoming more aggressive, and started incorporating elements of Death Metal into the music. Taking on a more technical approach and adding highly complex melodys and rhythms into the music.
In early 2000's Nu Metal band Evanescence released the album Fallen. This hurt the Gothic Metal scene badly, as it was later learned by many bands that Evanescence and pirated the songs, stealing them from smaller bands in the Gothic Metal community that had yet to acquire record deals. This sent Gothic Metal's smaller bands into a stunted stage where many bands refused to put out albums, fearing they too would be ripped off, and instead resigning into only playing live sets.
In 2004, Nu Metal bands Lacuna Coil and Evanescence, alongside Gothic Metal band Tristania, Power Metal band Nightwish and Symphonic Metal band Within Temptation agreed to start a new form of music called Nu-Goth. The idea of this was to add Symphonic Metal and Gothic Metal elements to Nu Metal to create a more easily accessible, and marketable form of the two genres. This sent the Gothic Metal and Symphonic Metal scenes into an angered period, creating a spoken treaty amongst the worldwide scenes that as long as Nu-Goth was in existence, bands would refuse to play at any festival or be on any music channel, that featured a Nu-Goth band. The Gothic Metal scene also grew a strong hatred for Nu-Goth site Goth-Metal.net, that laid claim to the title of Gothic Metal. This inspired many savage attacks from the Gothic Metal scenes fans in England, most travelling to places where Nu-Goth bands were playing and attacking them and the fans.
The Gothic metal scene is currently very developed in Europe after its problematic past, most notably in England and France, and is growing rapidly in Germany.
Common Misconceptions
Although the style has seen much more controversy than other metal genres - and remarkably, the most instances of debate - some arguments have gone on in regards to bands that have sported a gothic "image" in the eyes of the media versus those with direct genetics to the gothic metal genre. This has included bands that have shown imagery akin to morbidity, religious themes, gothic fashion, vampirism, and satansim.
A List Of Gothic Metal Bands (Coming Soon)
Vampiria (Updated as and when more sites become available)
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