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Gothic metal (also called Goth metal much to the berevement 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 1990s in Europe. Gothic metal is a prettylinear genre but due to much debate amongst non Gothic Metal fans, its actuall defination is not commonly known. The fans and musicians have a firm concept of the genre having been around through its growth and nuturing, but newer fans reject such categorisation as limiting or useless on the pretense it is not what they want it to be.
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, downtuned 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.
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).
A softer genre known as Symphonic metal had evolved in the mid-late 1990s. These bands focused on female vocals as well, although not neccesserly operatic ones, with no doom metal elements and little use of male death vocals significantly. 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.
The Gothic metal scene is currently very developed in Europe.
Misperceptions and Categorization
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.
When widespread news events surrounded Marilyn Manson, for instance, some media personalities and journalists categorized him as a "gothic rock" and "gothic metal" musician, eventhough few elements in his music would be classifiable as such. The growing popularity of industrial music in the 1990s can be factored as a major source to this, considering several artists in the genre inspired a "gothic" styled dress amongst suburban youths which was similarly debated in authenticity by those who proclaimed themselves "true" members of gothic subculture.
Gothic metal - like most metal genres - as seen its far bit of evoloution, most all of its main attributes have remained consistent:
- lyrics focus on a variety of subjects: religion and God, heaven and hell, romance, religion, fantasy. Typically, the subjects are set in a pre-20th century environment. The defining link between all these is that they are all Romanticide and Fantiscide themed, no matter the setting or characters. (Common Misonception: Newer Fans of the genre assume anything with reference to depression or suicide is Gothic Metal, when it isnt)
- vocals are by both a male vocalist using death or black vocals, and a female vocalist. Female vocals tend to be high and operatic, but sometimes sung in a regular tone with reverb usage for effects. (Common Misonception: Many newer fans assume that Gothic Metal uses only one vocalist, which it doesnt, except on rare occasion)
- the guitar(s) and bass are often in minor key, fast and heavily distorted, as what would be heard in black metal. Along with percussion and synthesizers, the pace and tone is the middle point between doom metal and black metal.