DEATH METAL

Where speed metal and hardcore warned us of the apocalypse, death metal assumed it as society wailed on toward demise with a whimper and not any drastic warning-type motion. Civilization has become decadent and valueless, and escaping the cycle of rebellion death metal projects a world before the moralization of values, in which personal values can triumph. Death metal denies inherent value in tone and ideal, and deconstructs the overbearing sense of world and social bounds around us with primal music bearing complexity in texture and theme. The music and lifestyles of the death metal genre employ intuition and logic to replace deconstructed illusion with structuralist sensibility and a sensitivity toward existential value. Unlike most music which focuses on humanist or romantic themes, death metal articulates the lawless extremity of nature. House recommendations: Morbid Angel, Slayer, Monstrosity, Cryptopsy, Suffocation, Therion and Vader.

Abomination Acerbus Adramelech Amorphis Ancient Rites Asgard Asphyx At the Gates Atheist Atrocity Autopsy

Dismember Entombed Fleshcrawl God Macabre Gorguts Grotesque Gutted Hate Eternal Hetsheads Hypocrisy Immolation

Mythic Necromass Necrophobic Nuclear Death Num Skull Obituary Oppressor Pessimist Pestilence Possessed Pyrexia

BEST EVER
1. Massacra - Final Holocaust 2. Deicide - Legion 3. Morbid Angel - Blessed Are the Sick 4. Therion - Beyond Sanctorum 5. Sepultura - Morbid Visions 6. Incantation - Onward to Golgotha 7. Morpheus Descends - Ritual of Infinity 8. Necrophobic - The Nocturnal Silence 9. Obituary - Cause of Death 10. Suffocation - Effigy of the Forgotten 11. Atheist - Unquestionable Presence 12. Dismember - Like an Ever-Flowing Stream 13. Amorphis - The Karelian Isthmus 14. At the Gates - The Red in the Sky is Ours

Baphomet Cadaver Capharnaum Cartilage Cenotaph Ceremonium Cryptopsy dead horse Death Deathstrike Deceased Deeds of Flesh Deicide Demigod Demilich Deteriorate

Imprecation Incantation Infester Intestine Baalism Kataklysm Kilcrops Lepra Luciferion Magus Martyr Massacra Massacre Master Molested Monstrosity Morbid Angel Morpheus Descends Mortem Mortuary

Rigor Mortis Rise Revenant Sadistic Intent Seance Sentenced Sepultura Sinister Slayer Suffocation Thanatopsis Therion Torchure Unanimated Unleashed Vader

15. Demilich - Nespithe 16. Asphyx - The Rack

Compilations
Sampler Volume I (JL America) Deterioration of the Senses (Morbid Metal) Book I: Induction (Hits Underground) Reviews have mp3 sound samples for each album, coverscan, tracklist and label contact information.

Death metal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search It has been suggested that Death and Roll be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) To meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page, or replace this tag with a more specific message. Editing help is available. This article has been tagged since May 2006.

Death Metal Stylistic origins: Cultural origins: Thrash metal

Early-Mid 1980s United States, England and Sweden

Typical instruments: Mainstream popularity:

Guitar Bass guitar Drums

Underground in early 1980s, moderate in late 1980s and early 1990s, increased popularity in recent years.

Subgenres
Melodic Death Metal Death and Roll Deathgrind Death Doom Brutal Death Metal Technical Death Metal

Fusion genres
Death and Roll Deathgrind Death Doom

Regional scenes
United States and United Kingdom

Other topics
Melodic death metal Death and Roll

Death metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal that evolved out of thrash metal during the early 1980s.

Contents
[hide]

1 Characteristics 2 Early history (up to 1991) 3 Later history (1991-) 4 Key artists 5 See also 6 External links 7 Notes

8 References [edit]

Characteristics
Commonly recognized characteristics include usually violent or dark lyrics which focus on death as a metaphor, chromatic progressions and a narrative or "story telling" song structure such that there is not a verse-chorus cycle as much as an ongoing development of themes and motifs. Aesthetically, it is usually identified by violent rhythm guitar, fast percussion and dynamic intensity. "Blast beats" are frequently used to add to the ferocity of the modern music. The vocals are commonly low gurgles named death grunt, growl, or death growl. This kind of vocalising is distorted by use of the throat, unlike traditional singing technique which discourages it. Some people consider it similar to the overtone style of singing. Music journalist Chad Bowar notes that, due to the similarity of the vocals to "unintelligible yelling", the style is sometimes described as "Cookie monster vocals"[1]. Death metal's subject matter usually addresses more nihilistic themes than any other genre (with the exception of black metal), usually using metaphors of a gruesome nature to represent a larger concept. The focus on mortality along with the extreme nature of the music (as well as Possessed's "Death Metal") likely inspired the naming of this genre. Death metal is commonly known for abrupt tempo and time signature changes, and extremely fast and complex guitar and drumwork, although this is not always the case. Bands of this genre frequently utilize downtuned and distorted guitars, a downtuned, sometimes distorted bass guitar, a drum set (almost universally using two bass drums). Although this is the standard setup, bands have been known to incorporate other instruments such as keyboards. Death metal is very physically demanding of its musicians, especially in its more "technical" forms. There is some dispute about the origin of the name. Often cited as inventors are Americans Possessed who recorded a song titled "Death Metal" in 1985. Also in 1985, the Brits of Onslaught also recorded a song of the same name. Often cited as the origin of the name is the band Death, because of their band name, which was established in 1984. [edit]

Early history (up to 1991)

Death metal is a subgenre of heavy metal. Growling vocals are the primary identifier for death metal for the newer generation. But this by itself also includes works such as Welcome to Hell from 1981 by British metal group Venom where the vocals may be mostly "growling", but the music is not what is generally meant by "death metal" today. Venom never labelled what they did, but their album Black Metal became the basis for labelling music with 'Satanic' lyrics and growling vocals as "black metal".

Genres are not usually identified solely by aesthetic form, and black or death metal labels are not easy to apply to some bands. One example of this is the American band Slayer, a pioneering thrash metal band. This genre (one that predates death metal), is also characterized by complex rhythmics and heavy guitar riffing. Slayer is not usually classified as a death metal band, and have never labelled themselves as such. Even so, with Reign in Blood from 1986, and subsequent works, they certainly influenced many early death metal bands. Around 1983, aggressive U.S. bands such as Florida's Death, California's Possessed, and Chicago's Master began to form. If one would call this diffuse genre "early death metal", the first recorded examples of this would be Possessed's album Seven Churches from 1985 and early demotapes by Death, followed by Death's album Scream Bloody Gore from 1987. To their credit, these "early death metal" bands did push the format forward, something that would ultimately pay off in a new form of music that was substantially different from their closest forefather, thrash metal. However, other death metal historians maintain that the 1985 brand of "early death metal" is more aptly summarised by the moniker "post-thrash1" and that the band Death receives inflated credit partly because of its name. In particular, the music flora around 1985, although fitting the above description of "extreme brutality and speed" for its time, did not create anything significantly new compared to their immediate predecessors, and one would be hard pressed to identify strong and specific musical differences between, say Death's debut album from 1987 and same-period work by thrash metal bands such as the Brazilian Sepultura or even the aforementioned Venom, except perhaps slightly "growlier" vocals. The alternative standpoint is that the modern concept of "death metal"the point when it clearly decouples from the origins in heavy metal and thrash metalcan be set to 1989 or 1990. Just as in the original creation of NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) by Iron Maiden and other bands was sparked by the youthful energy of punk rock in the late 1970s, so did cross-fertilisation between metal and punk once more create something new in the late 1980s. The chaotic and often confusing development that took place around this time is well illustrated by the British band Napalm Death, often characterised as a "grindcore" band (see below). This band was simultaneously always part of the hardcore punk scene. However, Napalm Death themselves changed drastically around or before 1990, leaving grindcore (and most of the band members) behind. Concise proof of this merger of thrash metal and hardcore punk is the project band Terrorizer's album, World Downfall (1989), where members from Napalm Death and the American band Morbid Angel, part of the "early death metal " scene, compose together. Few observers would disagree that many bands, including the early US death metal bands but now also bands from many other scenes and other countries, drove a major shift in musical emphasis around 1990-1991. In particular, on 1990's Harmony Corruption, Napalm Death can be heard playing something most fans would call death metal today, i.e. "modern death metal" by the above characterization. This album clearly displays aggressive and fairly technical guitar riffing, complex rhythmics, a sophisticated growling vocal delivery by Mark "Barney" Greenway, and thoughtful lyrics. Other bands contributing significantly to

this early movement include Britain's Bolt Thrower and Carcass, Sweden's Entombed, New York's Suffocation, and Florida's Morbid Angel. To close the circle, the band Death put out the album Human in 1991, certainly an example of modern death metal. The band Death's founder Chuck Schuldiner helped push the boundaries of uncompromising speed and technical virtuosity, mixing in highly technical and intricate rhythm guitar work with complex arrangements and emotive guitar solos. Other examples of this are Carcass's Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious from 1991, Suffocation's debut Human Waste from the same year and Entombed's Clandestine from 1992. At this point, all the above characteristics are clearly present: abrupt tempo and count changes, on occasion extremely fast drumming, morbid lyrics and growling delivery. [edit]

Later history (1991-)

To meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page, or replace this tag with a more specific message. Editing help is available. This article has been tagged since April 2006.

During the 1990s, death metal grew in many directions, spawning a rich variety of subgenres, including the following:

Melodic death metal, where harmonies and melodies are much more present in the guitarwork. Although more melodic, it can sound more raw than the more precise sounding American variety. This subgenre is mostly associated with Sweden, especially in Gothenburg, as well as Norway and Finland (see Scandinavian death metal). The genre finds its best representation in At the Gates, In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, and Arch Enemy. The Iron Maiden-esque techniques employed by these "Gothenburg" bands formed a riff-lexicon frequently used by many metalcore bands that have risen in popularity since 2001. Because of this style's origin, these bands are (often mockingly) called Gothencore (See: metalcore). Many metal fans consider this genre to be separate from death metal. Scandinavian death metal, which could be called the forerunner of Melodic death metal with bands like Entombed, Dismember, Unleashed and the before mentioned At the Gates. Entombed (ex-Nihilist) was the band, which started to combine punk and death/thrash riffs and set a trademark "Sunlight studios" guitar sound - formed by linking together two distortion boxes to create a raw mechanical, electric buzz, which a lot of bands of this genre later tried to reproduce. This sound was nevertheless inspired by British grindcore band Unseen Terror on their debut album Human Error. Florida death metal, which includes some of the most notable bands. They are more rigid and percussive than the Swedish variant, more precise, refined and traditional, yet more direct and brutal than the Technical variety. Bands include Deicide, Malevolent Creation, Monstrosity, Obituary, Brutality and Death (some albums are technical as well).

Technical death metal, a narrow, but influential subgenre where musical complexity and skill is the main focus. It is represented by bands like Gorguts, Necrophagist, Cynic, Atheist, Pestilence, Cryptopsy, Nile, and Death. Brutal death metal, developed by combining certain aspects of the song structures of goregrind with death metal. Brutal Death Metal is associated with bands like Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation, Disgorge, Dying Fetus, Devourment, Vomit Remnants, Wormed. One main characteristic of Brutal Death is the vocal style, called many things - Death grunt, "Cookie Monster", "bullfrog", or "Guttural" vocals. The Lyrics are mostly gore related, sung in a slow and choppy manner, and usually following the guitar riffs. Secondly, the guitar riffs are usually chunky grooves or hyper fast, down-tuned, with pinch harmonics, with high gain outputs. Drumming is usually all over the place, from slow churning chunk, to blasting speed. Death/Doom, or early Gothic Metal which is a slowed down, melancholic subgenre, inspired by classic doom metal. It was created by the likes of Asphyx, Disembowelment, My Dying Bride, Anathema, and Paradise Lost. Blackened death metal, which is death metal mixed with black metal stylistic influences, notable in the vocals and riffing style. Dissection is a prime example of this genre, as is Emperor on their IX Equilibrium album, and Zyklon (featuring former members of Emperor). Death/thrash (also called "Deathrash"), which is Thrash with elements of death metal including speed, guitar picking techniques and vocals. In the earliest incarnation this style was the progression from thrash metal to death metal. Some bands are Benediction, Epidemic, Cancer, Konkhra and Criminal. Some Sepultura and the first two Sinister albums could also be classified in this way. An early "Hardcore-Metal" style. Death/grind; this subgenre is the mixing of styles brutal death metal and grindcore. British death metal band Bolt Thrower was arguably the genre's progenitor. Death/grind bands: Aborted, Cannibal Corpse, Bolt Thrower, Decapitated, Dying Fetus, Hate Eternal

Grindcore is considered by some to be an even more extreme variant of death metal. However, many fans of grindcore and music historians would place it in a genre by itself, since the genre historically developed in parallel to death metal (both developed in the 1980s, death metal from thrash metal and grindcore from hardcore punk), each influencing the development of the other, but with early grindcore having a much more obvious hardcore punk and peace punk influence. Some early grind bands: Napalm Death, Electro Hippies, Fear of God, and Extreme Noise Terror. There are also other heavy metal sub-genres that have come from fusions between death metal and other non-metal genres, such as the fusion of death metal and Jazz played by Pestilence on their Spheres album, or the work of Florida bands Atheist and Cynic, the former of which sometimes went as far as to include jazz-style drum solos on albums, and the latter of which incorporated notable influences from fusion. Nile have also incorporated Egyptian music and Middle Eastern themes into their style. [edit]

Key artists

Key death metal bands include: Atheist, Autopsy, Bolt Thrower, Cannibal Corpse, Carcass, Death, Deicide, Dismember, Entombed, Immolation, Morbid Angel, Napalm Death, Nile, Obituary, Possessed, and Suffocation.

Death metal
De la Wikipedia, enciclopedia liber

Sari la: Navigare, cutare Death metal este un subgen muzical evoluat din thrash metal la nceputul anilor '80. Este unul din cele mai extreme subgenuri de muzic metal, combinnd instrumentaia rapid cu o voce joas, agresiv, scond n eviden macabrul versurilor.

Cuprins
[ascunde] 1 Caracteristici 2 Istorie 3 Artiti cheie

4 Legturi externe [modific]

Caracteristici

Voce foarte joas, asemntoare grohielilor sau mritului (aa numitul death grunt). Acest tip de voce se obine prin distorsionarea sunetelor la nivelul gtului, spre deosebire de cntatul tradiional, care nu ncurajeaz folosirea acestei tehnici. Jurnalistul Chad Bowar sesizeaz c, din cauza asemnrii sale cu "urlete neinteligibile", acest stil mai este denumit i "voce Cookie monster". Ritm abrupt, n general chitar i tobe foarte rapide i complexe. Versurile abordeaz teme nihiliste, de regul folosind metafore sinistre sau morbide pentru a ilustra concepte vaste. Focalizarea pe efemeritatea existenei i caracterul extrem al muzicii au inspirat numele genului.

[modific]

Istorie
Exist cteva dispute referitoare la numele genului. De obicei, se susine c americanii de la Possessed au inventat termenul, acesta provenind de la titlul unei piese a lor, Death Metal, din 1985. Tot n 1985, britanicii de la Onslaught au nregistrat o melodie cu acelai nume. Ca origine a denumirii mai este amintit destul de des i formaia Death, datorit numelui pe care-l poart, stabilit n 1984. [modific]

Artiti cheie
Printre formaiile de baz n death metal se numr: Atheist, Autopsy, Bolt Thrower, Cannibal Corpse, Carcass, Dismember, Death, Deicide, Entombed, Immolation, Morbid Angel, Napalm Death, Obituary, Possessed, i Suffocation. [modific]

Legturi externe

DeathMetal.com Carnage Inc. Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore O istorie a genurilor, scris de Albert Mudrian Metallian Cronici, tiri, interviuri i enciclopedie din sfera death metal

Gothic rock
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the musical style of gothic rock. For the goth scene in general, see goth.
Gothic Rock Stylistic origins: Punk rock, post-punk, glam rock, psychedelic music Cultural origins: Typical instruments: Mainstream popularity: Late 1970s United Kingdom and other regions Guitar - Bass - Drums Synthesizers
Largely underground, some major visibility since the mid-80s in the UK and Europe

Fusion genres
Dark Cabaret - Gothabilly

Other topics
Alternative rock - Culture - Darkwave - Fashion Industrial music

Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a genre of rock music that evolved out of post-punk during the late 1970s. Originally considered just a label for a small handful of punk rock/post-punk bands, goth only began to be defined as a separate movement in 1981. While most punk bands focused on aggressive, outward rock, the early gothic bands were more introspective, concerned with aesthetics, and personal, with elements that can be traced to much older literary movements such as gothic horror, Romanticism, existential philosophy, and the philosophical construct of nihilism. Notable gothic rock bands include Bauhaus, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Cure, The Sisters of Mercy, and Fields of the Nephilim. Largely separate from other genres of alternative rock that developed during the 1980s, the original gothic rock scene gave birth to the goth subculture, which has a presence in many areas of the world today.

Contents
[hide]

1 First generation (c. 1979c. 1985) o 1.1 Early goth bands in the United Kingdom o 1.2 Early goth bands in America and Canada o 1.3 Early goth bands in Europe and Australia 2 Second generation (c. 1985c. 1995) 3 Third generation (c. 1995 to Present) 4 Musical predecessors (1960s1970s or Earlier) 5 Musical arrangements 6 Samples 7 Bands 8 Related genres 9 See also

10 External links [edit]

First generation (c. 1979c. 1985)

Associating the goth subculture with the first generation of goth bands can be troublesome. Since the adjective "gothic" was used to describe the sound of specific punk, post punk, and new wave bands, not all punks and new wavers who liked these groups associated themselves with a goth scene; regardless these early groups are where goth rock traces its origins. What is most notable about the core 1970s and 1980s bands is that, typical to their punk roots, they had a general distaste for labels, presumably seeing such things as anathema to creative expression [1].

With some exceptions, such as Christian Death from Los Angeles, the Virgin Prunes from Ireland, and Xmal Deutschland from Germany, most of these first gothic rock groups were British. [edit] Early goth bands in the United Kingdom The first post punk/new wave groups later to be labeled gothic were Joy Division and Siouxsie & the Banshees in 1979. They seem to have been a part of a wave of bands developing a haunting sound and dark, art-oriented expression between 1978 and 1979. Two other examples of this trend were Johnny Rotten's Public Image Ltd and Killing Joke. Though these groups may not have been part of the goth scene that sprung up a few years later, they were very influential. Among influential albums by Siouxsie & the Banshees would be everything put out between their debut album The Scream (1978) and Nocturne (1983). Joy Division were short lived because vocalist Ian Curtis committed suicide, but the two albums they put out, Unknown Pleasures (1979) and Closer (1980), were both gothic in sound and highly influential. The remaining members of Joy Division became New Order and New Order's first album Movement (1981) continued Joy Division's influential gothic style. New Order afterwards turned into a New Wave/dance group but not before the British press began slamming gothic rock groups, such as Danse Society, as New Order rip offs. As the gothic label began to stick to Joy Division and Siouxsie & the Banshees in 1979; then came Bauhaus, originally called Bauhaus 1919. They started out wearing plain jeans and t-shirts, but after appearing on the same bill as Gloria Mundi (who looked and sounded gothic yet remained unknown since nobody ever saw them), Bauhaus ended up having a make over, dressing in all black and wearing make up. Strongly influenced by English Glam rock, such as David Bowie and T. Rex, Bauhaus's debut single "Bela Lugosi's Dead" released in late 1979, is considered to be the gothic anthem that sparked several people to follow in their gothic footsteps. More bands came along in 1980-1981; among them were Danse Society, Theatre of Hate, Play Dead, and The Sisters of Mercy. In February 1981, Abbo from UK Decay jokingly labeled this emerging movement gothic and so it went from being a label for a few bands to a label for a movement. UK Decay started out as a punk band in the late 1970s and, though they sounded very gothic since their beginning, they became more important in the emerging scene of the early 1980s. Echo and the Bunnymen were another early post punk outfit that would bear substantial influence on the gothic look and sound, particularly with the album Crocodiles (1980) and songs like 'Happy Death Men'. The 'Bunnymen' in their turn influenced other bands, including Dead Fingers Talk, fronted by Nottingham musician and poet Steve Gad who had spent the previous year with them. The origins of gothic fashion can be traced to Siouxsie & the Banshees, Bauhaus and The Cure, though some mention should be given to The Damned, a 1977 punk band whos lead singer Dave Vanian dressed up as a vampire for kicks. Siouxsie & the Banshees and The Cure have retained their goth imagery throughout their careers, but their music has strayed from the gothic style. After the Nocturne album, Siouxsie's

output shifted to softer focus on gothic themes, showing more influence of synths and alternative stylings. Bauhaus remained a consistently gothic band up until their break up in 1983. Some members of Bauhaus had a side project called Tones on Tail and continued with it during the mid 1980s, releasing gothic music influenced strongly by Pet Sounds-era The Beach Boys and psychedelia. Early Gary Numan material from Tubeway Army to The Pleasure Principle can be considered goth. The use of analog synthesizers and subject matter were a definite influence on later goth bands. His imagery & fashion have influenced contemporary goth Cyberpunk fashion. 1982 saw gothic rock turn into a full on sub-culture, not just because of the emergence of bands like Sex Gang Children, Southern Death Cult, Skeletal Family, Specimen, and Alien Sex Fiend, but because it saw the opening of the Batcave in London, a venue with the purpose of reinventing David Bowie's style of glam rock with a darker, horror-type twist. Some members of gothic rock bands began hanging out there and it ended up becoming the prototype goth club. By 1984, music played by the DJs there ranged from Siouxsie, The Cramps, Sweet, Specimen, Eddie Cochran, and Death Cult. 1982-83 also saw the gothic rock scene gaining a lot of media attention from the British press and venues similar to the Batcave started popping up all over England. [edit] Early goth bands in America and Canada The American Deathrock scene, which was primarily centered in and around Los Angeles, California, began in the late seventies with such bands as Christian Death (1979) [2], 45 Grave (1979) [3], Voodoo Church, Kommunity FK (1979) [4], Theatre of Ice (1978) etc.. At the time that Christian Death were recording their debut album Only Theatre of Pain in 1982, frontman Rozz Williams knew of the goth scene in England but had not yet heard any of those bands. Christian Death soon became popular in France and started touring Europe and England in 1984. Their second two albums Catastrophe Ballet and Ashes showed more direct influence from goth as Rozz Williams became interested in surrealism and the dada movement. The Gun Club also started playing in Europe and England a lot, often opening up for the Sisters of Mercy. [edit] Early goth bands in Europe and Australia Goth was as much a continental European phenomenon as it was British or American. At the same time bands like Bauhaus and Christian Death were forming in those countries, dark bands such as Einstrzende Neubauten (1980), Xmal Deutschland (1980), Die Krupps (1981), and Pink Turns Blue were forming in Germany. Belgium gave rise to electronic body music (EBM) with influence from bands such as Kraftwerk and the early EBM band Front 242 (1981). Amsterdam soon joined in with Clan of Xymox, who formed in 1983. Subsequently, Germany is now home to the largest modern wave and gothic festival, the yearly Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig, which began in 1992.

Australia and New Zealand also deserve a mention. The emerging movement there was characterized by Nick Cave's second band, The Birthday Party (c. 1979 and later moving to London) and other post-punk collectives like Fetus Productions (also called The Features/The Fetals, c.1979), who as of 2004 were still holding art museum exhibits for their controversial depictions of deformed human beings. From the New Zealand Film Archive site: "Operating as an audio-visual company from 1980-1989, Fetus Productions were part of a small global 'industrial' culture network, which included Throbbing Gristle in Britain, and Survival Research Laboratories on the West Coast of America. They released seven albums, designed clothing, wrote manifestos, made films, and challenged the parameters of music and art, blending pop, industrial and philosophical methodologies. Their work attacked advertising's promulgation of perfect images and perfect bodies using images of medical misadventure and mutation." [edit]

Second generation (c. 1985c. 1995)

In the UK this period saw goth bands at their most popular, and the subculture at its largest extent. Throughout the 80s, there was much cross-pollination between the European goth subcultures, the Death Rock movement, and the New Romantic (New Wave) movement. The rise in popularity of rock music in the mid-eighties, was mirrored by the rise of gothic rock, most notably in the form of the seminal goth rock bands, The Sisters of Mercy, Fields of the Nephilim (1984), a new version of Christian Death (1985), The Mission (1986), and Mephisto Walz (c.1987) founded by former Christian Death composer / guitarist Barry Galvin (alias Bari Bari), Galvin defined the dark droning style of Christian Death on the album Atrocities, the songs of which he composed and later transferred to the Mephisto Walz repertoire. Around 1985, the post-punk era came to an end and many of the first generation gothic groups either disbanded or changed their style. That era closes with The Sisters of Mercy's debut album First and Last and Always (1985) which cracked the British top ten and is a good picture of the transition between first and second generation goth. Despite the fact that they had formed in 1980, the Sisters would prove to be very influential on the second generation. Vocalist Andrew Eldritch had a voice very different from any of the other first generation gothic rock groups and by the late 1980s was labeled the "Godfather of Goth." The Sisters of Mercy were also the first among the gothic rock groups to use a drum machine, along with the March Violets, who, like the Sisters, were also from Leeds, England. The drum machine seems to have been a unique feature of goth bands coming out of Leeds (the Three Johns and Red Lorry Yellow Lorry are good examples) and became much more common during the second generation. The drum machine continues to be common in goth music to this day. It was during the second wave of goth that the term and the style became noticed outside of a few tight-knit circles. The term began to appear in mainstream British publications like The Face and the NME, fanzines and goth-only clubs began to spring up in the tradition of London's Batcave (which was still going strong). The 1983 vampire film "The Hunger" starred David Bowie and featured an appearance by Bauhaus, cementing the relationship between glam, horror, goth and mainstream in a

way that influenced much of the second generation. The popularity of these acts was cemented by the emerging popularity on European stages and US college radio of 4AD recording artists such as Clan of Xymox (who scored a mainstream hit with "Imagination" after dropping the "Clan of" from their name), Dead Can Dance, and The Cocteau Twins, as well as the continued popular success of acts like Siouxsie and the Banshees, who despite no longer operating actively or exclusively in the Gothic scene, were still its de facto spokespeople to the mainstream. Several goth magazines arose during this time, the first possibly being Propaganda (though it later became a softcore gay porn magazine). Goth zines split their direction in much the same way that the scene itself did; earlier magazines such as Permission were allied to the punk roots of goth, and tended to veer towards industrial music as the years went on, while later magazines such as Carpe Noctem focused more on the lace-and-poetry romantic sound, setting the stage for the "spooky kids" of the third wave. By 1987, gothic groups started to emerge in Toronto and Montreal, Canada. Those achieving acclaim include: Disappointed a Few People (Montreal 1986) and Masochistic Religion (Toronto, 1988?-2003) whose signer, Mitch Kroll, relocated to Montreal and is still active as a musician but the band is now dormant. Masochistic Religion also included the singer from Armed and Hammered, the Guitarist from technicolour rain coats and a member from Ichor. Toronto band Exovedate signed with German record label Pandaimonium Records and their third CD "Seduced by Illusions" received airplay in Australia, Russia, the United States, Brazil, Guam, Germany, and Canada. By this time, a cross-pollination with the growing global industrial music scene was developing (though the scenes had always been at least acquainted with each other), and acts like Dog Pile, Crash Worship, and Skinny Puppy blended more and more elements from these scenes. Though not ever involved with the goth scene directly, Depeche Mode was also tremendously influential (though musicians at the time may have been loathe to admit it) in their blending of goth and industrial elements within a popular idiom. Synthpop acts such as Camouflage, Secession, Celebrate the Nun, and Red Flag began to work in their footsteps during this period, and their incorporation of the gothic into club music was a seminal experiment that foreshadowed the culling of synthpop into goth rock that would heavily characterize the scene in the late 90s. [edit]

Third generation (c. 1995 to Present)

The nineties saw the further growth of eighties bands and emergence of many new acts, with most of the North American examples, such as Switchblade Symphony, and London After Midnight, being released by the Cleopatra label while England gave birth to Children On Stun and Rosetta Stone. Meanwhile in Germany, interest in Gothic music began to grow, with Apollyon Records releasing numerous Gothic compilations, and soon pushing full length recordings from American Gothic bands like The Last Dance, and The Deep Eynde.

Goth bands on other labels whose popularity grew in the 90s include The Cruxshadows, The Last Dance, Sunshine Blind, Trance to the Sun, The Empire Hideous, The Shroud, and Voltaire. The mid and late 90s were a transitional period for gothic music, in no small part owing to a wider cultural obsession with hard rock acts particularly in the United States that had been influenced by and somewhat erroneously labelled as "gothic" and/or "industrial." The corporatization of goth, as displayed in the music of HIM, Marilyn Manson and several other popular acts, as well as the rise of the Hot Topic chain and the "mallgoth" aesthetic meant that traditional goth acts were now interacting in a scene composed of a new and mixed audience whose preconceptions of goth music changed these acts' opportunities for artistic and commercial success. The upshot was that many talented acts toured and recorded from 1995 to the end of the millennium, though their work was overshadowed both in popularity and ultimate influence by bands and fans alike who merely dabbled in the scene but largely abandoned it, perhaps not coincidentally, around the time of the Columbine school shooting and the American press's subsequent villification and scrutiny of goth culture in 1999. In the underground, Cleopatra's heyday had diminished by the turn of the millennium, and Goth rock, to survive in a subculture dominated more and more by dance club attendance, adapted. Contemporary dance club goth evolved simultaneously with beat driven industrial music during this era, and both use the same techniques and types of synthesis equipment. The main difference is that danceable industrial is "harder" sounding, and goth is "softer" sounding, with less distortion on vocals and guitars, and generally with less influence from techno and metal. Modern goth often has the evolutionary feel of New Wave music or synth pop, while modern industrial is an evolution of Electronic Body Music. These distinctions are hazy at best, and while there are still many "old school" gothic rock or faux-medieval acts around, functionally speaking the line between (sub)genres has blurred considerably. Today, some fans of early gothic rock are embracing a Death Rock revival that has taken height recently as a return to the original music and fashions of the first generation of goth. Bands such as Cinema Strange, Bella Morte, The Deep Eynde and Black Ice, along with the website Deathrock.com have contributed to the revitalization of the genre, and Nina Hagen even headlined the recent Drop Dead Festival in New York City (2005), already in its third year. This movement within the scene has been given an indirect boost from mainstream culture with the contemporary widespread success of acts like Interpol, The Dresden Dolls, and The Stills, whose sounds all owe heavily to post-punk, if not directly to early goth music. Coupled with their success have been successful career phases for The Cure and Bauhaus, all furthering the popularity of janglier, less club-oriented Goth fare. As pluralism, genre-bending, and retro sensibility have been dominant forces in Goth music's underground since approximately 2002, the incorporation of cabaret music, electroclash, and indie rock into the stylistic palette has been taken in stride (and even pioneered) by young acts such as Rasputina, The Prids, Black Ice, Submarine Fleet, Fields of Aplomb and The Phantom Limbs. Common to many such newer acts are live shows incorporating spectacle, elaborate dress, and acting. Doing all this with the marked absence of the Shakespearean affectation that characterized Goth in the late

80s and early 90s, in many ways the latest wave of musicians pick up where The Virgin Prunes left off. Though the scene's identity has decentralized and its record sales have arguably diminished in recent years, many events, labels, and publications remain popular. Dancing Ferret Discs, Projekt Records and Metropolis Records have all found considerable success in the American market, while Cherry Red has been reissuing an extensive set of vital early Goth rock recordings, assuring the longevity of the scene's roots. The genre's most popular live events, such as the German Wave Gotik Treffen, Zillo festivals and the British Whitby Gothic Weekends or NYC Drop Dead Festival still draw tens of thousands. From the days of the zine explosion, some magazines have transitioned to the web, including Blue Blood, Asleep By Dawn, and Gothic.net. Others are Still in Print like Gothic Beauty, Virus and Drop Dead Magazine [edit]

Musical predecessors (1960s1970s or Earlier)

David Bowie and glam rock. Elements of the seventies glam subculture helped influence goth both musically and visually. As goth broke further away from punk, the androgynous look, which Bauhaus favoured, developed, and was taken even further by bands like Alien Sex Fiend and their followers. David Bowie's androgynous appearance, love of melodrama and his use of dark themes meant he had a major influence on many early goth bands. His songs frequently appeared on the Batcave playlists. Bowie had also described his Diamond Dogs (1974) album as gothic when it first came out. The Velvet Underground (1960s), whose dark and depressing sound and themes were frequently referenced by early goth bands, especially by Siouxsie & the Banshees. Joy Division performed a cover version of "Sister Ray", and Christian Death covered "Venus in Furs". Nico, who performed with the Velvets, is sometimes considered the first Gothic Rock artist. The Doors influenced the Los Angeles emergence of Death Rock, particularly with the album Strange Days (1967). Joy Division and Echo and the Bunnymen were also suggested to have borrowed The Doors' sound. The Bunnymen's cover of "People Are Strange" is included in the film (as well as on the film's soundtrack) The Lost Boys. A 2000 album on Cleopatra Records, Darken My Fire: A Gothic Tribute to The Doors, featured covers by bands such as Mephisto Walz, Ex Voto, Alien Sex Fiend, and The Mission UK. The New Creatures, heavily influenced by The Doors, also took their name from a book of poetry by Jim Morrison. Dave Vanian's vocal style shown in The Damned's later albums and also his work in Phantom Chords owes heavily to Jim Morrison. Alice Cooper is also worth acknowledging. Despite rarely being considered goth music, they were key influences in the darker trend rock music began to take and have continued to take. Alien Sex Fiend in particular were Cooper

fans. Generally speaking, musicians like Cooper only set the stage for makeup wearing as acceptable among youth subcultural groups.

The Stooges, an early punk band featuring Iggy Pop, have been credited as influencing early goth bands like Ausgang and Killing Joke. The music of Iggy Pop was highly influential in early goth rock artists. Siouxsie and the Banshees did a cover of "The Passenger" on their Through The Looking Glass album, and Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division, is even said to have hanged himself while listening to Iggy Pop's The Idiot album. T-Rex, another glam rock band and peers of David Bowie. Marc Bolan's style and lyrics were extremely influential. Records of early playlists from the Batcave include T-Rex tunes, and Bauhaus recorded a cover of "Telegram Sam".

[edit]

Musical arrangements
While today the genre has no universally employed identifying musical characteristics, certain tendencies of early English gothic rock have endured as common within and quintessential to the genre throughout its entire history. Very broadly, and by no means comprehensively, guitar effects settings are the most notable identifier of the overall musical style. Typically, a clean or warmly overdriven guitar sound is processed through chorusing, flanging, analog delay, and/or dense reverb, resulting in a timbre that resembles those used by Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and The Cure. Taking its downstroke playing from punk, this style of guitar performance generally emphasizes angular melodic lines instead of thick chords. Minor key themes are prevalent, but major keys are not shunned. The most uniquely gothic tonal inflection is the flatted scale degree two, producing a Phrygian mode. While this is perhaps overspecifying a general timbre and approach to playing, this jangly guitar tone and pitch set in gothic rock is almost entirely idiosyncratic to the genre, and must be understood as an historical signifier thusly. Some bands in the genre (though certainly not all) detoured from this sound briefly in the early 90s in favor of a more hard rock feel, as exemplified on the Sisters of Mercy's Floodland and Vision Thing albums, as well as by acts such as Fields of the Nephilim, Rosetta Stone, and The Wake. However, as stated at above, the scene reemphasized its early musical roots in the time thereafter, making this sound today commonplace once again.

Gothic rock (see also) gothic metal, heavy metal, hard rock, alternative rock,

Gothic rock started as a offshoot of the punk movement led by groups like Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, and Joy Division who created a new more introverted style of punk which focused on personal issues and ideas while paying tribute to the influence of early punk bands like The Sex Pistols, The Buzzcocks, The Clash, and Generation X. Originally just an offshoot of punk gothic rock really came into its own in in 79 with the emergence of Bauhaus. One big difference between punk and goth are the personal politics. The punk movement was largely devoted to living only in the moment and using excess as a hedonistic political statement or more simply to just have fun right now. Goth is very introspective drawing from diverse elements of history and subculture like romanticism, gothic horror, art, science, the nihilist movement of Nietzsche, existential philosophy, and other academic subjects. Gothic themes largely focus on personal growth and knowledge and largely ignore outside politics although as with every generalization it has many exceptions. Bauhaus was one of the first bands to fit the goth format. Their sound was strongly influenced by British glam acts like T-Rex, David Bowie, and others. They created quite a stir before breaking up. Some members went on to form Tones on Tail which brought a more surf rock and psychedelic flavor to the movement. Siouxsie & the Banshees and The Cure are well known for their gothic imagery but some argue only the early albums followed the gothic format. Joy Division was very influential in the genre until the death of Ian Curtis. Out of the ashes came New Order a markedly new wave band. Another strong influence is The Sisters of Mercy who created the goth dance movement. The goth movement evolved at the same time as industrial music and the genre overlaps with the most marked difference being the more mechanized sound of industrial dance verse a more humanized goth movement. Goth music is Goth metal combining medieval Gothic music with heavy Doom metal. Goth metal often described as "beauty and the beast" because of the characteristic duets between Operatic female vocals and male death vocals. Some of the key bands in this area are Paradise Lost, Theatre of Tragedy, Tristania and Lacuna Coil.

Goth

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NYC goth band The Naked and the Dead (1985). This article is about the contemporary goth/gothic subculture. For the Germanic tribes of the same name, see the Goths. Goth is a contemporary subculture prevalent in many countries around the globe. It began in the United Kingdom during the late 1970s to early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture is remarkable for its longevity compared with others of the same era. Its imagery and cultural proclivities show influences from nineteenth century Gothic literature, mainly by way of horror movies. The goth subculture has associated "gothic" tastes in music and fashion. Gothic music encompasses a number of different styles. Common to all is a tendency towards a dark sound. Styles of dress within the subculture range from death rock, punk, Victorian, androgynous, some Renaissance style clothes, combinations of the above, and/or lots of black attire, makeup and hair.

Contents
[hide]

1 Origins and development of the subculture o 1.1 Goth after post-punk o 1.2 Current boundaries of the subculture 2 The music 3 Historical and cultural influences o 3.1 20th century influences on the subculture o 3.2 Later media influences 4 Goth ideology o 4.1 Religious elements 5 Elder goths 6 Corporate goths 7 Popular criticism and media characterizations

8 References 9 See also 10 External links o 10.1 General websites o 10.2 Events
o

10.3 Magazines and press

[edit]

Origins and development of the subculture

Siouxsie and the Banshees were a major contributor to the style and sound of Goth Rock early on. By the late 1970s, there were a few post-punk bands in the United Kingdom labeled "gothic." However, it was not until the early 1980s that gothic rock became its own subgenre within post-punk and that followers of these bands started to come together as a distinctly recognizable movement. The opening of the Batcave in London's Soho in July 1982 provided a prominent meeting point for the emerging scene, which had briefly been labeled positive punk by the New Musical Express.[1] The term "Batcaver" was later used to describe old-school goths. Independent of the British scene, the late 1970s and early 1980s saw death rock branch off from American punk.[2] In 1980s and early 1990s, members of the emerging goth subculture in Germany were called Grufties (engl. "vault creatures" or "tomb creatures"). They generally represented a fusion between the goth subculture and the New wave movement, and formed the early part of the "dark culture." [edit]

Goth after post-punk

After the demise of post-punk, goth continued to evolve, both musically and visually. This caused variations in style ("types" of goth). Local scenes also contributed to this

variation. By the 1990s, Victorian fashion saw a renewed popularity in the goth scene, drawing on the mid-19th century gothic revival and the more morbid aspects of Victorian culture. [edit]

Current boundaries of the subculture

By the 1990s, the term "goth" and the boundaries of the associated subculture had become more contentious. New youth subcultures evolved, or became more popular, some of them being conflated with the goth subculture by the general public and the popular media. This conflation was based primarily on similarities of appearance, and the fashions of the subcultures, rather than the musical genres of the bands associated with them. As time went on, the term was extended even further in popular usage, sometimes being applied to groups that had neither musical nor fashion similarities to the original gothic subculture. This has led to the introduction of terms that some goths and others use to sort and label associated trends and members of loosely related subcultures. These include mallgoths or Neo-Goths in the US, Cuervos in Spain, Dark In Latin America, gogans in Australia, and spooky kids, moshers or mini moshers in the UK. More positive terms, such as mini-goths or baby bats, are also used by some older goths to refer to youths whom they see as exhibiting potential for growth into "true" goths later on. The response of these younger groups to the older subculture varies. Some, being secure in a separate subcultural identity, express offense at being called "goths" in the first place, while others choose to join the existing subculture on its own terms. Still others have simply ignored its existence, and decided to appropriate the term "goth" themselves, and redefine the idea in their own image. Even within the original subculture, changing trends have added to the complexity of attempting to define precise boundaries. The 'goth look' comprises a significant portion of the cosplay subculture, particulary in Japan where the Gothic Lolita look is very popular. This look combines goth, with cute, and often includes exagerrated, cartoonish elements from Victorian and Edwardian culture. The cosplay aspect of goth subculture focuses almost exclusively on the clothes and makeup, and does not have a large crossover into the musical or social aspects that are common to the mainline goth culture in the west. [edit]

The music

Bauhaus widely recognised as the first Goth band. The bands that began the gothic rock and death rock scene were limited in number, and included Bauhaus, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Southern Death Cult, Sex Gang Children, 45 Grave, The Damned, And Also The Trees, The Virgin Prunes, Joy Division, The Cure, The Cramps, Alien Sex Fiend and Christian Death. By the mid-eighties, the number of bands began proliferating and became increasingly popular, including The Sisters of Mercy, The Mission UK, Xmal Deutschland, The Bolshoi and Fields of the Nephilim. The nineties saw the further growth of eighties bands and emergence of many new bands. Factory, 4AD, and Beggars Banquet released much of this music in Europe, while Geffen and Cleopatra Records amongst others released much of this music in the United States, where the subculture grew especially in New York, Los Angeles, & Orange County, California, with many nightclubs featuring gothic/industrial nights. The popularity of 4AD bands resulted in the creation of a similar US label called Projekt. This produces what is colloquially termed Ethereal, as well as the more electronic Darkwave. By the mid-1990s, styles of music that were heard in venues that goths attended ranged from gothic rock, death rock, darkwave, industrial, EBM, ambient, experimental, synthpop, shoegaze, punk rock, 1970s glam rock (not to be confused with later glam rock), indie rock, to 1980s dance music. This variety was a result of a need to maximize attendance from everyone across the alternative music scene, particularly in smaller towns, and due to the eclectic tastes of the members of the subculture; but it also signaled new shifts in attitude. Gothic rock was originally clearly differentiated from industrial and heavy metal by older participants in the alternative scene, but newcomers and media misconceptions blurred the boundaries in the nineties as gothic rock became significantly less popular in the US and UK. Thus while industrial or heavy metal bands such as Marilyn Manson, Jack Off Jill, Type O Negative, Lacuna Coil, Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, Slipknot, and Mortiis were often labeled as "goth" by the media, this categorization was strongly resisted by longstanding goths. Even more confusion was added with the rise of gothic metal, with such bands consciously using gothic imagery from the dark ages in their own music and appearance and started even following fashion trends indistinguishable from older goth ones. Arguments about which music is and is not goth became an ever more significant part of how the subculture tried to define itself. The other significant development of the nineties was the popularity of electronic dance bands such as VNV Nation and Covenant in the goth scene. The rise of what has been called cybergoth music and style, which has much in common with techno/synthpop, caused bitter divisions between its fans and those firmly attached to

the analog and/or guitar based sound of gothic rock. Bands with a darkwave sound or those such as Soft Cell, or The Cruxshadows, which combine an electronic and gothic rock sound, appeal to both sides to some extent.

Darkwave/Goth band The Cruxshadows. Recent years have seen a resurgence in the early positive punk and death rock sound, in reaction to the EBM, futurepop, and synthpop, which had taken over many goth clubs. Bands with an earlier goth sound like Cinema Strange, Bloody Dead And Sexy, Black Ice, and Antiworld are becoming very popular. Nights like Ghoul School and Release The Bats promote death rock heavily, and the Drop Dead Festival brings in death rock fans from all over the world. Today, the goth music scene thrives most actively in Western Europe, especially Germany, with large festivals such as Wave-Gotik-Treffen, Zillo, and others drawing tens of thousands of fans from all over the world. [edit]

Historical and cultural influences

The original Goths were a Germanic tribe who played an important role in the fall of the western Roman Empire. The name "goth" later became pejorative: synonymous with "barbarian" and being uncultured. During the Renaissance period in Europe, medieval architecture was retroactively labeled gothic architecture, and was considered ugly and barbaric in contrast to the pure lines of classical architecture. In the United Kingdom, by the late 1700s, however, nostalgia for the medieval period led people to become fascinated with medieval gothic ruins. This fascination was often combined with an interest in medieval romances, Roman Catholic religion, and the supernatural. Enthusiasts for gothic revival architecture in the United Kingdom were led by Horace Walpole, and were sometimes nicknamed "goths", the first positive use of the term in the modern period. The gothic novel of the late eighteenth century, a genre founded by Horace Walpole with the 1764 publication of The Castle of Otranto, was responsible for the more modern connotations of the term gothic. Henceforth, the term was associated with a mood of horror, morbidity, darkness and the supernatural. The gothic novel established much of the iconography of later horror literature and cinema, such as graveyards, ruined castles or churches, ghosts, vampires, nightmares, cursed families, being buried alive and melodramatic plots. Another notable element was the brooding

figure of the gothic villain, which developed into the Byronic hero. The most famous gothic villain is the vampire, Dracula, originally depicted in a novel by Bram Stoker, then made more famous through the medium of horror movies. The powerful imagery of horror movies began in German expressionist cinema in the twenties then passed onto the Universal Studios films of the thirties, then to camp horror B films such as Plan 9 From Outer Space and then to Hammer Horror films. By the 1960s, TV series, such as The Addams Family and The Munsters, used these stereotypes for camp comedy. Certain elements in the dark, atmospheric music and dress of the post punk scene were clearly "gothic" in this sense. The use of "gothic" as an adjective in describing this music and its followers led to the term "goth". [edit]

20th century influences on the subculture

Theda Bara The influence of the gothic novel on the goth subculture can be seen in numerous examples of the subculture's poetry and music, though this influence sometimes came second hand, through the popular imagery of horror films and television. The Byronic hero, in particular, was a key precursor to the male goth image, while Dracula's iconic portrayal by Bela Lugosi appealed powerfully to early goths. They were attracted by Lugosi's aura of camp menace, elegance and mystique. Some people even credit the band Bauhaus' first single "Bela Lugosi's Dead", with the start of the goth subculture, though many prior art house movements also influenced gothic fashion and style. A notable early example was Siouxsie Sioux, of the musical group Siouxsie and the Banshees. Some members of Bauhaus were, themselves, fine art students and/or active artists. The concept of the femme fatale, which appeared in Romantic literature, film noir, as well as in the gothic novel, went on to become a vital image for female goths. In cinema, the femme fatale style adopted by silent movie actress Theda Bara exerted a lasting influence. Bara was nicknamed the vamp, and her first name was an anagram for "death". She established the look for pale predatory women in later films, which ultimately influenced the goth subculture.

Film poster for The Hunger. This movie was a key influence in the early days of the goth subculture. Some of the early gothic rock and death rock artists adopted traditional horror movie images, and also drew on horror movie soundtracks for inspiration. Their audiences responded in kind by further adopting appropriate dress and props. Use of standard horror film props like swirling smoke, rubber bats, and cobwebs were used as gothic club dcor from the beginning in The Batcave. Such references in their music and image were originally tongue-in-cheek, but as time went on, bands and members of the subculture took the connection more seriously. As a result, morbid, supernatural, and occult themes became a more noticeably serious element in the subculture. The interconnection between horror and goth was highlighted in its early days by The Hunger, a 1983 vampire film, which starred David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve, and Susan Sarandon. The movie featured gothic rock group Bauhaus performing "Bela Lugosi's Dead" in a nightclub. In 1993, Whitby became the location for what became the UK's biggest goth festival as a direct result of being featured in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Throughout the evolution of the goth subculture, familiarity with gothic literature became significant for many goths. Poe, Lovecraft, Shelley, Dante and the other classical writers became just as symbolic of the subculture as dressing all in black. A newer literary influence on the gothic scene was Anne Rice's re-imagining of the idea of the vampire. Rice's characters were depicted as struggling with eternity and loneliness, this with their ambivalent or tragic sexuality had deep attractions for many goth readers, making her works very popular in the eighties through the nineties. Movies based on her books have been filmed in recent years - notably Interview with the Vampire, which starred Brad Pitt, and the more recent Queen of the Damned, in which goths appear directly and indirectly. The first film, in particular, helped further encourage the spread of Victorian style fashions in the subculture (although period inspired clothing has been a recurrent trend in the gothic subculture). [edit]

Later media influences

Winona Ryder as goth Lydia in Beetlejuice As the subculture became well-established the connection between goth and horror fiction became almost a cliche, with goths quite likely to appear as characters in horror novels and film. For example, The Crow drew directly on goth music and style. The movies of Tim Burton are all significant for their presentation of goth or gothinspired characters, especially Beetlejuice, which features Lydia, a goth teen, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Corpse Bride. In turn, such movies drew new people into the gothic scene. Anne Rice's book series "The Vampire Chronicles" and the popular World of Darkness roleplaying games, especially Vampire: The Masquerade, also referred directly to gothic music and culture and encouraged an interest in the scene. Influences from anime as well as cyberpunk fiction such as The Matrix have found their way into the goth scene, which helped give rise to a new subculture and a new label, Cyber subculture, or the Industrial/goth offshoot, cybergoth; they also added to the popularity of Industrial music. Of note is the recent positive portrayal of a recurring goth character on the American television series NCIS. Abby Sciuto played by Pauley Perrette is uniquely goth, but works firmly on the side of the protagonists as a highly skilled forensic scientist. [edit]

Goth ideology
Defining an ideology of the gothic subculture is difficult for several reasons. First is the overwhelming importance of mood for those involved. This is, in part, inspired by romanticism and neoromanticism. The allure for goths of dark, mysterious, and morbid imagery and mood lies in the same tradition. The rise of Romanticism's gothic novel during the 19th century saw feelings of horror being commercially exploited as a form of mass entertainment, a process continued in the modern horror film. Balancing this emphasis on mood, the other central element of the subculture is a conscious sense of camp theatricality or self-dramatization.

The second impediment to defining a gothic ideology is goth's sometimes apolitical nature. While individual defiance of social norms was a very risky business in the nineteenth century, today it is far less socially radical. Thus, the significance of goth's subcultural rebellion is limited, and it draws on imagery at the heart of Western culture. Unlike the hippy or punk movements, the goth subculture has no pronounced political messages or cries for social activism. The subculture is marked by its emphasis on individualism, tolerance for (sexual) diversity, a strong emphasis on creativity, a dislike of social conservatism and a strong tendency towards cynicism, but even these ideas are not common to all goths. Goth ideology is based far more on aesthetics than ethics or politics.

Example of silent film era influence on gothic makeup. For the individual goth, joining the subculture can be extremely valuable and personally fulfilling, especially in creative terms. However, it also can be risky, especially for the young, because of the negative attention it can attract. The value that young people find in the movement is evidenced by its continuing existence after other subcultures of the eighties such as the New Romantics have long since died out. Paul Hodkinson's book, Goth: Identity, Style and Subculture, explores how the Western cult of individualism, usually expressed via consumerism, is drawn on by goths and other subcultural groups. Many who are drawn to the culture have already failed to conform to the norms of existing society, and for its participants the gothic subculture provides an important way of experiencing a sense of community and validation not found in the outside world. Hodkinson shows how inside the gothic subculture status can be gained via enthusiastic participation and creativity, in creating a band, DJ-ing, making clothes, designing, creating art, or writing a fanzine. He suggests that the self-conscious artificiality of a subculture is a valid alternative choice in a post-modern world, compared to submitting to the invisible manipulations of popular consumerism and the mass media. [edit]

Religious elements
Spiritual, supernatural, and religious imagery has frequently played an important part in gothic fashion and also in song lyrics and art. However, many goths aspire to free themselves from the perceived limitations of traditional belief systems, and express a belief in open-mindedness and diversity.

One widespread misconception is that the goth subculture as a whole represents a unified cult-like religion, when in reality there is a wide diversity of religious beliefs throughout the subculture. A large number of goths adhere to atheism or agnosticism or spiritualism, not wanting to commit to organized religion or what they perceive to be repressive and/or irrational belief systems. An interest in neo-paganism, shamanism and the occult amongst goths appears to be higher than amongst the general population. Many goths also follow more common religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism, and so on, as illustrated by websites like GothicChristianity.com. [edit]

Elder goths
An elder goth is a senior member of the goth subculture, usually between the ages of 29 and 40. Elder goths are generally longtime veterans of the scene, perhaps going back to the Batcave era. Elder goths are more likely to draw upon the artistic aspects of the scene, in contrast to their younger counterparts who are sometimes motivated to act for shock value. Older goths may regard those who act in this ways as poseurs. An elder goth may refuse to acknowledge them as fellow goths. In contrast to the stereotypical image of a goth as a maladjusted outcast loner, some elders are married with families, and most have close knit ties with other members of the subculture. [edit]

Corporate goths
Though some goths gravitate toward workplaces that allow a great deal of personal expression, or simply do not care what employees look like, others work in the corporate sector where certain dresscodes are enforced. They usually add a gothic twist to their ensembles; some would say they wear corporate gothwear, which satisfies gothic tastes in fashion without alienating more mainstream and conservative co-workers, as well as keeping with management policies. Corporate gothwear varies based on individual taste, though a David Bowie influence is often prevalent, as well as 1920s through 1960s styles. Examples include, but are not limited to, a black pinstripe suit and burgundy shirt for men and a black turtleneck and skirt or suit with silver jewelry for women. A recent study by Sussex University suggests that goths are likely to grow up to be doctors, lawyers or architects, and that goths are usually intelligent, refined and sensitive, and keen on poetry and books [1]. [edit]

Popular criticism and media characterizations

Like many other music based subcultures, goths have faced differing levels of social intolerance due mostly to outward stylistic appearances. Social intolerance ranges from looks of indignation and verbal taunts to physical violence. A preoccupation with themes of death, romance, the supernatural, darkness, the archaic, and the generally macabre have occasionally raised public concerns regarding the emotional well-being of, mainly, young goths and general fears of cultic indoctrination. Such conceptions are often reinforced by popular media, as exemplified in the Columbine High School Massacre, which was carried out by two troubled students inaccurately linked to the gothic subculture. The Columbine massacre caused a widespread public backlash against the goth scene in America; however, investigators of the incident later denied that any such link between the students and the goth scene, in fact, existed [2].

References
Books

Baddeley, Gavin: Goth Chic: A Connoisseur's Guide to Dark Culture (Plexus, US, August 2002, ISBN 0859653080) Davenport-Hines, Richard: Gothic: Four Hundred Years of Excess, Horror, Evil and Ruin (1999: North Port Press. ISBN 0865475903 (trade paperback) - A voluminous, if somewhat patchy, chronological/aesthetic history of Gothic covering the spectrum from Gothic architecture to The Cure. Hodkinson, Paul: Goth: Identity, Style and Subculture (Dress, Body, Culture Series) 2002: Berg. ISBN 1859736009 (hardcover); ISBN 185973605X (softcover) Kilpatrick, Nancy: The goth Bible : A Compendium for the Darkly Inclined. 2004: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0312306962 Voltaire: What is Goth? (WeiserBooks, US, 2004; ISBN 1578633222) - a humorous and easy-to-read view of the goth subculture Andrew C. Zinn: The Truth Behind The Eyes (IUniverse, US, 2005; ISBN 0-59537103-5) - Dark Poetry

Notes

Gothic metal
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Gothic Metal

Stylistic origins:

Black metal, Death metal, Doom metal early 1990s, Europe Guitar - Bass - Drums Keyboard
Small, dedicated fanbases mainly focused in Europe

Cultural origins: Typical instruments: Mainstream popularity:

Fusion genres
Gothic-Doom

Regional scenes
United States, United Kingdom, Scandinavia Germany

Gothic metal is a genre of heavy metal music that originated in the early 1990's in Europe as an outgrowth of doom-death, a subgenre of doom metal. The definition of gothic metal is commonly debated; older fans and musicians have a firm concept of the genre having been around through its growth and evolution, having strict ideas of what bands pertain to the genre and what bands don't. Newer fans reject this categorization as limiting, useless or wrong, often claiming bands are gothic metal that do not meet the criteria of the older fans

Contents
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1 Sounds, constructs and lyrics 2 History o 2.1 Origins (1983-1993) o 2.2 Gothic Metal (1993-present) o 2.3 Gothic Doom (1997-present) 3 Gothic doom 4 Other gothic metal fusions 5 Common misconceptions 6 List of Bands o 6.1 Gothic metal bands o 6.2 Gothic-Doom metal bands 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

9.1 Metal databases

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Sounds, constructs and lyrics

Gothic metal is sometimes considered a loose genre in the way it sounds because the genre is defined by its composition of the music and its aesthetics, leaving individual bands to provide different interpretations. It also makes unique use of dual vocalists, keyboards and acoustic guitars, making it distinctive in comparison to other metal genres. Gothic metal tends to refer to doom metal, black metal, and death metal for its composition, heavily synthesizing the styles of their melody and rhythm ideas in its guitar work, causing the music to be aggressive and fast paced. Acoustic guitars are sometimes present in gothic metal, and in bands that use two guitars, the second guitarist is often found playing a form of acoustic guitar. The acoustic guitar is used in the same way as its electronic counterpart, and is normally found playing melodies that are as equally complex. The bass guitar in gothic metal usually plays lower tones akin to doom metal combined with the aggression of black and death metal, often being the main contributor to the atmosphere in songs. Keyboards play a major role in gothic metal, often replacing the second guitarist in bands and taking on the role of either lead or rhythm. The keyboards are often used to imitate a variety of instruments, most often string and wind instruments. Keyboards tend to support the bass in setting the atmosphere and mood of songs. The atmosphere is commonly tailored to fit the song; warm and energetic, empty and enclosing. The atmosphere rarely follows the deep morbidity of doom metal unlike its origin/offspring, doom-death/gothic-doom, or the upbeat nature of its sister genre, symphonic metal. Lyrically, gothic metal is centered around romances and fantasy tales that end in tragedy for one or more parties involved. The setting for the lyrics are most often in the New Age or the Dark Ages, but can also be in Victorian, Edwardian, Roman, or modern eras. The romantic- and fantasy-themed lyrics often used in gothic metal cover many broad subjects and are intended as being themes and guides to the lyricist, rather than a complete prerequisite of the genre. Gothic Metal bands typically do not write their albums in the form of separate songs; they rather write concept albums in the form of books. This is so that each song acts as a part, or, chapter, inspiring people to listen to the whole album in order to hear the story, instead of just certain songs. Penumbra's Seclusion and Silentium's Sufferion - Hamartia of Prudence are two gothic metal albums that feature this style of lyrics. Gothic metal bands normally have two vocalists, (also known as "Beauty and the Beast" vocals). One vocalist is typically male and uses vocals akin to black or death metal. The other vocalist is usually female, and often uses soprano vocals, or harmonic singing. Sometimes bands will use other forms of vocals included with the two prior vocalists, including (but not limited to) female death/black vocals,

Gregorian chanting and male singing, but this tends to be limited to backing vocals and their use within the song. [edit]

History
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Origins (1983-1993)
The earliest stage of gothic metal can be traced to bands in the 1980s, who utilized the dark aesthetics of gothic rock with aspects of composition akin to doom metal. Bands of this type are credited mainly for their later influence on the subgenres, doom-death and gothic-doom. Although Glenn Danzig's Samhain made some attribution to this manner of composition, Death rock band Christian Death are regarded by some as the most influential to the founding of the subgenre. Thought the influence seems to come from the bands line up containing Valor Kand's version of "Christian Death", who themselves are considered to play a style of Heavy Metal,[1] unlike the original line up founded by Rozz Williams, who had a more punk influenced sound. [2] The current line up with Valor has featured members of metal bands such as Cradle Of Filth guesting on albums. Celtic Frost, although considered by many as an early black metal band, also played a semi-important role in the development of doom-death, due to their use of "gothicsounding" atmospherics. 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 and similar doom metal bands. Doom-death, as it was known, was the first stage of the gothic-doom subgenre and the gothic-metal genre. Bands most notable for this style included Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, and Anathema. Although death metal and black metal were two of the larger genres of metal at this time, especially in the Scandinavian region, many bands who started in either genre had progressed more toward doom-death styles; two of these bands were Moonspell and Theatre of Tragedy. While early doom-death bands Paradise Lost and Anathema used some female vocals in their music, the Netherland's The Gathering was the first doom-death band with a leading female singer, Marike Groot on the album Always... and then Martine Van Loon on Almost a Dance (both later replaced by another female singer, Anneke van Giersbergen). This set a pattern for gothic metal by adding the first implications of using two vocalists in the bands, which later became a signature of gothic metal as it was quickly imitated by bands including Tristania and Theatre of Tragedy. [edit]

Gothic Metal (1993-present)

Gothic metal originated in the early 1990's with bands such as Tristania and Therion taking the doom-death sound that had arisen and making romantically-themed music that borrowed from black metal's and death metal's guitar and vocal styles. These bands left behind some of the depressing nature and gothic rock elements of their origins to add more warm and classical elements into the music. A softer genre known as symphonic metal had evolved in the mid- to late- 1990s from gothic metal bearing strong similarities to its predecessor, with bands led by female singers. During this time the divide between gothic metal and the new born symphonic metal became apparent; symphonic metal maintained a simpler approach, with more operatic and classical themes, while gothic metal incorporated more aggressive elements of death metal and black metal directly into the music, adding more technically complex melodies and rhythms into its music. Trail of Tears and Penumbra heading this last known progression in the music. The gothic metal scene is currently very developed in Europe and Scandinavia, most notably in England, France, Norway and the Netherlands, and is growing rapidly in Germany. Much of the scene's core fan base has developed itself in England and France, with many of the bands coming from the Scandinavian region. Several groups of smaller bands are also emerging in eastern Europe and South America, struggling to gain a foothold where the scene is small. [edit]

Gothic Doom (1997-present)

In the late 1990's-2000 bands within the gothic metal genre had become somewhat prominent, and the genre symphonic metal had begun to emerge from it. At this point, several bands started to go the opposite path to symphonic metal for their, adding highly morbid themes, slowing down to a more slow-paced aggression akin to gothic metal, and began to abandon the Beauty And The Beast vocals that had become part of the gothic metal genre. During this period, a boom of new bands occurred. These bands combined aspects directly from early 90s gothic metal with aspects of various forms of doom metal. Bands such as Chalice, Draconian, Even Vast, and Left Hand Soloution all released albums or produced demo's at this time. These bands used various elements of gothic metal and doom metal in varied and undefined methods. This included the romantic lyrics and instrument usage with morbid atmospheres and slow, droning guitar work. These bands also often found inspiration from doom-death bands, often utilizing the same gothic rock mannerisms found in doom-death almost subconsciously. These new bands, with their morbid sound and nature, and noticeable gothic metal elements, were often debated as being gothic metal or doom metal, before finally being settled on as being 'gothic-doom'. In the early 2000's another boom happened, many bands that were now considered gothic-doom released their first or second albums, with many more bands producing demo's. This second rush of bands and albums now emphasized parts of doom metal

and gothic metal by melding aspects of the genres together. Lyrical themes of the genres were melded together, as were the guitaring, keyboarding, and atmoshperic styles of the genres. Currently, gothic-doom is a widespread scene, with no centralized fan base or origins of bands. Gothic-doom's fanbase mostly tends to be fans heavily into gothic metal and/or doom metal, and currently lacks any major recognition beyond its borrowed stardom. [edit]

Gothic doom
Gothic-doom (also sometimes called Goth Metal due to its gothic rock influence) is best described as a subgenre of both doom metal and gothic metal. Throughout its existence, gothic doom has combined aspects of both doom metal and gothic metal in varying quantities, and the often melding of two aspects together. Early bands in the subgenre used varying quantities and aspects of doom metal with aspects of gothic metal, taking heavily influence from doom-death bands. The music often used one element from gothic metal, with an element of doom metal, ie: The lyrical theme and instrumental usage of gothic metal, with doom metal atmospherics and vocal styles. The sound became more defined as it evolved to combine traits of gothic metal and doom metal directly with their counterparts. Later Gothic doom bands often write music that is typical of either genre, then meld the aspects of that genre directly with the aspects found in the other. Lyrics tend to meld the romantic and fantasy themes of gothic metal, with the morbid and depressive themes of doom metal, creating storys that focus heavily on romance induced misery. Bands have also tended to adapt the synthesising nature of gothic metal. Guitars synthesising aspects of death metal's chugging and techinal nature and gothic rock, with the slow, heavily downtuned aspects of doom metal, similar to what doom-death bands originally did. The instrument usage of gothic metal has also met adaption into doom metal styles, the instruments roles remaining the same within the band, yet played with the same slow, downcast nature of most doom metal. Some gothic doom bands such as Type O Negative and The Wounded have more atoned to following the trend of the first batch of gothic doom. These bands tend to place heavy emphasis on each part of their music, making each individual aspect highly distinguished from another, rather than letting them all blend into one conjoined sound. These bands also take some influence directly from gothic rock, incorporating minor characteristics of the genre directly into their music. Gothic doom bands are overall characterised by their often equal, but highly mixed use of elements of gothic metal, doom metal and occasional elements of gothic rock, whether they are synthesised, melded together, or emphasised. As such, bands are sometimes debated upon as to whether they are doom metal, gothic metal, or neither. Other instances of debate are over whether the original doom-death bands could be

considered gothic-doom due to their similarities, or are a separate subform due to their place in the timeline of origins. [edit]

Other gothic metal fusions

Other fusions of gothic metal similar to gothic doom have also started to become more noticeable. This has often been noticed by bands within the black metal, death metal and symphonic metal genres that have started using elements of gothic metal in the bands music. Within death metal and black metal this has included the non-defining use of dual vocalists, sub-romantic themes and the writing of concept albums mixed with the traditional sound of the genre. These genre fusions include bands such as Dark Lunacy, Cradle of Filth (later albums), and Eternal Tears of Sorrow. Some symphonic metal bands have also started to use more gothic metal elements. This is mainly noticeable by the more downbeat, aggressive and complex structures to songs. Bands such as the Netherlands' Autumn and Russia's Offertorium are both notable for this. [edit]

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 musical connections to the gothic metal genre. This has included bands that have shown imagery akin to morbidity, religious themes, gothic fashion, vampirism, and satanism and bands that have played alongside gothic metal bands at concerts. Bands are also often mistaken for being gothic metal, as people considered goths will attend the performance of a band, and the media takes to believing the band is part of the gothic metal genre due to the people who attend their concerts. Many debates have gone on as to whether bands rooted in one genre that use gothic metal aspects within their music are themselves gothic metal, or are themselves creating fusion like subgenres such as gothic doom. Because of these debates, sometimes bands such as these are listed amongst gothic metal bands as well as bands in the genre they are rooted from, often causing more debate and more confusion on the issue. Many people assume that gothic metal's name implies that it is the same as goth rock, but with metal based composition, and so misinterpret a wide range of bands as being gothic metal on that basis. This misconception is furthered by the use of the term 'goth metal', which implies the music has to do with goths. The genre actually got its name from the imagery and themes within the lyrics, and the atmospherics it uses, which are

quite different to those of the similarly named goth rock. While both use the term "gothic" in reference to the forboding sense of doom popularized by the Gothic novel, gothic rock developed out of punk rock in the late 1970s and, aside from some heavier bands like Christian Death, has no connection to heavy metal. Derogatory usage of the term faggoth by some fans of other metal genres, especially those of black metal, has led to the term being associated with gothic metal. The term is actually used as an insult to the less extreme natures of gothic metal, symphonic metal and Goth Music. Due to the word 'goth' being part of the term however, it is easily mistaken to mean that all music it is used derogatorily towards is goth music. [edit]

List of Bands
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Gothic metal bands

Aeternitas Aion Dakrua Darkwell Evereve Forever Slave Galadriel Keltgar Labores Somnium Lacuna Coil Macbeth Mandrake Moi dix Mois Mortal Love Penumbra Silentium The Gathering Sirenia Trail of Tears Utopian Vampiria

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Gothic-Doom metal bands

Artrosis Ashes You Leave Avrigus Chalice

Cryptal Darkness Devlin Draconian Elfonia For My Pain Forest of Shadows Lacrimas Profundere Lacrimosa (Earlier Works) Moonspell Mourning Beloveth Paradise Lost Poisonblack Theatres Des Vampires The Sins Of Thy Beloved The Wounded Therion Tiamat To/Die/For Type O Negative Visceral Evisceration

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See also

Doom Metal Gothic rock Symphonic Metal List of Gothic rock bands

Gothic metal (See also) gothic music, heavy metal, progressive, heavy, metal, rock
Gothic metal is a crossover genre between traditional gothic music, thrash and doom metal, and heavy metal. Common themes are religion, mythology, horror, pain, hopeless love and death. Traditionally the genre is closely related to the vampirism and nihilism movements but only on the surface. The dress is similar to the traditional gothic movement featuring dark clothes and makeup and religious symbols but as always there are notable exceptions. Goths are not as many believe linked to violence but are actually pacifists by and large. The music is dark and looming

for with complex elements of progressive and heavy metal and hard roughshod guitars from the thrash and doom genre with introspective and thoughtful lyrics which draw from many musical and non musical genres combined in the tradition of gothic rock music. Like most genres it is best described by the bands that represent it. Type O Negative, Crowbar, Coal Chamber, Paradise Lost, Marilyn Manson, Haggard, Anathema, Tristania, Sin of Thy Beloved, and My Dying Bride are regarded as typifying the genre. Some bands typifying the style, notably the European goth metal bands like Within Temptation and Lacuna Coil use high female vocals combined with a low powerful male voices to create a interesting and intriguing harmony of sound. Evanescence is a new band which is picking up the mantle where these euro goth metal bands left off incorporating traditional goth and goth metal to create a huge mainstream success while remaining close to the religious and thought provoking roots of the genre. Goth Metal appears to have a bright future with a strong core group of followers and fans and with the genres move into the mainstream with top drawing acts like the Marilyn Manson and Evanescence and also less mainstream acts like Coal Chamber and others. The genre has secured a place for itself in the future of rock and has already made its influence felt in a large number of other genres as an influence.

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