History Main / GothicMetal

Gothic Metal has its roots in Death / Doom, which is, as the name implies, DeathMetal mixed with DoomMetal. "[[Music/ParadiseLost The]] [[Music/MyDyingBride Peaceville]] [[Music/{{Anathema}} Three]]," who served as the {{Trope Codifier}}s for Death / Doom, gradually incorporated several traits into their music (some traits being brought in from GothRock) that would shape the genre; keyboards, violins (in the case of Music/MyDyingBride), female vocals, and deeper (often bass baritone) vocals. Around the same time as "The Peaceville Three," the American Music/TypeONegative, coming from a slightly different musical background (i.e. not Death / Doom), started incorporating traits from Gothic Rock into their music also; to this day, it's unclear whether Music/TypeONegative or "The Peaceville Three" did it first, but it's generally agreed to be one of those four bands that kickstarted the genre. Novembre (another Peaceville band) also had some degree of early influence on the genre, but it can generally be agreed upon that their impact was minimal at best when compared to the bigger three.

* Music/TheatreOfTragedy - TropeCodifier, the ones who pioneered the SopranoAndGravel technique (Paradise Lost, CelticFrost and The Gathering had all used it before, but Theatre of Tragedy were the ones who made it popular). If you encounter a gothic metal(-ish) band that has two vocalists, one male and one female, then they ''will'' be strongly influenced by Theatre of Tragedy.

* Music/{{Danzig}} (overlaps with DoomMetal and [[HeavyMetal Traditional Heavy Metal]])

Gothic Metal has its roots in Death / Doom, which is, as the name implies, DeathMetal mixed with DoomMetal. "[[Music/ParadiseLost The]] [[Music/MyDyingBride Peaceville]] [[Music/{{Anathema}} Three]]," who served as the {{Trope Codifier}}s for Death / Doom, gradually incorporated several traits into their music (some traits being brought in from GothRock) that would shape the genre; keyboards, violins (in the case of Music/MyDyingBride), female vocals, and deeper (often bass baritone) vocals. Around the same time as "The Peaceville Three," the American Music/TypeONegative, coming from a slightly different musical background (i.e. not Death / Doom), started incorporating traits from Gothic Rock into their music also; to this day, it's unclear whether Music/TypeONegative or "The Peaceville Three" did it first, but it's generally agreed to be one of those four bands that kickstarted the genre.

* Music/StreamOfPassion - Arguably, maybe more ProgressiveMetal.

* Music/{{Draconian}}

* Music/SwallowTheSun (a hybrid of this, MelodicDeathMetal, ProgressiveMetal and DoomMetal)

* Music/DarkTheSuns

* Music/TheatresDesVampires

* Music/{{Closterkeller}}

* Music/TrailOfTears

* Music/{{Cemetary}} (though they started off as a DeathMetal band)

* Atrocity: Early material was pretty straightforward DeathMetal, but they got a whole lot weirder as time went on; Gothic Metal is really the only label that sticks at this point.
* Music/BeforeTheDawn

* Music/{{Lacrimosa}} (later)

* Tribulation (''The Formulas of Death'' onwards, mixed with DeathMetal and ProgressiveRock)
* Triptykon

* Music/TypeONegative - One of the {{Trope Maker}}s.
* Music/VirginBlack
* Music/WithinTemptation - Definitely with their debut album, ''Enter''; their material afterwards is only debatably part of this genre (in fact, there are even some that question their later material's metalness).
* Music/WoodsOfYpres - Started as BlackMetal and progressed to DoomMetal circa Woods III and IV before finally becoming Gothic on Woods 5.
* Music/{{Xandria}}
[[/index]]

!!Gothic metal displays the following tropes:

* TropeNamer: Music/ParadiseLost's ''Gothic'' album.

It is hugely popular in Europe, especially Scandinavia, where many of the bands are from. Possibly as a result of its popularity, and the stigma brought on by the false idea that "gothic metal = metal for goths", many bands have fought against being categorised as gothic metal, though it doesn't have the same stigma as [[NuMetal other]] [[{{Metalcore}} names]] [[{{Emo}} would]]. In addition to this, there are also countless arguments as to which bands actually count as gothic metal, due to the rather vague definition of what gothic metal is. Expect there to be arguments should you refer to Evanescence, Lacuna Coil, Within Temptation, Nightwish, Epica or HIM as part of this genre.

Examples of bands associated with the gothic metal genre:
[[index]]
* Music/AfterForever (Disbanded as of 2009.)
* Music/{{Anathema}} - TropeMaker, along with Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride. Later became a quiet atmospheric/progressive rock band.
* Atrocity (early material was pretty straightforward DeathMetal, but they got a whole lot weirder as time went on; gothic metal is really the only label that sticks at this point)

* GenreShift - Gothic metal bands are renowned for doing this. The genre itself was created thanks to several death/doom bands doing this. Several goth metal bands then moved into other genres - Paradise Lost and Theatre of Tragedy into electronic rock, Anathema and The Gathering into [[AlternativeRock alternative]]/[[ProgressiveRock progressive rock]], Tiamat into some strange brand of experimental goth rock, Lacuna Coil into AlternativeMetal... the list goes on and on.
* InternetBackdraft: The debate over whether certain bands belong to the genre or not. The most commonly debated bands are probably: Evanescence, Lacuna Coil, Within Temptation, After Forever, Epica, HIM, Nightwish, and The Gathering.

* TropeCodifier: Theatre of Tragedy, and to a lesser degree Tiamat and The Gathering.
* TropeMakers: The Peaceville Three (especially Paradise Lost) and Type O Negative.
* TropeNamer: Paradise Lost's ''Gothic'' album.

'''Gothic metal''' is, naturally, a subgenre of [[HeavyMetal heavy metal]]. It sounds dark, like gothic rock; it's got the sonic amplitude of metal; and it's depressing, like DoomMetal. Many of the bands have female vocalists; many also use the classic SopranoAndGravel trick. There are few bands that have never used either, though there are some that have a male vocalist as the frontman.

Gothic metal has its roots in death/doom, which is, as the name implies, DeathMetal mixed with DoomMetal. [[Music/ParadiseLost The]] [[Music/MyDyingBride Peaceville]] [[Music/{{Anathema}} Three]], who served as the {{Trope Codifier}}s for death/doom, gradually incorporated several traits into their music (some traits being brought in from GothicRock) that would shape the genre; keyboards, violins (in the case of Music/MyDyingBride), female vocals, and deeper (often bass-baritone) vocals. Around the same time as the Peaceville Three, the American Music/TypeONegative, coming from a slightly different musical background (ie. not death/doom), started incorporating traits from gothic rock into their music also; to this day, it's unclear whether Type O Negative or the Peaceville Three did it first, but it's generally agreed to be one of those four bands that kickstarted the genre.

* InternetBackdraft - The debate over whether certain bands belong to the genre or not. The most commonly-debated bands are probably Evanescence, Lacuna Coil, Within Temptation, After Forever, Epica, HIM, Nightwish and The Gathering.
* {{Narm}} - Some bands in the genre have been known to cause this.
* SopranoAndGravel - There are very few bands that have not played with this technique at some point in their career. The genre was also responsible for popularising the technique in metal, resulting in it becoming a cliche.
* TearJerker - Sometimes the music can get pretty depressing.
* TropeCodifier - Theatre of Tragedy, and to a lesser degree Tiamat and The Gathering.
* TropeMaker - The Peaceville Three (especially Paradise Lost) and Type O Negative.
* TropeNamer - Paradise Lost's ''Gothic'' album.

* Music/SwallowedByTheSun (a hybrid of this, MelodicDeathMetal, ProgressiveMetal and DoomMetal)

* [[Music/NovembersDoom November's Doom]] (combines this with [[DeathMetal Death]][-]/[-][[DoomMetal Doom]] and ProgressiveMetal)

* Atrocity (early material was pretty straightforward death metal, but they got a whole lot weirder as time went on; gothic metal is really the only label that sticks at this point)

* Music/CelticFrost ({{ur example}} circa Into the Pandemonium)

* Music/CradleOfFilth (mixed with {{Black metal}})

* Music/{{Katatonia}} (early material was a GenreBusting mix of death metal, doom metal, black metal, and gothic rock somewhat akin to Bethlehem, while everything from ''Discouraged Ones'' onward was moody, gothic-tinged alternative rock)

* Music/LacunaCoil - Since around ''Karmacode'' they moved away from gothic metal to more of an alternative rock/metal sound that [[BrokenBase divided the fanbase]].

* Music/MyDyingBride - TropeMaker, along with Paradise Lost and Anathema. Later became a straight-forward doom metal band with frequent flashes of their earlier gothic metal and death/doom.

* Music/SaviourMachine - Arguably the most popular (and infamous) band of this type in the Christian metal scene. Noteworthy for developing a sizable secular fanbase, particularly in Europe.
* Music/{{Sentenced}} (early material was death metal)

* Tribulation (''The Formulas of Death'' onwards, mixed with death metal and progressive rock)

* Music/WoodsOfYpres - Started as {{Black Metal}} and progressed to {{Doom Metal}} circa Woods III and IV before finally becoming Gothic on Woods 5.

+ AlternativeRock, PostPunk, NuMetal, BlackMetal

* Music/MarilynManson.

* Music/{{Evanescence}} - Mixed with a little AlternativeRock and AlternativeMetal.