History Main / GothicMetal

'''Gothic Metal''' is, naturally, a subgenre of HeavyMetal. 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.

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* Music/{{Sentenced}} (early material was DeathMetal)

* Music/IdleHands (also traditional heavy metal)

* Devil Master (GenreBusting example that mixes this with first-wave black metal and d-beat)

* [[Music/OceansOfSlumber Oceans of Slumber]] (also ProgressiveMetal, a bit of a NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly example)

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 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. Lastly, Katatonia and Bethlehem's early work also had some minor influence, though they quickly moved away from the genre in favor of moody, prog-tinged alternative rock (Katatonia) and experimental rock (Bethlehem).

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|Music}} 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: Music/{{Evanescence}}, Music/LacunaCoil, Music/WithinTemptation, Music/{{Nightwish}}, Music/{{Epica}}, or Music/{{HIM}} as part of this genre.

Examples of bands associated with the Gothic Metal genre: [[index]]

* ''Asriel'': A Japanese example. Probably most well known for making music for VisualNovel/ElevenEyes.
* ''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.

* Bethlehem ([[GenreBusting infamously hard to classify]], but this is probably one of the more accurate labels)

* ''Cemetary'' (Though they started off as a DeathMetal band)

* ''Crematory'' started out as a straight up DeathMetal band before branching out to other genres such as GothicMetal, MelodicDeathMetal, IndustrialMetal and Neue Deutsche Härte

* Music/{{Epica}} - Some think of them more as [[SymphonicMetal symphonic]] [[PowerMetal power metal]], albeit darker than the norm and with added death growls.

* Idle Hands (also traditional heavy metal)

* In Solitude (''Sister'', also traditional heavy metal, though they had elements of this on ''The World. The Flesh. The Devil'')

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

* Novembre (early work was death/doom)
* Oceans of Slumber (also ProgressiveMetal, a bit of a NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly example)
* October Tide (also death/doom)

* Stillborn (also traditional doom metal)
* ''Stream of Passion:'' Arguably, maybe more ProgressiveMetal.
* ''Swallow the Sun'' (A hybrid of this, MelodicDeathMetal, ProgressiveMetal, and DoomMetal)

* GenreShift: Gothic Metal bands are renowned for doing this. The genre itself was created thanks to several Death / Doom bands doing this. Several Gothic Metal bands then moved into other genres: Music/ParadiseLost and Music/TheatreOfTragedy into electronic rock, Music/{{Anathema}} and Music/TheGathering into [[AlternativeRock Alternative]] / [[ProgressiveRock Progressive Rock,]] Music/{{Tiamat}} into some strange brand of experimental Gothic Rock, Music/LacunaCoil into AlternativeMetal... The list goes on and on.
* {{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 cliché.
* TearJerker: Sometimes the music can get pretty depressing.
* TropeCodifier: Music/TheatreOfTragedy, and to a lesser degree Music/{{Tiamat}} and Music/TheGathering.
* TropeMakers: "The Peaceville Three" (especially Music/ParadiseLost) and Music/TypeONegative.
* TropeNamer: Music/ParadiseLost's ''Gothic'' album.

* InternetBackdraft: The debate over whether certain bands belong to the genre or not. The most commonly debated bands are probably: Music/{{Evanescence}}, Music/LacunaCoil, Music/WithinTemptation, Music/AfterForever, Music/{{Epica}}, Music/{{HIM}}, Music/{{Nightwish}}, and Music/TheGathering.

* Tribulation (''The Children of the Night'' onward, though they had some elements of this on ''The Formulas of Death'')

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

* In Solitude (''Sister'', also traditional heavy metal, though they had elements of this on ''The World. The Flesh. The Devil''

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

* Music/AfterForever (Disbanded as of 2009)

* Music/LeavesEyes - The current band of Theatre of Tragedy's ex-vocalist Liv Kristine.

* Music/{{Nemesea}}