Well it has been such a miserable damn month I thought I’d take the classic albums idea and take it a step further by giving you a brief trip down misery lane and open the coffin on the origins of Gothic-Doom Metal.
First of all I’d better address what Gothic-Doom actually is, or rather what it evolved to be; it is quite literally a mixing of the sounds of Gothic Rock as made famous in the late 1980s, and Doom Metal as it emerged in the 1990s. As such, Gothic-Doom or Goth Metal for short (sometimes even referred to as Dark Metal these days) is characterised by the slow heavy and down tuned pace of Doom Metal with the rough / baritone vocals and atmospheric sounds of Goth Rock.
Though it isn’t solely a masculine affair - just as Christian Death and The Sisters of Mercy used female vocalists to soften their edges, so did many of the Gothic-Doom bands to add a flicker of light to the darkness - this has since gone one to spawn the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ style of vocals that has found a lot of success in recent years.
But here I’m going to look at the influential early albums of the genre, the likes of which are influencing all the major acts of today that have found fame with their own take on the fruit which was born by these seeds.
In the beginning…
I suppose when you think about it, Gothic imagery has always had a strong association with Doom… hell, Heavy Metal in general, and has done ever since the first Black Sabbath albums appeared in record shops across the country. Christian (particularly Catholic) and Pagan iconography, as well as medieval and pre-Raphaelite images have adorned album covers throughout metal’s lifespan. However the ‘Gothic’ sound didn’t really become established until the latter half of the 1980’s.
If you wanted to get technical, the prototype Goth bands emerged alongside punk and developed during the fallout dubbed ‘New Wave’ in the early 80s. But it wasn’t until the sounds of The Sisters of Mercy, Fields of the Nephilim and The Mission became established that the Goth sound had recognizable reference points rather than a pool of talented and glamorous misfits who varied as wildly in their looks as they did in their sounds.
An unholy trinity…
While Goth bands in the UK, and to a lesser extent the US, were clawing their way into mainstream notoriety - Doom bands such as Pentagram, Candlemass, and Saint Vitus were choking tape traders with down tuned, melancholic dirges straight from the chalice of Black Sabbath. But as the star of Goth began to fade and was driven underground once more in the late 80’s, so did the star of Doom begin a slow ascent and eventual diversification at the start of the 90’s.
Yorkshire’s Paradise Lost, and My Dying Bride, along with Merseyside’s Anathema all signed to Peaceville records at this time, and all three marked their debut LP’s with a similar Death-Doom sound comprised of the heavy dirge-like song structures of Doom and the guttural growling vocals of Death Metal. Yet all three would for the most part shift direction on their sophomore albums, instead opting for a sound that would owe just as much to Fields of the Nephilim as it did to Black Sabbath – when Paradise Lost released the album ‘Gothic’ they unintentionally christened this fusion.
Despite all three bands marking their second albums with the changes that would ultimately plant the seeds for the Gothic-Doom blueprint, it was over the course of their next few albums that would define the sound that laid the foundation for a whole host of followers.
Paradise Lost: Draconian Times (1995)
As I said previously, ‘Gothic’ may have been the album that inadvertently gave the band a new tag, but it was ‘Draconian Times’ that is perhaps the most definitive of all of Paradise Lost’s early albums (before a somewhat dodgy foray into synth-rock), and it is easily the one that best encapsulates the Gothic-Doom sound.
The whole album is full of long, epic guitar riffs, lush electronics, and clean yet gravely vocals that had been used increasingly to great effect on ‘Shades of God’ (1992) and ‘Icon’ (1993), with an overall production style reminiscent of the last good Metallica album (that would be the black one by the way).
The album, despite its commercial success and radio friendly construction, really is just about as far as you can push somber riffs, melancholic keyboards, and growling vocals. Paradise Lost have been accused by many for being inconsistent with their direction and sound, and ‘Draconian Times’ has had plenty of criticism leveled at it retrospectively - I can’t help but feel though that some of this criticism is misinformed mainly because of the career path the band took on the release that followed. Yes the album does go a little flat every so often, but I’m pretty sure that most albums do at some point.
You’d be hard pressed to find much wrong with this album from a technical stand point - the song writing is solid, the production and mixing are excellent, and the performances are strong and emotional. It has to be noted that ever since returning to their Metal roots with the release of ‘Symbol of Life’ in 2002, Paradise Lost have pretty much been doing their best to top this album, and only really came close with ‘In Requiem’ in 2007, and as such, it has a strong spot in their back catalogue.
My Dying Bride: The Angel and the Dark River (1995)
My Dying Bride’s full length debut ‘As the Flower Withers’ (1992) was itself a milestone in dark Death-Doom, but as with their fellow Yorkshire-men they soon broadened their scope and honed their sound with their sophomore offering ‘Turn Loose the Swans’(1993), but the culmination of this effort was realized with ‘The Angel and the Dark River’(1995). The album was full of rich, baroque feeling melodies and romantic melancholy, as well as the now legendary violin.
My Dying Bride would also fall to the need to experiment further with their sound, though not as adversely as Paradise Lost - but more often than not, all of the band’s subsequent releases owe something to this album.
The album in some ways continued from where ‘Turn Loose…’ leaves off, but this is a lot more confident and complete, if thematically dark and fragile. The violins and keyboards have become integral to the arrangements and not just an atmospheric afterthought, the guitars are heavy and sensual, the drums are slow and thunderous, and the vocals are rich and emotional. The bands evolving manifesto to express raw painful emotion is no better expressed than on this offering.
The trio of albums ‘Turn Loose the Swans’, ‘The Angel and The Dark River’, and ‘Like Gods of The Sun’ are what solidify the dark and mournful edge of the Gothic-Doom genre, with ‘The Angel…’ using many of the keyboard and string sounds and effects that would loom over not only My Dying Bride’s future releases, but also of many Dark Metal bands over the next decade.
Anathema: Eternity (1996)
The most marked difference between the first two Anathema albums was the departure of their vocalist Darren White, with the duties then being taken up by guitarist Vincent Cavanagh. ‘The Silent Enigma’ (1995) was a new beginning for Anathema, incorporating new ideas to the tweaked sound of ‘Serenades’ (1993), it saw the band essentially reasserting themselves. By the time ‘Eternity’ was released in 1996, the sound had become lush and progressive with clean vocals dominating the album.
The evolution of Anathema has been such that the band have begun to favour a more ambient/progressive rock sound on their last releases with very little of the sound of their first two albums apparent. However the foundation of ‘Eternity’ still looms over the present band.
Thematically the album deals a lot with suicide and loss… it’s heavy going, not just musically. But it is wonderfully balanced out with some excellent atmospheric and melodic pieces that creates a very haunting vibe more befitting of Pink Floyd‘s darkest moments - something that has been the cornerstone of the band ever since.
With this release Anathema hit their stride as a band unit and as songwriters - while ‘Serenades’ was marked by a sense of rawness that comes across on most debut albums. ‘The Silent Enigma’ was in turn marked by the bands effort to reassert itself - ‘Eternity’ is the first Anathema album where the band truly came into their own, and the music reflects this perfectly.
While I would argue that ‘Alternative 4’ is the best album in Anathema’s back catalogue in more ways than one, I would counter that point by saying that ‘Eternity’ had a wider impact on the genre with its blend of Doom, Goth and Prog rock. It has a timeless and darkly introspective feel to it, and the quality of the musicianship is something many bands wish they could emulate effectively. Anathema may have mellowed out a lot in recent years, but this album’s dark complexity really secured there spot within the unholy trinity of the father‘s of Gothic-Doom.
Across the Dark Waters…
In addition to the UK’s three top misery merchants, there were others on distant shores creating their own Gothic-Doom blend; from the female fronted The Gathering to the ‘Beauty and the Beast‘ style of Theatre of Tragedy, as well as the baritone croons of The 69 Eyes.
However, at the same time as the UK’s three acts were releasing their most defining albums, the progressively minded Tiamat from Sweden were slowly evolving from their Black and Death Metal roots into their own brand of atmospheric Gothic tinged metal. Whereas in New York, Peter Steele - former protagonist of the Thrash/Hardcore crossover band Carnivore, had formed Type O Negative and forged his own take on the genre with tongue-in-cheek self-loathing.
Both bands were using a basic Doom formula and had drawn from their own inspirations to give it their own spin - Tiamat brought in their own Pink Floyd fixation into the mix to great effect on the instrumental tracks on ‘Wildhoney’, and Type O Negative took the electronic treatments of The Sisters of Mercy and combined it with catchiness of The Beatles for ‘October Rust’.
Tiamat: Wildhoney (1994)
Sweden’s Tiamat have one of the most interesting and varied back catalogues in Metal. Starting out rooted in Black and Death Metal, Tiamat always set themselves apart from other bands by their use of Pink Floyd style progressive song writing and Fields of the Nephilim style mysticism. It was inevitable that the band’s evolution would cross paths with Goth and Doom Metal before settling in their now familiar atmospheric Gothic rock sound.
With the release of ‘Wildhoney’ (1994) - and it’s companion EP ‘Gaia’ - Tiamat kicked up the atmosphere a few notches that mingled with the slow heavy guitars and strange electronic sounds and the eeriness of Johan Edlund’s clean vocals. While the band didn’t loose their Death Metal edge completely on this album (the 1996 follow up release ‘A Deeper Kind of Slumber’ was the first to feature all clean vocals) it’s progressive edge and heaviness put it at the more extreme end of the Gothic-Doom spectrum, but due to tracks like ‘Do you dream of me, ‘A Pocket Size Sun’ and instrumentals such as ‘Kaleidoscope’, its inclusion is justified.
This album saw widespread critical acclaim for Tiamat and was the band’s first real breakthrough. Johan Edlund had begun to assert his vision by firing most of the previous line-up after the ‘Astral Sleep’ album and surrounded himself with session musicians, and the quality of this album improves because of it.
‘Wildhoney’ was a transitional album for Tiamat - they were obviously going in a more prog-tinged Goth rock style, but they still had a foot in the Death-Doom sound of the previous album. Ultimately the completed transformation would become their bread and butter for the majority of their career - but that isn’t to discount what this album did for them initially. And as such, ‘Wildhoney’ still has a strong place within their discography.
Type O Negative: October Rust (1996)
Type O Negative formed from the ashes of Thrash/Hardcore crossover band Carnivore in the early 90’s and they released their debut ‘Slow, Deep, and Hard’ in 1991. This first album used a lot of material intended for Carnivore, but the new group displayed a new dynamic that focused on a slower and more atmospheric sound comprised of Peter Steele’s distinctive bass style and Josh Silver’s use of piano and organ sounds on the keyboard.
‘Bloody Kisses’ (1993) was the bands first breakthrough, but it still included some hardcore elements, however these were overshadowed by the tremendous success of the ‘Christian Woman’, and ‘Black No.1 (Little Miss Scare-All)’ singles.
‘October Rust’ (1996) followed the formula set out on the previously mentioned tracks and was crafted into a more serious and melodic album that some in the band described mockingly as ‘Gothadelic’. The album served to put the band on the map with successful world tours and media interest - doing essentially what ‘Draconian Times’ did for Paradise Lost’.
The album, while more melodic and commercial, certainly isn’t pop-metal, despite the inclusion of the 60‘s garage rock influenced ‘My Girlfriend’s Girlfriend’ - what the band achieve is a balance between their metal roots and their song writing abilities by incorporating the well trodden routes of gothic atmospherics, psychedelic guitars, and garage rock drumming. The whole album has a more mature and assured feel to it, with some of the best lyrics that Peter Steele has ever penned featuring here, which is what makes ‘October Rust’ such a good solid album.
Type O Negative certainly haven’t matched the commercial success and level of exposure that occurred as a result of ‘October Rust’, in fact their three subsequent albums took a darker and often harder approach more in line with the Doomier ‘Bloody Kisses’. But it has a strong spot in the crossover world between Goth and Metal serving as a good introduction to either side from the other, and quite rightly has many fans because of it.
