132-435: Life Is Killing Me is the sixth studio album by gothic metal band Type O Negative . It was released on June 17, 2003, and was their final studio album released through record label Roadrunner Records . The album's title and content refers primarily to frontman Peter Steele 's dissatisfied life outlook and experiences with mental illness at the time of writing and production, with lyrics concerning relationship problems and
264-627: A "lyrical fascination with deceit and transgressions of every variety". Lyrics that focus on suicide and the meaninglessness of life can be found in Anathema while Paradise Lost too has "never lost their depressive edge". Gothic fiction , a literary genre that blends horror and romance , has been a source of inspiration for the lyrics of many gothic metal bands like Cadaveria , Cradle of Filth , Moonspell , Theatres des Vampires and Xandria . Critic Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic identifies drama and mournful beauty as requisite elements of
396-569: A big publicity machine behind them [taking] the very sound the Italian sextet had helped pioneer, and present it to the American suburban goth kids in a much more pop-oriented, dumbed down variation". Cammila Albertson of Allmusic similarly locates Evanescence as one step further from gothic metal, offering the description of the band as "a pop version of an already diluted brand of metal". While Fernando Ribeiro of Moonspell contends that Evanescence
528-439: A connection between "how acquainted one is with their own mortality" and "how much they crave images of death and violence" via the media. Additionally, contributing artists to the genre often defend death metal as little more than an extreme form of art and entertainment, similar to horror films in the motion picture industry. This explanation has brought such musicians under fire from activists internationally, who claim that this
660-709: A cover of the song "Angry Inch" from the off-Broadway musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch . The track "Thir13teen" is a cover of music featured in the TV show The Munsters . Billboard described the record's lyrical themes as "infidelity, death and depression ". "Todd's Ship Gods (Above All Things)" was written by Steele about his father. "I Like Goils" is described by Steele as "poking fun at PC " (political correctness), with lyrics centred on Steele's frustration with having homosexual men make sexual advances towards him following his 1995 Playgirl photoshoot, which, at
792-684: A creative debt to Dead Can Dance, and established them as a leading band in their native Holland [sic]". The term " beauty and the beast " refers to an aesthetic contrasting "angelic" female vocals with male growls or aggressive singing. Paradise Lost and the Gathering had already made use of this technique on some songs from their earlier albums, but it was the Norwegian Theatre of Tragedy that first released an entire album devoted to this approach with their self-titled debut in 1995. A second album, Velvet Darkness They Fear , arrived in
924-421: A custom Fernandes Tremor bass guitar for the recording of the album, an instrument which was built to his exact specifications under his sponsorship with the company. This is the last album by the band to make use of programmed drums , which had previously been used on October Rust and World Coming Down ; the band's next and final studio album, Dead Again , would feature only studio drums. Describing
1056-577: A fully qualified opera singer". A second album Decipher followed in 2001 with music that was described by guitarist Sander Gommans as being in the style of Within Temptation. Founding member, guitarist and vocalist Mark Jansen departed After Forever only a few months after the release of this album. Jansen would go on to form Epica , another band that performs a blend of gothic and symphonic metal. A debut album The Phantom Agony emerged in 2003 with music that combines Jansen's death grunts with
1188-430: A gothic atmosphere on their next albums Dark Passion Play in 2007 and Imaginaerum in 2011. In the book Rough Guide to Heavy Metal , Essi Berelian describes Nightwish as "gothic film score metal". The Swedish group Therion also introduced gothic elements to their brand of symphonic metal on their 2007 album Gothic Kabbalah . With the release of their sixth album One Second in 1997, Paradise Lost brought
1320-461: A key role in the development of the "gothic and symphonic wave of bands" in the 1990s, noting further that neither his group Therion nor Paradise Lost "would have sounded the way we did without Celtic Frost". Gothic rock had emerged as an offshoot of post-punk in the 1980s but by the end of that decade, the genre had splintered into different directions with bands such as the Cure , Siouxsie and
1452-446: A killer Goth album from their first five LP's, with every future reference point and requirement intact". The "vaguely medieval, minor-key sounds" of Rainbow , Dio and Judas Priest have also been described as "gothic" prior to "the emergence of goth rock as a post-punk genre". The bands Blue Öyster Cult and Iron Maiden have featured some gothic lyrics in their music on songs such as " (Don't Fear) The Reaper " and " Phantom of
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#17328017994721584-415: A large "underground" following at the present. In the 2000s, a number of bands in the hardcore punk scene, including Black Breath and Trap Them began to incorporate elements of death metal into their sound. This was followed by a wave of bands expanding upon the death-doom style of Incantation while incorporating elements of ambient music , including Dead Congregation and Necros Christos . In
1716-661: A lot of interest" upon its release in 1991. Their first full-length release, As the Flower Withers , followed shortly after in the same year. The album was critically acclaimed by the press and "turned the Doom genre on its head". They added a violinist to their line-up for their 1993 sophomore effort Turn Loose the Swans . On this "groundbreaking" album, the group introduced a "much greater element of dark romanticism to their doomy music". Vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe explains
1848-536: A lot", their "main features remained a heart-rending melancholy and intensity". In North America, Peter Steele had formed Type O Negative in 1990 out of the remnants of his former thrash metal band Carnivore . With their debut album Slow, Deep and Hard in 1991, the New York based outfit pursued a "melodramatic goth rock style" that "encompasses long songs built on simple riffs, theatrical shouting vocals, churchy-sounding organ and vocal-harmony passages, and
1980-442: A major personnel change in 1985 with the departure of the band's leader and founder Rozz Williams . Guitarist Valor Kand took over the reins and, under his leadership, Christian Death subsequently pursued a more metal-oriented direction. In particular, their 1988 album Sex and Drugs and Jesus Christ has been described by critic Steve Huey as "heavy goth-rock bordering on metal". As a musical style, gothic metal "truly began in
2112-472: A million copies in the United States , a surprise success that "obliged Goths to take notice" of the group. The trademarks of Type O Negative's music include the use of "downtuned, fuzzy guitars" and a "deep baritone croon" from Peter Steele, an "intimidatingly large, sarcastically self-deprecating original, whose dry, dirty one-liners and morbid machismo challenge those who insist the archetypal Goth
2244-492: A mix of gothic nu metal and hard rock . Further comparisons have since been drawn between Evanescence and gothic metal groups like Within Temptation and Lacuna Coil. Critic Adrien Begrand of PopMatters wryly notes that while Lacuna Coil "had been tirelessly building a fanbase in Europe since the late 1990s with their listener-friendly brand of goth metal", they had been overshadowed by "a bunch of corn-fed kids from Arkansas with
2376-426: A more commercial and pop-oriented direction to the genre they had helped created but the success of Draconian Times has not been overcome. Praised by Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic as a "radical but impressive departure", the album drew comparisons to Depeche Mode with nothing remaining "of their early death/doom metal origins". Subsequent albums "progressively experimented with electronics and pop elements, with
2508-429: A more mainstream band of listeners but also causing a withdrawal of support from hardened Doom fanatics". Like My Dying Bride, this transition involved leaving behind their traditional death metal sound. They continued experimenting with their 1996 album Eternity , "stretching its songs into sorrowful, orchestrated epics" that "quickly proved to be their most original work to date". While Anathema's music has "changed
2640-456: A popular genre. Niche record labels like Combat , Earache , and Roadrunner began to sign death metal bands at a rapid rate. Since then, death metal has diversified, spawning several subgenres. Melodic death metal combines death metal elements with those of the new wave of British heavy metal . Technical death metal is a complex style, with uncommon time signatures, atypical rhythms, and unusual harmonies and melodies. Death-doom combines
2772-562: A result." The Gathering decided to drop the use of male vocals altogether and instead brought in a lead female vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen for their third full length Mandylion , an album that "saw the band adventurously breaking away from the Gothic Doom fare of previous works". The result was considered a "groundbreaking achievement" upon its release in 1995 with critics lavishly describing it as "the perfect pinnacle of gothic metal". The Gathering's "introspective atmosphere owed
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#17328017994722904-489: A sense of emptiness and despair. Typically, electric guitars are heavily distorted and dark ambient aspects such as keyboards or synthesizers are often used to create a dreamlike atmosphere. Vocals consist of mournful chants or growls and are often in the background. Funeral doom was pioneered by Mournful Congregation (Australia), Esoteric (United Kingdom), Evoken (United States), Funeral (Norway), Thergothon (Finland), and Skepticism (Finland). Death 'n' roll
3036-525: A style that would catch on in tape trading circles. Schuldiner has been credited by AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia for being widely recognized as the "Father of Death Metal". Death's 1987 debut release, Scream Bloody Gore , has been described by About.com's Chad Bowar as being the "evolution from thrash metal to death metal", and "the first true death metal record" by the San Francisco Chronicle . In an Interview Jeff Becerra talked about
3168-846: A variance of metalcore elements. Characteristics of death metal, such as fast drumming (including blast beats ), down-tuned guitars, tremolo picking , growled vocals , and high-pitched shrieks are combined with the breakdowns of metalcore. Decibel magazine stated that "one of Suffocation 's trademarks, breakdowns, has spawned an entire metal subgenre: deathcore." Goregrind, deathgrind and pornogrind are styles that mix grindcore with death metal, with goregrind focused on themes like gore and forensic pathology , and pornogrind dealing with sexual and pornographic themes. Some notable examples of these genres are Brujeria , Cattle Decapitation , Cephalic Carnage , Pig Destroyer , Circle of Dead Children , Rotten Sound , Gut , and Cock and Ball Torture . Deathrash, also known as death-thrash,
3300-495: A varied genre with bands pursuing many different directions, from "slow and crushing variations" to "orchestral and bombastic". The doom metal background of early pioneers like Anathema , Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride has been taken up by groups like Artrosis , Ava Inferi and Draconian . The black metal approach of Cradle of Filth , Theatres des Vampires and early Moonspell can be found in such subsequent bands as Graveworm , Drastique and Samsas Traum while
3432-480: Is a brutal death metal microgenre that evolved from the 1990s New York death metal scene, incorporating elements of hardcore punk . In contrast to other death metal styles, it is not generally focused on guitar solos and blast beats; instead, it employs mid-tempo rhythms, breakdowns, and palm-muted riffing, as well as hip hop -inspired vocal and drum beat rhythms. The breakdown riff of Suffocation 's " Liege of Inveracity " has been credited by Rolling Stone as
3564-456: Is a genre of death metal that adds elements of classical music . Bands described as symphonic death metal include Fleshgod Apocalypse , Septicflesh , Necronomicon , and Children of Bodom . Haggard 's 2000 album, Awaking the Centuries , has been described as death metal-styled symphonic metal. Technical death metal (also known as tech-death, progressive death metal, or prog-death)
3696-412: Is a genre of death metal that adds elements of industrial music . Some notable bands include Fear Factory , Anaal Nathrakh , Autokrator , and Meathook Seed . Swedish death metal could be considered the forerunner of "melodic death metal." Melodic death metal, occasionally shortened to "melodeath", is a fusion of heavy metal with elements of death metal. The subgenre is heavily influenced by
3828-491: Is a po-faced androgyne". Type O Negative has since been recognised as a pioneer of the genre. In a review of their 2007 album Dead Again , critic Greg Prato of Allmusic declared that "before Type O Negative, there was really no such thing as goth metal". Also in North America, the brothers Jeff and Eric Clayton formed Saviour Machine in 1989. Described as a Gothic and symphonic metal band as well as art rock ,
3960-512: Is a shorthand term to describe bands who play a fusion of death metal and thrash metal . The genre gained notoriety in Bali , Indonesia, where it attracted criticism of being related to the accelerated tourism development on the island and the superseding of its local culture, particularly by Jakartan one. Notable bands include Grave , Mortification , The Crown , Incapacity, Darkane , Deathchain , and Sepultura . Industrial death metal
4092-480: Is a style that combines death metal's growled vocals and highly distorted detuned guitar riffs along with elements of 1970s hard rock and heavy metal . Notable examples include Entombed , Gorefest , and Six Feet Under . With the rise in popularity of metalcore , some of its traits have been combined with death metal. Bands such as Suicide Silence , Carnifex and Salt the Wound combine death metal with
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4224-452: Is a subgenre of death metal that employs dynamic song structures, uncommon time signatures, atypical rhythms and unusual harmonies and melodies. Bands described as technical death metal or progressive death metal usually fuse common death metal aesthetics with elements of progressive rock , jazz or classical music . While the term technical death metal is sometimes used to describe bands that focus on speed and extremity as well as complexity,
4356-479: Is commonly death metal that incorporates musical, lyrical or ideological elements of black metal , such as an increased use of tremolo picking , anti- Christian or Satanic lyrical themes and chord progressions similar to those used in black metal. Blackened death metal bands are also more likely to wear corpse paint and suits of armour, than bands from other styles of death metal. Lower range guitar tunings, death growls and abrupt tempo changes are common in
4488-422: Is mistakenly thought to be a form of screaming using the lowest vocal register known as vocal fry , however vocal fry is actually a form of overtone screaming, and while growling can be performed this way by experienced vocalists who use the fry screaming technique, "true" death growling is in fact created by an altogether different technique. Growling has been called Cookie Monster vocals, tongue-in-cheek, due to
4620-813: Is not a metal band, publications such as the New York Times , Rough Guides , Rolling Stone and Blender have nonetheless identified Evanescence as a gothic metal act. Adrian Jackson, former bassist My Dying Bride feels the American group is doing something similar to My Dying Bride's music, only in a more accessible direction. Gregor Mackintosh of Paradise Lost notes a generation gap between his group and Evanescence, suggesting that Paradise Lost has only influenced Evanescence indirectly through other acts like Lacuna Coil. The success of Evanescence has been recognised for opening "new grounds" for gothic metal bands to "explore and conquer". Another act that has attracted both commercial success and controversy
4752-441: Is often lost on a large number of adolescents, who are left with the glamorisation of such violence without social context or awareness of why such imagery is stimulating. According to Alex Webster , bassist of Cannibal Corpse, "The gory lyrics are probably not, as much as people say, [what's keeping us] from being mainstream. Like, 'death metal would never go into the mainstream because the lyrics are too gory?' I think it's really
4884-470: Is the band HIM . The group has "not only dominated the charts in their native Finland but also across Europe and in particular Germany". Their debut album arrived in 1997 as Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666 with music that "combines metal with '80s rock and some goth influences". HIM began moving towards a more "polished pop" direction on their next album Razorblade Romance in 2000. The band describes their "Sabbath-meets- Depeche Mode sound" as love metal,
5016-538: The Billboard charts , and also debuting on many European music charts. The Comalies and Karmacode albums "reportedly sold nearly 1 million units combined worldwide, a good chunk of that in the States". The band has also performed on the main stage of the American heavy metal festival Ozzfest . Their next two albums, Shallow Life and Dark Adrenaline , debuted at number 16 and number 15, respectively, on
5148-544: The Brandon, Florida act Nasty Savage , they took the sound of Nasty Savage and deepened it. In 1984, they released their first demo entitled Death by Metal , followed by several more. The tapes circulated through the tape trader world, quickly establishing the band's name. With Death guitarist Schuldiner adopting vocal duties, the band made a major impact in the emerging Florida death metal scene. The fast minor-key riffs and solos were complemented with fast drumming, creating
5280-631: The COVID-19 pandemic amplifying the amount of attention drawn to the movement, through Cryptic Shift , Slimelord and Vaticinal Rites. In a 2022 article by MetalSucks writer Christopher Krovatin stated "Right now, as a music journalist, all I hear about is death metal." In the UK, this movement became the "New Wave of British Death Metal", fronted by Mortuary Spawn, Vacuous and Celestial Sanctuary, this name being coined by Tom Cronin, of Celestial Sanctuary, in order to separate these hardcore-indebted bands from
5412-467: The doom metal of Type O Negative , the nu metal of Coal Chamber , and the metalcore of Motionless in White . There is also a diverse range of vocal styles in gothic metal. Male singers in the genre range from the guttural growls and black metal shrieks of Dani Filth and Morten Veland to the clean baritone vocals of Østen Bergøy and the bass range of Peter Steele . For the female singers,
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5544-899: The melodic and blackened death metal vein. For My Pain... was formed as a supergroup with members from other prominent bands in Finland including Nightwish , Embraze, Eternal Tears of Sorrow and Reflexion. Death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music . It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking ; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, featuring double kick and blast beat techniques; minor keys or atonality ; abrupt tempo, key, and time signature changes; and chromatic chord progressions. The lyrical themes of death metal may include slasher film -style violence, political conflict , religion , nature , philosophy , true crime and science fiction . Building from
5676-478: The new wave of British heavy metal . Unlike most other death metal, melodeath usually features screams instead of growls, slower tempos, and much stronger emphasis on melody. Clean vocals may be used on occasion. Carcass is sometimes credited with releasing the first melodic death metal album with 1993's Heartwork , although Swedish bands In Flames , Dark Tranquillity , and At the Gates are usually mentioned as
5808-415: The symphonic metal approach of Tristania and Within Temptation can be found in other groups like Epica , Sirenia and After Forever . Other variations include the symphonic black metal of Trail of Tears , the folk metal of Midnattsol , the industrial metal of Deathstars , Gothminister and Neon Synthesis, the alternative metal of Katatonia , Evanescence , Lacuna Coil and Mushroomhead ,
5940-399: The "Best Dutch & Belgian Act" award. Within Temptation further received recognition as their country's best selling artist at the 2007 World Music Awards . The Italian band Lacuna Coil has also become a "premiere act" of the gothic metal genre. The group employs both a female vocalist Cristina Scabbia and a male vocalist Andrea Ferro , although the group uses less of a 'beauty and
6072-561: The "Peaceville Three". They had roots in "frenetically abrasive death metal, but they were also influenced by what Paradise Lost vocalist, Nick Holmes , described as the 'really bleak, dark sound' of Dead Can Dance ". Paradise Lost were the first to form in 1988 in Halifax, England. Their debut album Lost Paradise was released in 1990 and "helped define the rules of doom/death metal: grinding, de-tuned anthems of woe topped with death metal-style guttural vocals" while demonstrating that
6204-398: The "angelic tones of a classically trained mezzo-soprano named Simone Simons , over a lush foundation of symphonic power metal ". The music of Epica has been described as combination of "a dark, haunting gothic atmosphere with bombastic and symphonic music". Like Within Temptation and After Forever, Epica has been known to make use of an orchestra. Their 2007 album The Divine Conspiracy
6336-477: The "crass, crude macho antithesis of everything that their music represents". In contrast to the "softer" and "more feminine" character of gothic music, the heavy metal genre is typically associated with aggression and masculinity. Despite this difference, "a few bold souls have identified Black Sabbath 's eponymous 1970 debut album as the first ever 'Goth-rock' record". The author Gavin Baddeley notes that
6468-415: The 1980s, the former Misfits frontman Glenn Danzig also "occupied the no man's land between Goth and heavy metal". With the dissolution of his second band Samhain in 1988 and the creation of his own eponymous act , Danzig went on to combine heavy metal riffs with "a heavily romanticized, brooding, gothic sensibility". The Swiss group Celtic Frost was another precursor to gothic metal, translating
6600-545: The 1990s. In September 1990, Death's manager Eric Greif held one of the first North American death metal festivals, Day of Death , in Milwaukee suburb Waukesha, Wisconsin , and featured 26 bands including Autopsy, Broken Hope , Hellwitch, Obliveon, Revenant, Viogression, Immolation, Atheist , and Cynic . Death metal's popularity achieved its initial peak during 1992–1993, with some bands such as Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse enjoying mild commercial success. However,
6732-401: The 2010s, a movement of bands reviving the sound of original 1980s death metal emerged, termed the "New Wave of Old School Death Metal". One of the earliest groups in this wave was Horrendous , who formed in 2009, who along with Tomb Mold took a progressive take the genre. Tomb Mold, Necrot, Undergang and Blood Incantation were some of the earliest bands to gain traction in the 2010s, with
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#17328017994726864-531: The 21st century, gothic metal has enjoyed a strong mainstream presence in Finland with many representatives enjoying commercial success. In addition to the aforementioned HIM, the bands Charon , Entwine , For My Pain... , Lullacry , Poisonblack , Sentenced , The 69 Eyes and To/Die/For have all found their singles or albums hitting the top ten of the Finnish charts. Of these bands, Sentenced notably formed as far back as 1989 with their early albums in
6996-664: The Banshees and the Mission incorporating "more pop and alternative elements" while the Sisters of Mercy , Fields of the Nephilim and Christian Death took on a "heavier, sometimes metal-influenced approach". The Sisters of Mercy was one of the leading goth bands of the 1980s, playing "a slow, gloomy, ponderous hybrid of metal and psychedelia, often incorporating dance beats". The band only released three full-length albums with
7128-523: The Billboard charts. In 2003, the rock group Evanescence from Arkansas , United States also found commercial success with the release of their debut album Fallen , which has been described as a blend of gothic and alternative metal and drawing comparisons to other alternative metal acts like P.O.D. and Linkin Park . In October 2011, Evanescence's self-titled album was released and represented
7260-459: The Dark River "marked a shift in the band's strategy, for the first time dropping the death growl of Stainthorpe in favour of a 'clean' vocal delivery". The rest of the group "followed suit, setting aside any death metal influences, carefully using violins and keyboards to enhance the group's brooding excursions" into "fauna-wilting gothic doom metal". While the album was more experimental,
7392-562: The European metal community for its atmospheric doom metal approach "enhanced with keyboards which are never out of place or over-used". The next album Wildhoney was unveiled in 1994 as an "artistic and commercial breakthrough, fully realizing the sound hinted at on previous releases and eliciting effusive praise in metal circles for its brooding, Gothic atmospherics". The album featured an interplay of contrasts between delicate acoustic guitar, gentle whispering vocals and angelic choruses on
7524-456: The Gathering and Moonspell". Lacuna Coil's music was also "more accessible than many of their peers". A second album, Unleashed Memories , arrived in 2001, but it was their third full-length, Comalies , that became their breakthrough album, "highly praised by the metal world after its release in October 2002". On the strength of Comalies , Lacuna Coil became the most successful artist in
7656-472: The Old Dead Tree . Graveworm moved away from fantasy stories in favour of personal lyrics after finding them more suitable for their style of music. The lyrics of fellow Italians Lacuna Coil also do not feature any "fantasy stuff or something that you cannot find in reality" as their co-vocalist Cristina Scabbia finds it desirable that people can relate themselves to her band's lyrics. Similarly,
7788-495: The Opera ". Deep Purple 's song "Stormbringer" has been called a "goth metal treasure". The Danish metal band Mercyful Fate had also demonstrated "a Gothic obsession with evil and the occult". Frontman King Diamond continued exploring his interest in gothic storytelling after establishing a solo career under his own moniker, issuing "a series of concept albums which told Gothic horror tales with sound effects and song". During
7920-554: The Possessed blueprint laid down on the legendary Seven Churches recording. Possessed arguably did more to further the cause of 'Death Metal' than any of the early acts on the scene back in the mid-late 80's." During the same period as the dawn of Possessed, a second influential metal band was formed in Orlando, Florida. Originally called Mantas, Death was formed in 1983 by Chuck Schuldiner , Kam Lee , and Rick Rozz . Inspired by
8052-506: The Sisters of Mercy . In the gothic metal subgenre, members from such groups as After Forever and Nightwish have similarly downplayed or dismissed the gothic label from their music. The music of gothic metal is generally characterised by its dark atmospheres. The adjective "dark" is commonly used to describe gothic music in general while other terms that are less frequently used include deep, romantic, passionate and intense. Gothic metal has also sometimes been viewed as "a combination of
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#17328017994728184-529: The United States, Lake of Tears , Tiamat and Katatonia from Sweden, and the Gathering from the Netherlands. Norwegian band Theatre of Tragedy developed the "beauty and the beast" aesthetic of combining aggressive male vocals with clean female vocals, a contrast that had been adopted by groups before them, but not as a regular trademark; several bands have employed the technique since. During
8316-621: The Veil in 1999 made use of a ten members choir and featured violin passages from Pete Johansen of the Sins of Thy Beloved, earning "rave reviews" across Europe. By then, the band had risen to "the top of the goth metal heap" with their "lush, symphonically enhanced" approach. They were "dealt a potentially crippling blow" when singer, guitarist and principal composer Veland left the group to form Sirenia . Tristania has continued to prosper with subsequent releases and has since been "regarded as one of
8448-421: The album was "firmly rooted in the dark, midtempo style of gothic and doom metal". Their second album Almost a Dance arrived in the following year with new vocalist Niels Duffhues , "a strange choice for the band". Duffhues' "punk-ish" and "alt-rock" style of singing was widely seen as out of place with the music, a perception that was shared by the band themselves, and the album was "largely written off as
8580-456: The band Lullacry features lyrics on the subjects of "love, hate, passion and pain" because a person "can easily connect to a song" with lyrics "about human relationships". A few bands, such as Saviour Machine and Virgin Black , deal extensively with Christian religious themes and navigating personal religious faith. Heavy metal music is perceived by many members of the goth subculture as
8712-515: The band had actually cited Venom and Motörhead , as well as early work by Exodus , as the main influences on their sound. Although the group had released only two studio albums and an EP in their formative years, they have been described by music journalists and musicians as either being "monumental" in developing the death metal style, or as being the first death metal band. Earache Records noted that "the likes of Trey Azagthoth and Morbid Angel based what they were doing in their formative years on
8844-503: The band was "already reaching for realms unknown to their then-amateurish abilities and latent promise". The band was "evolving at a fast clip" and in the following year, their second "aptly titled album" Gothic came as "something of a departure for the band's earliest fans". With a "less deliberate, more energetic arrangements", the album featured a "slightly cleaner approach to guitar crunch" and "cautious use of keyboards and even female vocals, which together added atmospheric nuances to
8976-553: The band was a thrash metal act, Slayer's music was more violent than their thrash contemporaries Metallica , Megadeth , and Anthrax . Their breakneck speed and instrumental prowess combined with lyrics about death, violence, war, and Satanism won Slayer a cult following. According to Mike McPadden, Hell Awaits , Slayer's second album, "largely invent[ed] much of the sound and fury that would evolve into death metal." According to AllMusic , their third album Reign in Blood inspired
9108-434: The band". The result was another commercial success across Europe and introduced "the world of heavy guitars and female vocals" to "a mainstream audience". Within Temptation's brand of gothic metal combines "the guitar-driven force of hard rock with the sweep and grandeur of symphonic music". The critic Chad Bowar of About.com describes their style as "the optimum balance" between "the melody and hooks of mainstream rock,
9240-469: The band's pursuit of this direction: We knew that when Celtic Frost disappeared and turned into a glam rock band, we knew there was a market there for this sort of over-the-top avant-garde band, someone who were doing something a bit weird and unusual. Paradise Lost were doing similar-ish kind of things, but I don't think they had this more romantic edge. We definitely worked for that gothic appeal, and I'm not really sure why. Their 1995 album The Angel and
9372-503: The beast' style, with Ferro primarily using clean vocals. Formed in Milan in 1994, they released a demo tape in 1996 strongly influenced by Paradise Lost and Type O Negative. The band "turned a lot of heads in Italy's ambient/goth scene" with their self-titled EP in 1998. Their debut album In a Reverie was released in 1999 with a style that bore "some similarities to contemporaries like
9504-745: The country's prior movements. The earliest bands in this wave were Cruciamentum and Grave Miasma. A large part of the New Wave of Old School Death Metal was death metal bands who originated from the hardcore scene, some of which merge elements of hardcore into their style. Xibalba and Fuming Mouth were two of the earliest groups, with the wave being solidified by Gatecreeper , 200 Stab Wounds, Creeping Death, Sanguisugabogg and Kruelty. Venom Prison came from this scene and gained particular attention for their confrontation of what Kerrang! called death metal's "misogyny problem", by instead writing "rape-revenge narrative[s]". Their lead vocalist Larissa Stupar
9636-400: The darkness and melancholy of goth rock with heavy metal". Allmusic defines the genre as a fusion of "the bleak, icy atmospherics of goth rock with the loud guitars and aggression of heavy metal" and further notes that "true goth metal is always directly influenced by goth rock — ethereal synths and spooky textures are just as important as guitar riffs, if not more so". Gothic metal is
9768-406: The debut First and Last and Always released in 1985. Their last album Vision Thing arrived in 1990 as one of the earliest attempts to mix gothic music with heavy metal. Fields of the Nephilim had also released only three studio albums before their initial dissolution in 1991. They have since reformed, released more albums and been recognised for their influence on the "glut of metal bands" in
9900-547: The deep growled vocals and double-kick drumming of death metal with the slow tempos and melancholic atmosphere of doom metal . Deathgrind , goregrind , and pornogrind mix the complexity of death metal with the intensity, speed, and brevity of grindcore . Deathcore combines death metal with metalcore traits. Death 'n' roll combines death metal's growled vocals and highly distorted , detuned guitar riffs with elements of 1970s hard rock and heavy metal . English extreme metal band Venom , from Newcastle , crystallized
10032-634: The depth and complexity of classical music and the dark edge of gothic metal". The commercial success of Within Temptation has since resulted in the emergence of a large number of other female-fronted gothic metal bands, particularly in the Netherlands. Another Dutch band in the symphonic gothic metal strain is After Forever . Their debut album Prison of Desire in 2000 was "a courageous, albeit flawed first study into an admittedly daunting undertaking: to wed heavy metal with progressive rock arrangements and classical music orchestration — then top it all off with equal parts gruesome cookie-monster vocals and
10164-481: The details of extreme acts, including blood and gore , psychopathy , delirium , mutilation , mutation , dissection , exorcism , torture , rape , cannibalism , and necrophilia . Sociologist Keith Kahn-Harris commented this apparent glamorisation of violence may be attributed to a "fascination" with the human body that all people share to some degree, a fascination that mixes desire and disgust. Heavy metal author Gavin Baddeley also stated there does seem to be
10296-428: The different vocal styles includes the screams and growls of Cadaveria , the "poppy" vocals of Tanja Lainio from Lullacry and the operatic soprano style of Vibeke Stene from Tristania . There are more female singers in gothic metal than there are in any other heavy metal subgenre, but female vocals are neither necessary nor synonymous with the genre. Liv Kristine of Theatre of Tragedy and Leaves' Eyes notes that
10428-443: The discussions of being the creator of the genre, saying that Schuldiner cited Possessed as a massive influence, and Death were even called "Possessed clones" early on. Along with Possessed and Death, other pioneers of death metal in the United States include Macabre , Master , Massacre , Immolation , Cannibal Corpse , Obituary , and Post Mortem . By 1989, many bands had been signed by eager record labels wanting to cash in on
10560-501: The early 1990s in the United Kingdom originally as an outgrowth of death-doom , a fusion of death metal and doom metal . Lyrics are generally dark and introspective with inspiration from gothic fiction as well as personal experiences. Pioneers of gothic metal include Paradise Lost , My Dying Bride and Anathema , all from the north of England. Other pioneers from the first half of the 1990s include Type O Negative from
10692-404: The early 1990s in the north of England" with the three bands Paradise Lost , My Dying Bride and Anathema representing "the core of the movement". They are also recognised as three of the major bands that pioneered the death/doom subgenre, showing why gothic metal originated from death/doom. All three bands were signed to Peaceville Records during the early 1990s and have since been known as
10824-424: The early 1990s were "less cynical and more open-minded in their hearts and minds" than they are in 2007. Nonetheless, the band has continued to experience success with their 2006 album Memorial debuting at number 1 on their native Portuguese charts. They were rewarded with the "Best Portuguese Act" award at the 2006 MTV European Music Awards , a feat matched by Within Temptation in the following year with
10956-463: The early 21st century "that incorporated obvious elements of goth into their sound — especially detected in their appreciation of symphonic and keyboard sounds (as well as their fashion sense)". According to AllMusic , "goth metal first emerged during the early to mid-'80s, centered around Los Angeles ' so-called ' death-rock ' scene headed by Christian Death". Acclaimed as the "founding fathers of American goth rock", Christian Death went through
11088-442: The early work of Hellhammer and Celtic Frost , the style emerged during the late 1980s and gained a certain amount of popularity during the 1990s. Death-doom was also pioneered by bands such as Winter , Disembowelment , Paradise Lost , Autopsy , Anathema , and My Dying Bride . Funeral doom is a genre that crosses death-doom with funeral dirge music . It is played at a very slow tempo, and places an emphasis on evoking
11220-410: The elements of what later became known as thrash metal , death metal and black metal , with their first two albums Welcome to Hell and Black Metal , released in late 1981 and 1982, respectively. Their dark, blistering sound, harsh vocals, and macabre , proudly Satanic imagery proved a major inspiration for extreme metal bands. Another highly influential band, Slayer , formed in 1981. Although
11352-485: The entire death metal genre. It had a big impact on genre leaders such as Death , Obituary , and Morbid Angel . Possessed , a band that formed in the San Francisco Bay Area during 1983, is described by AllMusic as "connecting the dots" between thrash metal and death metal with their 1985 debut album, Seven Churches . While attributed as having a Slayer influence, current and former members of
11484-400: The first slam riff in death metal. The first wave of bands in the genre were New York bands like Internal Bleeding and Pyrexia, with notable subsequent acts including Devourment and Cephalotripsy . Death-doom is a style that combines the slow tempos and pessimistic atmosphere of doom metal with the deep growling vocals and double-kick drumming of death metal. Influenced mostly by
11616-558: The first two Sepultura releases. War metal bands include Blasphemy , Archgoat , Impiety , In Battle , Beherit , Crimson Thorn , Bestial Warlust , and Zyklon-B . Brutal death metal is a subgenre of death metal that privileges heaviness, speed, and complex rhythms over other aspects, such as melody and timbres. Brutal death metal bands employ high-speed, palm-muted power chording and single-note riffage. Notable bands include Cannibal Corpse , Dying Fetus , Suffocation , Cryptopsy , and Skinless . Slam death metal
11748-628: The following categories, and a band's specific categorization is often a source of contention due to personal opinion and interpretation. The musical genres in this list are sorted alphabetically. Blackened death-doom is a microgenre that combines the slow tempos and monolithic drumming of doom metal , the complex and loud riffage of death metal and the shrieking vocals of black metal . Examples of blackened death-doom bands include Morast, Faustcoven, The Ruins of Beverast , Bölzer , Necros Christos, Harvest Gulgaltha, Dragged into Sunlight , Hands of Thieves, and Soulburn . Blackened death metal
11880-571: The following year. Theatre of Tragedy's third album Aégis in 1998 saw the band "venturing into fresh musical territory". The piano was replaced by electronic keyboards while Raymond Rohonyi opted to discard his death growls in favour of a "soft, spoken, sometimes whispering voice". The music was more clean and soft, "stripped of guitar harshness" but with a "near flawless execution" that "prompted many European critics to award Aégis perfect review scores". Other bands that contrast aggressive male vocals and clean female vocals continued to emerge in
12012-428: The genre as a whole never broke into the mainstream. The genre's mounting popularity may have been partly responsible for a strong rivalry between Norwegian black metal and Swedish death metal scenes. Fenriz of Darkthrone has noted that Norwegian black metal musicians were "fed up with the whole death metal scene" at the time. Death metal diversified in the 1990s, spawning a rich variety of subgenres that still have
12144-733: The genre would incorporate an increased sense of melody and narrative. Some bands who have played this style include Dissection , Sacramentum , Naglfar , God Dethroned , Dawn , Unanimated , Thulcandra , Skeletonwitch and Cardinal Sin . War metal (also known as war black metal or bestial black metal) is an aggressive, cacophonous and chaotic subgenre of blackened death metal, described by Rock Hard journalist Wolf-Rüdiger Mühlmann as "rabid" and "hammering". Important influences include first wave black metal band Sodom , first wave black metal/death metal band Possessed as well as old grindcore , black and death metal bands like Repulsion , Autopsy , Sarcófago and
12276-519: The genre's most important labels, with Earache releasing albums by Carcass, Napalm Death, Morbid Angel, and Entombed, and Roadrunner releasing albums by Obituary, and Pestilence . Although these labels had not been death metal labels, they initially became the genre's flagship labels at the beginning of the 1990s. In addition to these, other labels formed as well, such as Nuclear Blast , Century Media , and Peaceville . Many of these labels would go on to achieve successes in other genres of metal throughout
12408-432: The genre. Examples of blackened death metal bands are Belphegor , Behemoth , Akercocke , and Sacramentum . Melodic black-death (also known as blackened melodic death metal or melodic blackened death metal) is a genre of extreme metal that describes the style created when melodic death metal bands began being inspired by black metal and European romanticism . However, unlike most other black metal, this take on
12540-463: The genre. For My Dying Bride , the subjects of "death and misery and lost love and romance" have been approached repeatedly from different angles. The common gothic theme of lost love is a subject that has been tackled by such gothic metal bands as Theatre of Tragedy and Leaves' Eyes . Lyrics based on personal experiences are another common feature of many gothic metal bands such as Anathema , Elis , Evanescence , Tiamat , Midnattsol and
12672-613: The gothic tag is often misinterpreted and points out that "not every band with female vocals is a gothic band". The genre is also known to attract more female fans relative to other subgenres of heavy metal music. The lyrics of gothic metal are known to be melodramatic, fantasized, romantic, dark or sometimes gloomy. For the three English bands that helped to pioneer the genre, their gloomy lyrics reflect their background in doom metal while their darker or melodramatic lyrics draw influence from gothic rock . The music of My Dying Bride has been noted as "dripping with treachery and pain" from
12804-523: The group released its first self-titled album in 1993. The year 1988 saw not only the formation of Paradise Lost but another early gothic metal pioneer, the Swedish band Tiamat . Their debut album Sumerian Cry arrived in 1990 and featured "slightly above average death metal". Their third album Clouds was released in 1993 as the band's first turning-point, "starkly reducing speed and heaviness for melody and atmosphere". The album made an impact on
12936-537: The group's ultra-depressive power chords". Gothic was a chart success across Europe, particularly in Germany , and has since been acclaimed as "one of the most influential albums" in heavy metal music for creating the gothic metal genre. Their 1992 album Shades of God continued the transition while the follow-up 1993 album Icon represented "a turning point" for the band with the experimental use of synthesised strings, timpani, piano and angelic female vocals. By
13068-469: The guitars gradually getting pushed further into the background". The result was "an accessible sound and a strong emphasis on catchy choruses". Despite attaining "a huge reputation in Europe, where all of their albums have sold strongly", the group's status as "the progenitors of gothic metal" has been "constantly overlooked, both in their homeland and the US, possibly because of their determination to never make
13200-450: The history of their label Century Media Records as well as the highest selling rock act in their home country Italy. The band has also achieved the distinction of being the first and, as of late 2007, the only European gothic metal band to successfully break into the United States market with radio airplay and impressive album sales. Their highly anticipated fourth album Karmacode was even more successful, debuting at number 28 on
13332-608: The illness and death of his parents. The album reached No. 39 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 27,000 copies in its first week, and received positive reviews from music critics, who noted a more melodic sound in comparison to previous records. " I Don't Wanna Be Me " was released as a promotional single, for which a music video was produced. Life Is Killing Me was recorded at Systems Two Recording Studio in Brooklyn, New York . Vocalist and bassist Peter Steele used
13464-472: The influence they drew from gothic rock acts Bauhaus and Siouxsie and the Banshees into their own albums. The band's "radical fusion of violent black metal and elements of classical music " was dubbed " avant-garde " and had a huge impact "on the evolution of European heavy metal". Christofer Johnsson of Therion cites Celtic Frost's 1987 album Into the Pandemonium in particular for playing
13596-450: The inspiration behind the title and theme of the record, Steele responded in an interview: "I guess I am going through some sort of midlife crisis being 41 years old now. And all the things I took for granted, my health, my life, people I love dying, people I loved walking away. I was with a girlfriend for 10 years but she left. It is like my dreams are dead." The album's title was originally going to be The Dream Is Dead . The album contains
13728-456: The late 1990s. Trail of Tears had formed in 1994 while Tristania formed in 1995 and the Sins of Thy Beloved were formed in 1996. All three Norwegian groups released their debut albums in 1998. Tristania stood apart from the others with their use of three distinct vocal styles in the "operatic soprano Vibeke Stene , clean-singing counter-tenor Østen Bergøy , and harsh, black metal-style shrieker Morten Veland ". Their second album Beyond
13860-462: The line between progressive and technical death metal is thin. Tech death and prog death , for short, are terms commonly applied to such bands as Nile , Edge of Sanity , and Opeth . Necrophagist and Spawn of Possession are known for a classical music-influenced death metal style. Death metal pioneers Death also refined their style in a more progressive direction in their final years. Some albums for this subgenre are Hallucinations (1990) by
13992-495: The main pioneers of the genre and of the Gothenburg metal sound. Old school death metal is a style of death metal characterized by its slower and simpler song structures, less focused on the technical aspects of its composition and employing less usage of blast beats. It gained notoriety in the late 1990s, with bands like Repugnant , Thanatos , Necrophagia , Abscess , Bloodbath and Mortem . Symphonic death metal
14124-458: The mainstream in Europe, particularly in Finland where groups such as Entwine , HIM , Lullacry , The 69 Eyes , and Poisonblack have released hit singles or chart-topping albums. In the US, however, only a few bands such as Type O Negative and Evanescence have found some degree of commercial success. Some musicians have disputed the gothic label associated with their bands, including Rozz Williams of Christian Death and Andrew Eldritch of
14256-431: The mid-1990s, Moonspell , Theatres des Vampires , Rotting Christ and Cradle of Filth brought the gothic approach to black metal . By the end of the decade, a symphonic metal variant of gothic metal had been developed by Tristania and Within Temptation . Nightwish also integrated elements of gothic metal into their well-known mix of symphonic metal and power metal . In the 2000s, gothic metal has moved towards
14388-513: The most "overtly Gothic material" from Scandinavia. As far back as 1985, Celtic Frost had used female vocals for some songs on their To Mega Therion album. Paradise Lost began making similar use of female vocals from their very first album Lost Paradise in 1990. Inspired by the use of female vocals on Paradise Lost's second album Gothic , the Gathering released their debut album Always... in 1992 with growling vocalist Bart Smits supported by female singer Marike Groot . The music on
14520-483: The music was still dark and atmospheric. Also forming in 1990, the Liverpool -based band Anathema released a "highly acclaimed" EP, The Crestfallen , in 1992. The "crushing emotional doom/death" of this EP remained on their 1993 debut full-length Serenades , "the most traditional doom-styled album in their catalog". Their juxtaposition of the fragile and ferocious "fostered a keen fan base". Pentecost III
14652-420: The music, because violent entertainment is totally mainstream." The most popular theory of the subgenre's christening is Possessed 's 1984 demo, Death Metal ; the song from the eponymous demo would also be featured on the band's 1985 debut album, Seven Churches . Possessed vocalist/bassist Jeff Becerra said he coined the term in early 1983 for a high school English class assignment. Another possible origin
14784-432: The musical structure of thrash metal and early black metal , death metal emerged during the mid-1980s. Bands such as Venom , Celtic Frost , Slayer , and Kreator were important influences on the genre's creation. Possessed , Death , Necrophagia , Obituary , Autopsy , and Morbid Angel are often considered pioneers of the genre. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, death metal gained more media attention as
14916-481: The odd mechanical noise". The Origin of the Feces followed in 1992, but it was their third album Bloody Kisses in 1993 that became their breakthrough album. AllMusic reviewer Steve Huey noted that the album had a "twistedly affectionate send-up of goth rock conventions" and lyrics that "gleefully wallow in goth clichés — sex, death, Christianity, vampires, more sex, and death". The album has since sold nearly
15048-509: The one hand and massive riffs, industrial grind and death metal grunting on the other. On subsequent releases, Tiamat moved further into gothic territory with Johan Edlund "dropping the metal growling in favor of an unearthly croon". The result has seen critics comparing Edlund's vocals to the Sisters of Mercy's Andrew Eldritch , "alongside musical comparisons to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds". The band has been recognised for producing some of
15180-511: The original death metal innovators, new subgenres began to develop the end of the decade, such as melodic death metal . Death released their fourth album Human in 1991, which has become a hallmark in technical death metal . Death's founder Schuldiner helped push the boundaries of the genre with uncompromising speed and technical virtuosity, combining intricate rhythm guitar work with complex arrangements and emotive guitar solos. Earache Records, Relativity Records and Roadrunner Records became
15312-447: The same record twice". In contrast, Cradle of Filth has become "one of the very biggest names" in their black metal genre with impressive albums sales and mainstream appearances on MTV , a level of success that has attracted accusations of "selling out" by the "black metal faithful". Moonspell too has "lost a lot of fans who couldn't keep up with the changes" to their music. In the opinion of vocalist Fernando Ribeiro , fans of
15444-436: The subgenre, including Florida's Obituary, Morbid Angel and Deicide . This collective of death metal bands hailing from Florida are often labeled as " Florida death metal ". Morbid Angel pushed the genre's limits both musically and lyrically, with the release of their debut album Altars of Madness in 1989. The album "redefined what it meant to be heavy while influencing an upcoming class of brutal death metal." Following
15576-577: The time of 1995's Draconian Times album, Paradise Lost's music firmly stood "between stark, oppressive goth rock and crunching heavy metal". With these five albums, the band had created "a bold collection of songs that sounded like Black -era Metallica played by a group who loved the Sisters of Mercy". They have since been recognised as the band that "originally laid the gothic seed that other bands have been nicking and reaping in recent years". From Bradford, My Dying Bride were formed in 1990. An EP, Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium , "sparked
15708-518: The time, Steele agreed to pose for, unaware of the composition of the magazine's readership. The album's title track further references Steele's father's death, while "Nettie" was written about his mother. AllMusic wrote "guitarist Kenny Hickey 's passages have grown increasingly melodic, and the keys of Josh Silver possess a timeless melancholy" despite "how bleak or odd the lyrical proceedings get". Loudwire described it as "the most uplifting sounding album of their career". Life Is Killing Me
15840-477: The title of their fourth album in 2003. Their subsequent release two years later Dark Light was their breakthrough album in the United States with a debut at number 18 on the Billboard charts, a feat exceeded when their next album Venus Doom in 2007 made a debut at number 12. Critic Lance Teegarden of PopMatters notes that HIM is "not the sort of act that conjures up a lukewarm response [as] people either like them or discredit them outright". In
15972-438: The title track of the album "describes a satanic rite, complete with driving-rain and tolling bell sound effects, while the cover focuses on a black-cloaked, spectral-looking girl in a graveyard, shot through a sickly pale ochre filter". Other commentators have described Black Sabbath as the "absolute prototype gothic heavies" and observed that by separating the band's music "from their heavy metallic connotations", one "could cull
16104-598: The vocal similarity to the voice of the popular Sesame Street character of the same name. Although often criticized, death growls serve the aesthetic purpose of matching death metal's aggressive lyrical content. The lyrical themes of death metal may invoke slasher film-stylised violence, but may also extend to topics like religion (sometimes including Satanism ), occultism , Lovecraftian horror , nature, mysticism , mythology , theology , philosophy, science fiction, and politics. Although violence may be explored in various other genres as well, death metal may elaborate on
16236-424: The world's premiere goth metal bands". For over a decade, this beauty and the beast aesthetic has flourished with many representatives across the European continent. Cradle of Filth has also been known to make use of this approach through guest female vocalists such as Liv Kristine and Sarah Jezebel Deva . A few critics have since lamented that the approach has been "done to death by countless bands". Tristania
16368-416: Was a chart success in their home country. This blend of symphonic and gothic metal has also been arrived at from the opposite direction. The band Nightwish from Finland began as a symphonic power metal act before introducing gothic elements on their 2004 album Once , particularly on the single " Wish I Had an Angel ". They continued to mix their style of "bombastic, symphonic and cinematic" metal with
16500-514: Was a magazine called Death Metal , started by Thomas Fischer and Martin Ain of Hellhammer and Celtic Frost . The name was later given to the 1984 compilation Death Metal released by Noise Records . The term might also have originated from other recordings, such as the demo released by Death in 1984, called Death by Metal . Cited examples are not necessarily exclusive to one particular style. Many bands can easily be placed in two or more of
16632-504: Was described by the publication as "metal's most important - and uncompromising - voice". The setup most frequently used within the death metal genre is two guitarists, a bass player, a vocalist, and a drummer often using "hyper double-bass blast beats ". Although this is the standard setup, bands have been known to occasionally incorporate other instruments such as electronic keyboards . Death metal vocals are referred to as death growls ; which are coarse roars/snarls. Death growling
16764-468: Was favorably received by music critics. Exclaim! wrote " Life Is Killing Me pays tongue-in-cheek homage to the world and the women that have screwed Steele over so badly. But musically, the disc is pure pop-rock bliss." "(We Were) Electrocute" was featured on the soundtrack to the 2003 horror film Freddy vs. Jason . " I Don't Wanna Be Me " was covered by European death metal band Meridian Dawn for their debut 2014 release The Mixtape . The song
16896-478: Was later covered by Trivium . All tracks are written by Peter Steele , except where noted Type O Negative Additional personnel Technical personnel Gothic metal Gothic metal (or goth metal ) is a fusion genre combining the aggression of heavy metal with the dark atmospheres of gothic rock . The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy metal music. The genre originated during
17028-424: Was leaked onto the internet before release, upsetting keyboard player Josh Silver to the point that he released a message online complaining that the leak essentially took revenue from the band. The album was officially released on June 17, 2003, on CD as well as cassette in some regions. In Europe, the album was also released with a bonus CD. The album reached No. 39 on the US Billboard 200 chart. The album
17160-594: Was not the only gothic metal band that brought a symphonic edge to their music. Influenced by the Peaceville trio of Paradise Lost, Anathema and My Dying Bride, the Dutch band Within Temptation was founded in 1996. A debut album Enter was unveiled in the following year, followed shortly by an EP The Dance . Both releases made use of the beauty and beast approach delivered by vocalists Sharon den Adel and Robert Westerholt . Their second full length Mother Earth
17292-481: Was recorded in 1994 as another EP "that nonetheless ended up long enough to have qualified as a full-length". The year 1995 saw the release of this EP as well as the departure of Darren White. Guitarist Vincent Cavanagh took over vocal duties for their subsequent album The Silent Enigma released later in the same year. The album "marked an important turning point in the band's sound" with critics drawing upon comparisons to Pink Floyd , "bringing new appreciation from
17424-463: Was released in 2000 and dispensed entirely with the death metal vocals, instead "relying solely on den Adel's majestic vocal ability". The album was a commercial success with their lead single " Ice Queen " topping the charts in Belgium and their native Netherlands. Their third album The Silent Force arrived in 2004 as an "ambitious project featuring a full orchestra and 80-voice choir accompanying
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