Metal Reviews

Im quite new to gothic/dark metal, any recommendations on where i should start? ive listened to abit of Lacuna Coil, Atargatis, and Elis.
ive never actually found anything that completely slays...most of the stuff ive heard i would rate as 'ok' or 'interesting'.


oh and please dont say nightwish.

thnx.

Katatonia-Dance of December Souls. Probably the best doom/dark metal album ever made. And it was back when they were completely metal. If the melodies on that album aren't depressing enough for you, I don't know what is.

Try Lake of Tears, Therion, Haggard, Sirenia, Epica, After Forever, Sundown(Design 19), Moonspell(especially first 2 alnums), Tiamat, Tristania, My Dying Bride, Penumbra, etc.

Old Tristania is good to. The new stuff is a little bit more techno though. I have "World of Glass" and I love it! You may also like The Sins of Thy Beloved or Lacrimas Profundere.

Mandatory listening : Paradise Lost, they started gothic metal anyway

Get their albums Lost Paradise, Gothic, Shades Of God, Icon, Draconian Times, One Second, after that they went electro pop, still good but not many would agree with me on that

My fav would be Gothic, Icon, Draconian Times, and One Second

You can find classic reviews for Icon and Draconian Times over here.

Another fav band of mine would be Type O Negative. Bloody Kisses, October Rust, and World Coming Down are great. Their sound is a brilliant mix of gothic, doom, punk, and classic rock. Nothing sounds like TypO

Katatonia - after listening to the samples i can say that their older stuff sounds better.
Tristania - nice!
Moonspell - hmm nope.
Paradise Lost - im neutral on this one. theyre a bit slow for my tastes.

oh and which band would you recommend that has very nice female vocals? (once again pls dont say nightwish)
hmm from samples it seems like german bands have the best female vocals

If you like Tristania give Sins of Thy Beloved - Lake of Sorrow a try as well as the first three albums of Theatre of Tragedy.

As for female fronted bands that sound good, Give Amaran a try,
Their two albums are great but I prefer Pristine in Bondage.

on another Note I prefer Katatonia's second phase with the clean vocals, Viva Emptiness and Last Fair Deal Gone done are great albums as well as Tonight's Decision and Discouraged Ones.

Slow ? mmm not in my book. I listen to alot of doom anyway, gothic metal shouldnt be 'fast' anyway

Otherwise it's Nightwish you should be listening to

Tristania should be nice, since it has some BM influences. Theatre of Tragedy if you like slow Gothic Doom.

My fav female vocals would be Within Temptation, their Mother Earth album. Not a dark band though.

November's Doom's latest album, The Pale Haunt Departure (I think that's what it's called...) is really good.

Oh, and anything by Cathedral prior to 1994 or so is essential listening.

rotting christ-khronos is good, dark metal.

Nightwish aren't gothic.
Try Leave's Eyes for nice female vocals. Other bands with extremely good female vocals (though not entirely gothic): Dreams of Sanity, Lacrimosa, After Forever, The Gathering.

Some very good (and mostly underrated) gothic albums:
Cemetary - Black vanity, Sundown, Last confessions
On thorns I lay - Crystal tears, Future narcotic
Heavenwood - Swallow
Darkseed - Midnight solemnly dance
Lake of Tears - Black brick road

Three words essential to any Doom collection is My Dying Bride, but, for God's sake, stay away from "34.788...Complete". Also, search for some Candlemass (their new album is awesome), and some Type O Negative, specifically "Bloody Kisses"

For Gothic Metal, try Sentenced ("Frozen" is quite nice) and Katatonia (Personally, I think their newer stuff is better. Pick up "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" and "Viva Emptiness").

Essential doom metal should be Candlemass, St.Vitus, Solitude Aeturnus, Winter, Cathedral, Electric Wizard, Thergothon

and not forgetting Sabbath and Pentagram

Stephen O' Malley's work is good stuff too, Thorr's Hammer, Burning Witch, Sun O))), and more

IMO My Dying Bride is just good, not great.

NP : Thorr's Hammer - Dommedagsnatt :(

Well its not really gothic per se(More folk) but if you want nice female vocals try Midnattsol- Where Twighlight Dwells. I got the album not too long ago and it has not spent much time outta my cd rotation.
The vocals are not powerfull but very, very soothing.

which one did you try? Wolfheart is different from all their others (which I am not too hot on BTW) and one of my favorite albums

You might try Draconian as well. I haven't hear their first album, but their new one, Arcane Rain Fell, is pretty good.

yup rotting christ is good! but i prefer A Dead Poem.

as for Moonspell, i just clicked on a random sample on their site.

Ahh, A Dead Poem! Amazing work of dark metal! Passage To Arcturo was also quite good. The later stuff kinda sucked, too many fillers.

You need to give Moonspell another chance. Try Wolfheart and Irreligious first.

I think Triarchy of the Lost Lovers is the underrated gem in their discography. But I like all their albums, except the last two. They started going downhill on Genesis and totally lost it on the horrible Sanctus Diavolos.