Gothic rock

Gothic rock (also referred to as goth rock or simply goth) is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes. According to both Pitchfork and NME, proto-gothic bands include Joy Division,Siouxsie and the Banshees,Bauhaus, and the Cure.

The genre itself was defined as a separate movement from post-punk due to its darker music accompanied by introspective and romantic lyrics. Gothic rock then gave rise to a broader subculture that included clubs, fashion and publications in the 1980s.

Style, roots, and influences

According to music journalist Simon Reynolds, standard musical fixtures of gothic rock include "scything guitar patterns, high-pitched basslines that often usurped the melodic role [and] beats that were either hypnotically dirgelike or "tribal" [African polyrhythmic]". Reynolds described the vocal style as consisting of "deep, droning alloys of Jim Morrison and Leonard Cohen". Siouxsie and the Banshees tended to use flanging guitar effects, producing a brittle, cold and harsh sound that contrasted with their psychedelic rock predecessors. Several acts used drum machines downplaying the rhythm's backbeat.

Lacuna Coil

Lacuna Coil is an Italian metal band from Milan. Since their formation in 1994, the group has had two name changes, being previously known as Sleep of Right and Ethereal. Inspired by the combination of gothic imagery and music, the members have been known, musically, for composing mid-tempo songs consisting of prominent guitar lines and contrasting dual female/male vocal harmonies to help create a melodic, detached sound. Much of the band's recent material, however, sees a heavier and more down-tuned style, featuring a more distinct bass line and a higher mixing of the guitars within the songs. The band's 2012 release, Dark Adrenaline, peaked at number 15 on the Billboard 200. They have toured internationally and were nominated for a MTV Music Award.

History

Formation and debut EP (1994–98)

Vocalist Andrea Ferro and bassist/composer Marco Coti Zelati formed Sleep of Right in Milan, Italy, 1994, and recruited Raffaele Zagaria on guitars, and Michaelangelo Algardi on the drums. After releasing two demos, Bleeding Souls and Noise of Bolgia, Claudio Leo became the band's second guitarist, and Leonardo Forti replaced Michaelangelo on the drums after his departure. The band asked Cristina Scabbia, a friend, to sing background vocals briefly, which led to her officially joining the band. Soon after, the band changed their name to "Ethereal", and signed to Century Media at the end of 1997. Finding that the name Ethereal was already taken by a Greek band, they changed their name to Lacuna Coil, meaning "empty spiral".

Gothic metal

Gothic metal (or goth metal) is a subgenre of heavy metal and gothic rock that combines the heaviness 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 the early 1990s in Europe 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 (although the bands themselves never claim the title 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 the United States, Tiamat 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 has since been adopted by many gothic metal groups before them but not as a regular trademark. During the mid-1990s, Moonspell, Theatres des Vampires 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, Nightwish and Within Temptation.

Gothic

Gothic may refer to:

Germanic people

Medieval culture

Romanticism

Gothic subculture

Rock

Rock commonly refers to:

Rock or Rocks may also refer to:

Places

United Kingdom

United States

Multiple countries

Elsewhere