Gothic Metal – Page 7 – Wonderbox Metal

A Dream of Poe – An Infinity Emerged (Review)

A Dream of Poe are from Portugal and play Doom Metal. This is their second album.

This is Traditional Doom Metal that’s rich of texture and hue, laced with a subtle Gothic influence and plenty of majestic melodies; think My Dying Bride-esque.

The singer has a charismatic voice with just the right amount of drama added to the performance. He adds a lot of colour and flavour to the tracks and acts as a focal point for the misery-drenched music.

The songs are long, drawn-out explorations of beauty and tragedy, coming across as chapters in an epic tale of loss and woe.

Subtle keyboards underscore the emotive themes while the guitars provide a bedrock for the evocative atmospheres to attach themselves to. The songs are slow, moody and full of dark feelings.

Each track takes its time to get where it’s going and there’s no impetus to make things hurry along; this is a very good thing as the relaxing pace of the music is quite hypnotic and it’s easy to just switch off and absorb this album.

This is 56 minutes of quality Metal. Highly recommended.

Tor Marrock – Destroy the Soul (Review)

Tor Marrock are a Gothic Metal band from Wales. This is their second album.

Tor Marrock play Gothic Metal with a plethora of different influences; Black, Death and Doom Metal are all represented to various degrees. The tracks are an interesting combination of these influences and make the band quite hard to pigeonhole in some ways.

For reference points I’d say an unholy mix of Type O Negative, Celtic Frost, Paradise Lost and Moonspell. Essentially it’s an Old-School Peaceville sound updated with a few different elements from some of the aforementioned bands and genres.

The songs are quite catchy and are quite accomplished in the verse/chorus technique. You could almost sing along, if you fancied trying to keep up with the usually gruff tones of the vocalist.

Some of the songs are quite upbeat while others take a slower, more maudlin route. I find I slightly prefer the latter, although the former is almost as good. Songs like Christ Betrayed have the best of both worlds, making this track one of my favourites.

The songs are stripped back and simplified; it’s easy for Gothic Metal bands to pile on the keyboards and other sounds/effects for quite an ostentatious sound, but Tor Marrock have gone for a basic and raw sound, (relatively speaking), making the most of the standard instruments to colour their emotive palette.

Tor Marrock are doing something a bit different with their take on Metal and this relatively short album, (36 minutes), is an individual and charismatic take on the genre.

My Silent Wake – Damnatio Memoriae (Review)

This is the eighth album from the UK’s My Silent Wake. They play Doom Metal.

This is Atmospheric Doom that takes elements of bands such as, (older), My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost and works them into its own melancholic, gloomy soundscape. There’s a Gothic component to their style, as well as some Old-School Death Metal elements wrapped up in their sound.

Although they have their share of slower sections, for the most part this is not agonisingly slow Doom that crawls along at a minimal speed. No, this is Doom Metal with plenty of groove, mid-paced momentum and Metal riffs, and the Death Metal influence helps the band keep things moving.

Screamed/rasped vocals are the main mode of lyrical delivery, although the odd clean and semi-clean does appear here and there. They’re performed in a really engaging manner, and their real strength is in how they work with the guitars to seamlessly ensure that the songs are greater than the sum of their individual parts.

There are a lot of really tasty, captivating riffs on this release. Combined with the interesting vocal delivery and vocal patterns the two work together to hook and snare the listener. Before you know it you’re nodding along and getting into it quite easily.

The music is enhanced by keyboards and effects that add to the atmosphere, although these are quite subtle and the main show is carried off via the interplay between guitars and vocals.

My Silent Wake’s latest album is full of top quality Doom that harkens back to the early 90s without wallowing in nostalgia or backwoods glancing; it’s simply a sound of the era, impressively realised in 2015.

Have a listen and let the band work their dark magic.

Whispering Woods – Perditus et Dea (Review)

Whispering Woods are from Romania and this is their second album. They play Symphonic Gothic Metal.

This style of music was all the rage in the late 90’s/early 00’s and I haven’t heard a band play it so full-on in quite a while.

Recalling bands like The Sins of Thy Beloved and Tristania, this is richly textured operatic Metal with keyboards and flute accompaniment.

And boy, does it take me back! I was listening to a lot of bands like this at one point and Whispering Woods would have easily fit in.

Perditus et Dea has a huge production and sometimes it feels like the guitars are hitting home like a hammer. Everything is ultra-clear and no expense seems to have been spared in helping the band realise their vision.

The powerful female vocals are expertly performed, clearly by singers of great skill and accomplishment. There’s a definite theatricality to these vocals that spills over to the music too, almost as if each song is an act in a play.

The songs themselves are well-composed and have a good balance between the theatrical and operatic elements and the hard Metal core of the band. One of the things I really like about Whispering Woods is that the Metal component of the band has a big presence and is not subordinate to anything else. For all of the ostentation and flair of a band like this, Whispering Woods are a Metal band first and foremost.

I find this is a style that it’s quite easy to sound generic in; Whispering Woods avoid this by good songwriting, some interesting ideas and a strong sound. That they don’t fall into the trap of simply aping what is, by now, a well-worn style is another mark in their favour; instead they take the genre template and infuse it with their own personality to create an veritable exemplar of the style.

If you’re not a fan of female fronted Gothic Metal then this is unlikely to sway you. If, however, you’re partial to the genre and like a bit of Doom and melodrama alongside it, then Perditus et Dea is one to check out.

Me? I’ve really enjoyed this, and I hope you will too.

Caelestia – Beneath Abyss (Review)

Caelestia are from Greece and this is their second album. They play Melodic Metal.

Well this is interesting. Superficially another Gothic/Operatic European Metal band, there’s actually more to Caelestia than that.

They combine elements of that sound with Melodic Death Metal and Progressive Metal to create an altogether more interesting beast than what you, (or me), might have been expecting.

The album is a mixture of these aforementioned styles, meaning that Beneath Abyss is not a listen that gets stale. This is a bigger than normal compliment actually, considering how easy it is for Gothic Metal bands to be quite generic. But of course, this is where the other influences come in.

Another very positive thing about the band is the main female vocals; the singer has a strong voice that definitely has her own personality stamped onto it and manages to avoid simply aping some of the bigger female vocalists out there. She has a versatile and powerful voice that oozes professionalism and quality.

Her voice is joined by choral backing vocals and harsher male shouting, as well as a guest spot from the singer of Soilwork.

These are enjoyable songs and the combination of the European Metal styles into one package gives Caelestia an identity of their own that differentiates them from the majority of their peers who play similar styles of music. It also lends the songs more depth than they’d otherwise have if the bite of the Melodic Death Metal or the musicality of the Progressive Metal were removed.

A very good listen. Check them out and see if you agree.

Majestic Downfall/The Slow Death – Split (Review)

Majestic Downfall are from Mexico and The Slow Death are from Australia. Both play Doom Metal.

This is a much longer split than the norm – 67 minutes in total with each band giving roughly half of that. It also boasts quite a striking album cover. Nice.

Majestic Downfall are first off with a crushingly heavy start to things. They play Doom Metal with a slow Death Metal influence – Death/Doom or Doom/Death, whichever you prefer.

Ready comparisons to newer bands would be the likes of Eye of Solitude and that ilk. For older bands think Paradise Lost/My Dying Bride gone full-on Doom/Death. Majestic Downfall are not a band who are totally mournful and miserable though as a lot of the riffs are more brutal or energetic and they have faster moments too.

The vocals are super-deep and the music is clear and strong. Melodies are a large part of the band’s sound and they make full use of them to produce enjoyable tracks that are largely colossally heavy but also show shading with their use of lighter sections.

With a generally more upbeat take on the genre this is a good listen and makes a decent impression.

After Majestic Downfall’s crisp energetic Doom Metal The Slow Death are like a funeral procession of depressive soundscapes. The Slow Death are a much more mournful proposition and big on proto-Gothic atmosphere.

They can be said to share similar influences and a base sound to Majestic Death but they process it in a different way and the results are therefore different as well. The Slow Death are a lot more downbeat in sound, (although they do still have upbeat moments), and the overall vibe is darker and more negative. Think a band like The Sins of Thy Beloved only with a more subtle Gothic influence.

Melodic guitars draped in misery and rotting dreams are the leading lights in this showcase of loss. The band create dirges that hold interest and have some good riffs in them.

The vocals alternate between clean, ethereal, haunting female singing and deep, dark male growls. It’s a contrast that was done to death years and years ago in the Gothic Metal style but one that’s not so popular these days. I find it makes me a tad nostalgic, even. Regardless, The Slow Death pull it off with style and it sounds almost refreshing to hear the clean female/rough male vocals trading off once again.

A top quality split from two bands who have presented two different takes on a core style. It’s especially worth getting due to the length as each band essentially contribute a mini album’s worth of material to this split.

Be sure to check this out and then track it down.

Fractured Spine – Memoirs of a Shattered Mind (Review)

This is the second album from Finland’s Fractured Spine.

Fractured Spine play Blackened Gothic Doom/Death Metal. Which is to say that they take the Doom/Style, add Gothic touches to the music and then layer a Black Metal fuzziness, melody and feel over everything. Early 90’s Gothic Black Metal mixed with Doom/Death.

They are also a bit more experimental than a lot of bands who play the Doom/Death style, which again gives them more of a Black Metal theme to my eyes.

Vocally the band eschew the normal purely Doom/Death deep vocals for a more varied approach involving a mix of deep growls, high screams and Gothic cleans.

Some songs have more of a Black Metal feel, others more of a Gothic Doom feel and occasionally even an early Lacuna Coil or …In The Woods style makes an appearance.

The keyboards and Gothic effects are prevalent throughout the album and it’s a refreshingly different take on the Doom/Death sub-genre.

A surprisingly varied album that experiments with its sound to create a mixture of related styles under one album.

Check them out and see what you think.

Settima Draconis – Legio (Review)

Settima Draconis are from Germany and play Melodic Death Metal.

Legio has a good sound that allows the band to show off their works.

This is Melodic Death Metal with a Gothic influence and heavily accompanied by violins and strings. These Classical elements are not overdone though and add the right amount of atmosphere and culture to the heavier guitars and snarling vocals.

For a crude reference point, think Dark Tranquillity combined with the music of Therion and a more free-form method of songwriting, particularly in the drum department. Only a crude reference point, as I say, but it gives the right kind of idea.

While this is bound to be somewhat of an acquired taste, (but what isn’t though, really?), it’s worth checking out if you want Gothic Metal with colour and unusual quirks to the songs. While it can seem a little incoherent at times it shows a band trying to do something a little different and this should be encouraged.

Have a listen and see what you think.

Tothem – Beyond the Sea (Review)

Italian Gothic Metallers Tothem have released their début album Beyond the Sea.

This is a stirring and spirited album, with angelic female vocals layering a solid Metal base. Sometimes with this type of genre, with so much focus on the vocals, the underlying music can seem left behind a bit; the guitars especially can be left to sound quite weak. Not so for Tothem; thankfully they have kept the guitars nice and loud and pleasantly thick.

Musically we have a modern Power Metal foundation with liberal keyboards and sweeping feminine harmonies soaring over the top of everything.

If you have heard bands such as Within Temptation, Evanescence, Nightwish, et al then you know what kind of songs are on offer here. Of course it’s easy to say that we’ve heard this all before, but if you like this kind of music then that’s no barrier to enjoyment. The differentiation comes of course from the nicely heavy music and above all from the songs themselves.

This is an enjoyable album with good songs and where the music doesn’t play second-fiddle to the, (admittedly impressive), vocals. Try them out and see if they can win you over.

Lethe – When Dreams Become Nightmares (Review)

Formed by members of Manes and Eluveitie, Lethe play dark and multi-textured experimental music.

Combining the best parts of Rock, Post-Rock, Electronica and Metal to create 10 tracks of emotive songs that instantly capture your attention while also having enough depth to keep you satiated in the long run. Bands such as Ulver, Arcturus and Manes are the obvious starting points and Lethe should definitely appeal to fans of these groups.

The main vocalist is a very talented person. Her vocals are exceptional and she shows great range across the album. She has great character and talent, and infuses both of these into every song to create the right mood for each. The occasional male vocals that swim in and out of the various tracks simply add another dimension to the proceedings.

The music doesn’t let the side down though – each song is crafted to a high standard by experienced personnel who know exactly what to do to achieve the effect that they want. The songs are passionate and dark, with Gothic Rock stamped all over some of them but not in a commercial stadium-friendly way, rather in a more personal way that allows you to have a relationship with the actual songs rather than some stylised version that will eventually become stale due to overexposure and lack of substance. This is female fronted Rock for people that don’t like female fronted Rock.

This is an astoundingly good album that combines catchiness and intellect to produce sophisticated dark Rock. What a fantastic way to start off 2014.