Very much a product of its time, this is a page I have made to document and properly refer to my quest during May/June 2023 to find the perfect gothic doom album. At this point in time, I had recently deposed Deftones from my top 25 albums list, and realised upon relistening to Turn Loose the Swans and first hearing Katatonia/Tiamat that, given my aspect as a flamboyantly gay goth who loves romance, but also a self avowed doom freak, that the 25th inclusion had to be a gothic doom album. It simply made sense! I then spontaneously wrote myself a list of albums to consider for this most prestigious place, and realised that it was becoming too long and needed too aggressive a reformatting to prove useful to remain in my music diary. Thus, this page exists because this is my life and I am allowed to be self indulgent!
The primary mindset that I entered this with was needing to synthesise a lot of the elements I adored within the aforementioned artists that I loved. I needed from Katatonia's Brave Murder Day the divine songwriting and structural genius that is implicit within that genre, I needed the incredible musicianship and riff writing present on Dance of December souls - the two of those albums spent a long time conflicting in my head for which was my favourite actually; I feel still that both succeed and fail in the exact same areas the other fails or succeeds in, with DoDS being rough around the edges and slightly juvenile yet insanely skilled, and BMD being incredibly finely tuned and well balanced that you could drop it off a 40 story building and still have it land upright, but lacking a little in adventurous musicianship, and also lbr has fucking crap vocals from that opeth twat. The other band to consider chiefly were My Dying Bride. I was (and hopefully remain) ENAMOURED by the fact they have a violin player IN THE BAND, like, as important on the billing as the other musicians, not just a session guy. The devotion to achieving real romanticism is unreal and Martin Powell is a genius. I needed too for my victor a band that can capture the sheer joy as the violin licks in crown of sympathy. And so, my quest to synthesise all these disparate elements began
I am going to keep absolutely 0 consistency with what format and when I edit these things btw so be warned. My general idea though is that the "relistens" panel will be continuously edited to synthesise my perfect thoughts about them, whereas the new finds section I will cross out as I listen to them. But having said that I already broke that rule already and have some other ideas on how I format this so this may be a bit haphazard. But I'm having fun :3! Yes btw I will definitely have more fun compiling this list and getting excited over the prospect of hearing these albums than actually hearing them lol.
In the end, it was decided that Turn Loose the Swans would be the album to take it. Whilst there are parts of it that remain mildly dissatisfying to me, as a package it is just unchallenged in the absolutely beautiful romanticism it presents. No other album of its ken manages to reach the sheer heights of beauty wrought in their darkwave tinged gothic doom - across its 7 songs it just does... everything it needs to do perfectly. Sear Me is a heartachingly beautiful darkwave track that serves not only as a perfect intro, but a fantastic song in its own right, and an incredibly brave and striking album to start off a record from what ostensibly was a death metal band. Your River's doom glory is the perfect counterweight to Stainthorpe's crooning romantic vocals, with the first harsh vocals on the album serving as the perfect release of tension. The Songless Bird's death/doom harshness, inspired by bands like Asphyx and Obituary mixes so perfectly with its brief violin reprises, the pure death/doom brutality mixing with a lilting gothic darkwave. The Snow in My Hand demonstrates the absolute perfect harmonisation and tasteful musicianship from the violinist, Martin Powell in his synthesis between his endlessly romantic violin work with the doom guitar lines, whilst a funeral dirge is played between the guitar and the vocals in what Stainthorpe refers to as just an utterly miserable song. The Crown of Sympathy is a song I could talk about until I died, I find my words failing to find me in even describing it; it is pure doom beauty. Turn Loose the Swans took the longest to click in me, and it was in fact reading the lyrics alongside it that truly made me understand the song - it is, in its own way, a ballad, a funeral dirge through the death of an artist, mixed with moments of honestly real death doom beauty. Finally, Black God finishes the album in a perfect way, with a stripped down and gorgeous female vocal placing a capstone upon a true monolith of neoclassical doom. It oozes romanticism and completely encapsulates the picture I desire from this style of music.
This was a wonderful journey though! It really rekindled my love for writing about music, and helped me disocver a great many bands that I know I will continue to listen to across my life! But when it comes to not just the best music, but the perfectly constructed album, all 7 tracks on Turn Loose the Swans come together in just perfect harmony to create the most beautiful piece that far far far transcends the sum of its parts. Tasteful and hardhitting at the same time, without sacrificing ever on the harsh death metal they peddled on their debut, whilst still allowing their trademarked romanticism space to breathe. It belongs to me in the hall of the best albums ever written.
the final longlist before i decided:
Katatonia - Brave Murder Day/Dance of December Souls;
quite frankly if katatonia were able to pull off an album that combined the strengths of both of these albums together then there'd be no contest, but both of them just outperform the other in notable ways. brave murder day cannot step to the sheer musicianship on dods, and it ends up becoming a little pedestrian because of it even though it is fucking amazing, and opeth man's vocals are kinda lame on relistening compared to the hellish shrieking (/pos) on dods. then otoh dods is such a like, immature beginner album, it's awesome but it doesnt even begin to reach the heady level of the divinity in the song structure and songwriting in bmd. every song on that album is just so necessary, when dods feels a little less aimed. funny, it's possible that if only one of these albums existed, unchanged but just the one of them was there, then i'd be less conflicted. interesting way my psyche works.
good god DoDS riffs are just so good. it's a little aromantic for me, there isn't enough gayness going on here, but i maybe need to listen more carefully to hear it since ik people do identify that there? it needs a bit of clean vocals and some nicer synth sounds tbf. much as this album has just so much to love, it loses me a bit. only halfway through a relisten rn though so hopefuly it pulls me back. i cannot stress enough how good the instrumentation is. the drums are basic i suppose but it's all so good. if these vocals and lead lines were on bmd then oml. why did they make two albums. bmd and dods would be sm better as one 65 minute long album with all the strenght sfrom both.
yeah, dods off the longlist, just meanders and is too junior. dont think bmd is gonna be it either ngl
katatonia will not make this BUT october tide may. it fills the gap between dods and bmd perfectly, sorrwoful af album
My Dying Bride - Turn Loose the Swans/The Angel and the Dark River;
the former is just a total classic within the genre, stands the test of time and then some, has a dedicated violinist which i love, but it's just a bit..... meh. doesn't go as far as i want it to do. but maybe when i hear it more times i'll appreciate it more?
the latter is really ramping up the lovely gothic romanticism but might lose a little of the heaviness, and also i'm not so crazy about the production. i haven't been able to listen to it properly yet though - heard all the songs multiple times but never in a single listen, so it might grow on me a little when i hear it properly and give it the time of day to digest. the first song on the album is apparently mdb's finest hour for many people? also worth mentioning is the fucking gorgeous piano sound
honourable mention goes to their debut. i definitely used to absolutely fucking worship it when i was a bit younger and havent had time to give it another proper chance, maybe i was just right as fuck abt that back in the day.
upon relisten, angel and the dark river is absolutely amazing as i had expected, every track is standout, but i feel like as a whole it isn't quite perfect. requires more listening and i am cheating with including the sexuality of bereavement on the version i listen to, aht the violin kicking in on from darkest skies is just absolutely shockingly good, but i'm unsure if it's quite the standard of songwriting and structuring i need. big up for the trouble style riffs on your shameful heaven though, that's fun as hell
i did an awesome thing for my relisten of turn loose the swans - turned on the commentary disc learnt so much. THEY BUILT A VIOLIN FOR THIS FUCKING ALBUM ESPECIALLY ISNT THAT SO RIDICULOUSLY COOL. aaron stainthorpe is a fucking poet and also turning into a meow meow. also worth mentioning: the songless bird's drumming was described by the guitarist as absolutely integral to the sound, given its so virtuosic as to be writing riffs in itself, the harmonisation between the guitars and violin on the snow in my hand is SUBLIME, the vocals on crown of sympathy blew me away now i listened properly, and turn loose the swans is a song i didn't initially understand but upon engaging with the lyrics (the story of a poet completely lost in a piece of art and being disillusioned with the world) i realise its a totally awesome ballad. turn loose the swans is definitely creeping for a 5....
Tiamat - Wildhoney;
this album absolutelyh blew me away when i heard it but im not certain itll keep me. the guitar solo on the first track was absolutely insane tho in fairness, and some of the melodies and ethereal sections were incredibly moving. but i just have this feeling like it'll wilt rather than grow on me - it doesn't excite me right now. the band's past (ex-treblinka, mildly antisemitic) doesn't help enamour me either unforch
didn't even listen to it again i just realised itd literally never be this album. it doesn't inspire anything in me
Anathema - Pentecost III/The Silent Enigma;
another awesome peaceville band, definitely following with the mournful strengths of the other bands. silent enigma has some incredible production and pentecost iii is apparently super mournfully gothic but otherwise their fairly lukewarm male vocals and their lack of dedicated classical players strongly turns me off. however they seem like they may be just the most insanely heavy on this whole list
upon listening properly, whilst they are actually quite good, they're not 5/5 good. still fun tho - serenades is so heavy. but yeah, pentecost was nice, but it didn't quite make me stunned like i need. i need to be drawn to TEARS.
Carnun - Malkuth;
old irish bm thing i used to swear by. i rated and reviewed it so fondly and i DEFINITELY remember a doom influence, and also certainly a meloblack influence - whilst that isn't gothic, might this be an underdog story? might my favourite gothic album actually be a black metal demo that doesn't introduce gothic metal but does inspire sheer romance and beauty?
def as good as i remember tho sadly not for these purposes
Virgin Black - Requiem: Mezzo forte;
a really weird moment as this is an album that is apparently secondary'd "christian liturgical music" that i have a 4.5 on rym and even included in a listening log with the subtitle "image gif of man being shocked and surprised (this is amazing)". i have, and i cannot stress enough, no memory of this album at all. i was perhaps drunk? but man i suppose i should listen to it again. the fact it isn't on tidal is genuinely homophobic as fuck to me tho!!
not sure what i was so enamoured by in the past, this is alright but not amazing
Upcoming Asphodelus Release;
i obviously can't reasonably consider this given it is not yet out but my beloved grecaboo finn friends. their first album had gothic doom riffing with a hellenic bent to it, it was raw and kind of unpolished as hell but if they clean up their sound and give me a proper hellenic katatonia for their sophomore LP then i am fucking READY to receive lol that will stun me into death. if this trek is still going come August then we shall see. though also if this trek is still going in august I may kill myself
Within Temptation - Enter;
weird one since these are like a trashy symphonic metal band, but their debut is totally goth and even has a good synth sound, and fantastic female vox. need to listen to it all, but it had good feels to it, i just wasn't quite feeling the riffing.
this was good and doomy but just not quite good enough sadly
Tristania; intriguing. a lot more beauty and beast than i typically like but its decent. lots of classical instrumentation, not used quite as delicately as MDB but they make up for it with the theatricality. bears relistening even?
not yet listened, but they're in this area and well lauded so i would like to give them some time
Paradise Lost - The Plague Within;
this surprised me! to see this so lauded on some lists. i dislike paradise lost's vocals but this album credits a viola AND a violin player and is apparently the band's best release so said by a LOT of rym nerds so i think its worth engaging with?
so sometimes it's okay to be wrong i suppose
Green Carnation;
seemingly more of a prog band but still in the gothic metal millieu, the name of this band alone makes me need to check them out, i have some doubts but i may be just shocked!
Converge/Chelsea Wolfe - Bloodmoon I;
the concept of this one entices me. the chelsea wolfe album i heard, abyss, was a john congleton production go and also fucking awesome gothic metal, so with converge as well this might actually be insane. also honourable mention goes to some of chelsea's solo work since it could be worth a peruse
had forgotten that converge fucking suck when i wrote that. chelsea wolfe my darling you are held back by this terrible atmosludge crap please do something with my dying bride but also do it 30 years ago
spoke too soon on that my bad. stuff is happening. not 5/5 stuff i dont think but things are happening
nvm i was right this sucks and is boring
Septicflesh/Horrified;
i couldn't realistically write this without including some hellenism LOL. these are a couple of high profile hellenic bm bands that fuck with a gothic doom sound, from that hellenic bm rym list i was looking from a while back. not yet dedicated the time to hear them but they could be reasonable victors, esp given how much the nordic goth scene and hellenic black scene appear to mix with eachother?
sadly it appears horrified have rubbish production that would make the clarity i need for this lost, and septicflesh programmed all their drums so nty. that's a real shame bc there was real potential otherwise
Cradle of Filth - Dusk... And her Embrace;
whilst i despise dani filth... maybe? rym says "added Stuart Anstis on guitar and a better keyboardist, and released this revolutionary masterpiece of progressive black metal. With its dramatic Baroque melodies and lush theatrics, Dusk... and Her Embrace sounds like an updated 90s version of King Diamond." so like.... i guess???
predictably this didn't end up being the top billing, but wildly surprisingly i did end up liking it? i never actually considered that this could be a favourite - i'm far too proud to put dani filth up in that lofty position and also his voice genuinely sucks, and also this just isn't goth enough. but i did enjoy it. that is surprising enough. the graveyard by moonlight really made me smile lmfao that is just so needlessly dramatic and lovely. i get now why people who i value actually like cradle of filth.
Saviour Machine;
david bowie? influenced prog/goth metal? interesting idea that could entice me
Thorns of the Carrion - The Scarlet Tapestry; yeah, this is good and i will return to this when i have the mindset for funereal doom, but it doesn't do enough to justify it's very impenetrable length and keep me engaged, as well as needing far better production to make the very good riffs that do sparingly get played audible. i wonder if they just didn't have a very good guitarist? also worth mentioning is i heard through crap speakers though
i actually rated this a 4 and reviewed it 3 years ago? 3 years ago i wasnt so au fait with gothic genius but i did pick up that this is largely a darkwave album even then and that idea really entices me? certainly some genuine Just Goth music in my metal isnt remiss, katatonia's experiment with it on bmd worked super well so perhaps... if the riffs are there this may actually be it! anyway i'm leaving it in the new find section bc i honestly do not remember a single thing of it but i do remember the album art at least LOL
not listened in full yet but it does bear mentioning that i think this may be a case of delightful besides lacking in riffs. heard one song and it was almost perfect but the riffing was dull and funereal rather than the katatonia dods style riffage i need. only heard a 5 min song tho so i wont judge yet
okay so upon listening once more it is nothing short of beautiful but i think the production and weak riffage is indeed going to hold it back. it is a definite 4.5 like i loved it but it's all so muddy that the riffs don't come through, and the guitars get so lost in a pretty negative way that makes it end up boring
Sirrah - Acme;
this is polish and i like polish things :]
THIS IS SO FUCKING GOOD. IT ALL WORKS AND THEY VIOLA AND IT'S JUST SO AMAZING. this is a band i am going to have to strongly engage with and decide about, this is competition for turn loose the swans
Celtic Frost - Monotheist;
from th eband that pretty much laid the tracks for gothic metal in general this needs no introduction. ive heard mixed things abt monotheist but its def worth including.
honestly hyped up listening to this. the first song is a doomy thrash song in therion vibes, the second song is apparently a sludgy doom song (IT JUST STARTED. FUCKING HEAVY?), and then we get into gothic metal in the third. this could be a real contender and id be dead happy if it was. he cries out to god like jesus on track 2 omlllllll. this is the kind of thing that blows me away as soon as i hear it and if they can carry it off with some beautiful melody then im going to be so pleased. of course itd be celtic frost of COURSE it would. cant fucking argue with heavy metal pedigree tbh
soulful vocals....... harmony.......... but still no classical instrumentation even half a fucking orchestra is credited on the rym page?
the goth this seems to take from is more in the vein of killing joke and fields of the nephilim than neoclassical darkwave stuff that i want but i think i can dig it. this is all atmospheric as all hell for sure. heavy in being foreboding. track 5 also hints at some pretty good atmospheric secondary instrumentation but still i can't hear the fucking classical instruments and im going to puke if they only get used on the 14 minute track :[.
this will be relistened to. that was amazing and some of the latter half enters the eye watering territory. very interesting.
OH LAME THE CLASSICAL INSTRUMENTATION IS ONLY USED FOR THE FINAL 5 MINUTE TRACK???? ugh. ok it was still good but cmon tommy
Lacrimosa - Stille;
HELLO?????? GOTH ROCK BAND THAT TURNED METAL? MAYBE THIS COULD BE IT?
Dissolving of Prodigy - Lamentations of Innocents;
From a rym list: "to create a sound very alike to the bleak dirges of My Dying Bride, Thorns of The Carrion, Desire, Estatic Fear, but more folkish and with excellent use of flutes and violins, whispers, clean vocals, etc". welp!
FUCKING BORING. someone forgot to tell god that my main requirement was perfection. this has all the ingredients but its just boring as hell
Black Wreath - A Pyre of Lost Dreams;
described as funereal and brutal doom with occasional moments of beautiful melodies that will stop one in their tracks, perhaps? i'm not sure if i want all beauty or just some beauty yet
this is rly good but it isnt GOTHIC enough. has great moments tho i mean easily one of the best funeral doom albums i heard before (i'm not a big funeral doom fan for clarity).
Abysmal Grief - Mors Eleison;
these italian dudes have passed me by before but apparently it's got some lovely dramatisim in a doom context. i just worry itll be too cheesy
Eternal Tears of Sorrow - Chaotic Beauty;
found this when trawling some rymers' catalogues to find the highly rated things in and around this area (i.e. to avoid the pitfalls of genre search ignoring the melodeath, meloblack, death doom, straight doom and symphic metal that cna contentiously be called gothic metal but hasnt at the behest of rym genre rating, i hate rym), and a number of people said its the best thing written in this genre so shrug ig maybe they're right
skimmed, perhaps a little too fast and cradle of filth-y but also bride of the crimson sea was so beautiful i immediately favourited it so i will return to that and honestly it could be it? id be surprised but i cannot currently rule it out?
Rotting Christ;
same story as last entry - i never rly tried this guys fsr but i didnt know they actually did a lot of gothic stuff? and well theyre greek and i am a burgeoning grecaboo so maybe?
not doom enough but still super good! lots of beautiful melody. i think i need a melodic death doom band though
MonumentuM - Musaeum Hermeticum;
I FUCKING LOOOOOOOVE A SHITTY DEMO. we r presented with 1989 gothic metal that blends a proper goth (deathrock, christian death style) rock vibe with a soulful black/doom framework, with classical instrumentation out the arse and just DRIPPING with style. an old demo like this existing before goth metal really existed is so fucking fun and its so visible bc this is gothic metal but its GOTHIC METAL, this is filthy doom and goth rock meeting a perfect pure synthesis. MAJOR DEFINITE CONTENDER LIKE HOLY SHIT
Celestial Season - Forever Scarlet Passion;
cool as shit, my dying bride with MUCH more of a traditional doom styling. worth noting this was the same year as turn loose the swans, its closest possible relation, so this is fresh as hell. their next album also apparently had a stoner rock styling (audible on this too but not so much), another good contender, feels like it has a lot more soul to it than TLTS. also.. MAJOR KEY RIFFS!!!!!
their second album wasn't as good to me.... reviews said it meanders and is boring and i'm unfortunately drawn to agree. at 50 minutes it feels like it could be half that length without severely impacting anything