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bouteillebleuBecause after listening to them all day for a week, Nightwish just won't cut it, so I need something else to listen to at work.
Within Temptation (album - Enter):
Lose for two reasons - (a) annoyingly breathy soprano, and (b) Growly Goth Guy. Look, if you're a female-fronted band, stop letting your bloody guitarist growl into the mike.
The Gathering (album - If Then Else):
Sound like Skindive, which is good.
Are incomprehensible because the music's swamping them, which is bad.
Aren't the sort of thing I'd sing along with, which is bad for what I want them for.
As far as I can tell, they make good background music and that's it.
Midnattsol (album - Where Twilight Dwells):
Too much guitar and percussion. I like my goth metal veering towards orchestral.
Guitar solos I do not care about; flute solos I like.
Also, singer has a weak voice and has moments where she just seems to lose what key she's singing in. She's also either swamped by the instruments or far too loud.
Flowing Tears (album - Razorbliss):
For once, no Growly Goth Guy. And the singer is a woman with a voice so low she could probably pass as a male singer.
Unfortunately, this means her voice blends into the instruments so well that she's almost incomprehensible.
The title track, Razorbliss, isn't terrible, but it's still not good enough to keep.
Theatre of Tragedy (album - Velvet Darkness):
I really wanted to like this, because it has track titles like "Seraphic Deviltry", which is an awesome title if you're not taking yourself seriously.
Of course, they are. They also have Growly Goth Guy. Stop letting your musicians sing, damn it!
Epica (album - Phantom Agony):
The choral track at the beginning hooked me, and even a short passage of Growly Goth Guy (does he get paid per album he appears on?) didn't hurt this album. I like this a lot.
Track 3 was a close thing, as it started with Growly Goth Guy (hereafter called GGG), but the rest of the album makes his occasional appearances tolerable.
Octavia (album - Winter Enclosure):
I started listening to them by accident after the Epica tracks finished. They're not bad - no GGG, and the singer's reasonably good - but they don't grab me like Epica did.
Like The Gathering, this is probably background music more than anything else.
Most of these albums seem to stay entirely in one octave. Makes the music very, very boring.
And for no other reason, the Takarazuka Revue:
Not a goth metal band, but a female-only theatre troupe, approximately half of whom cross-dress on stage (and often off) for a living.
Alas, the music isn't as good as Sera Myu, but the samba rhythm on Southern Cross Revue is very catchy.
Within Temptation (album - Enter):
Lose for two reasons - (a) annoyingly breathy soprano, and (b) Growly Goth Guy. Look, if you're a female-fronted band, stop letting your bloody guitarist growl into the mike.
The Gathering (album - If Then Else):
Sound like Skindive, which is good.
Are incomprehensible because the music's swamping them, which is bad.
Aren't the sort of thing I'd sing along with, which is bad for what I want them for.
As far as I can tell, they make good background music and that's it.
Midnattsol (album - Where Twilight Dwells):
Too much guitar and percussion. I like my goth metal veering towards orchestral.
Guitar solos I do not care about; flute solos I like.
Also, singer has a weak voice and has moments where she just seems to lose what key she's singing in. She's also either swamped by the instruments or far too loud.
Flowing Tears (album - Razorbliss):
For once, no Growly Goth Guy. And the singer is a woman with a voice so low she could probably pass as a male singer.
Unfortunately, this means her voice blends into the instruments so well that she's almost incomprehensible.
The title track, Razorbliss, isn't terrible, but it's still not good enough to keep.
Theatre of Tragedy (album - Velvet Darkness):
I really wanted to like this, because it has track titles like "Seraphic Deviltry", which is an awesome title if you're not taking yourself seriously.
Of course, they are. They also have Growly Goth Guy. Stop letting your musicians sing, damn it!
Epica (album - Phantom Agony):
The choral track at the beginning hooked me, and even a short passage of Growly Goth Guy (does he get paid per album he appears on?) didn't hurt this album. I like this a lot.
Track 3 was a close thing, as it started with Growly Goth Guy (hereafter called GGG), but the rest of the album makes his occasional appearances tolerable.
Octavia (album - Winter Enclosure):
I started listening to them by accident after the Epica tracks finished. They're not bad - no GGG, and the singer's reasonably good - but they don't grab me like Epica did.
Like The Gathering, this is probably background music more than anything else.
Most of these albums seem to stay entirely in one octave. Makes the music very, very boring.
And for no other reason, the Takarazuka Revue:
Not a goth metal band, but a female-only theatre troupe, approximately half of whom cross-dress on stage (and often off) for a living.
Alas, the music isn't as good as Sera Myu, but the samba rhythm on Southern Cross Revue is very catchy.
