40 Fun Facts About Gothic Metal

Which physicist did the Liverpool band Anathema appear on stage with at the Starmus science festival?

Stephen Hawking was the honouree of the 2016 Starmus festival in the Canary Islands, where Anathema played. The band had begun in 1990 as a doom metal act named Pagan Angel.

Which superhero film gave Evanescence its break by featuring 'Bring Me to Life' in a scene and on the soundtrack?

Daredevil sent listeners to radio stations asking for the song, forcing programmers who had rejected it to think again. It went on to win a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance.

Which Grammy category did Evanescence win in 2004 as beaten nominee 50 Cent wandered onto the stage?

Best New Artist went to Evanescence over 50 Cent, who walked up during the presentation. The band had five nominations that night, with Album of the Year among them.

Which singer co-founded Evanescence after meeting guitarist Ben Moody at a Christian youth camp in Little Rock?

Amy Lee was 13 and playing piano at the camp when the pair met. They began by performing acoustic sets in the city's book stores and coffee houses.

Which 1960s band's nickname is parodied by 'the Drab Four', the label pinned on gloomy Type O Negative?

The Beatles were the Fab Four, so a band singing about death, depression and addiction became the Drab Four. Type O Negative even recorded a medley of three of the Liverpool group's songs.

Which heavy metal pioneers' riffs did Paradise Lost singer Nick Holmes say his band set out to make even slower?

Black Sabbath supplied the slow riffs that Paradise Lost dragged down further to reach doom metal. Holmes names Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson and Metallica among his other influences.

Which English poet's epic about Satan's rebellion and the fall of man gave the band Paradise Lost its name?

John Milton's poem lent its title to the band in 1988, and they flipped the words for their debut album, Lost Paradise. Their second album, Gothic, then named a whole genre.

Which skateboarder and television star organised HIM's first concert in the United States and showcased the band's logo?

Bam Margera discovered HIM in 2000, when he flew to Finland for a skateboarding competition and saw one of the band's videos on television. He later put its music in his films.

Which Type O Negative frontman wrote the goth anthem 'Black No. 1' in his head while driving a garbage truck?

Peter Steele worked for New York's parks department until 1994 and called those days among his happiest. He said the song arrived during a three-hour wait to unload at a waste transfer station.

Which American singer wrote and recorded 'Wicked Game', the brooding ballad whose cover version won HIM a record deal?

Chris Isaak's song, in HIM's version, impressed BMG's Asko Kallonen into signing a band that Nuclear Blast and Roadrunner had already turned down.

Which New York City borough was home to Type O Negative, formed there by four childhood friends in 1989?

Brooklyn ran through the band's story: when drummer Sal Abruscato quit in 1993, he simply joined another quartet from the borough, Life of Agony.

Which Italian city is home to Lacuna Coil, the band whose name is said to mean 'empty spiral'?

Milan is where the band formed in 1994 as Sleep of Right. They became Lacuna Coil only after finding that their second name, Ethereal, already belonged to a Greek group.

Which country's postal service chose Wolfheart, the debut album by Moonspell, for a set of rock music stamps?

Portugal's best-known metal band started out in 1989 as Morbid God. Its 2006 album Memorial made it the first metal act in the country to earn a gold record.

Which synth-pop band, whose 'Enjoy the Silence' Lacuna Coil covered, inspired Paradise Lost's electronic album Host?

Depeche Mode pulled Paradise Lost so far from metal on Host that two of the band's founders revived the album's name in 2022 for a synth-pop side project.

Which instrument, played by Martin Powell, became a hallmark of My Dying Bride from the album Turn Loose the Swans?

Violin gave the Bradford doom band its mournful edge. It later vanished from their albums until For Lies I Sire, when stand-in keyboardist Katie Stone picked up the bow.

Which Finnish band from Kitee dismissed singer Tarja Turunen in 2005 with a letter posted on its website?

Nightwish handed over the letter straight after a show at the Hartwall Arena, signed by all four other members. Turunen answered with an open letter of her own.

Which Dutch band founded by Sharon den Adel and Robert Westerholt broke through in 2001 with the single 'Ice Queen'?

Within Temptation grew out of a doom metal band called The Portal. Keyboardist Martijn Westerholt left through illness in 2001 and went on to start Delain.

Which historical figure is the subject of Cruelty and the Beast, the 1998 concept album by Cradle of Filth?

Elizabeth Báthory was voiced on the album by Ingrid Pitt, the actress who had first played the countess in Hammer's 1971 film Countess Dracula.

Which singer created the heartagram, the heart-and-pentagram logo of the Finnish band HIM, on his twentieth birthday?

Ville Valo has called the symbol probably the best thing he ever came up with, and bigger than the band. It first dominated a sleeve on the 2003 album Love Metal.

Which British record label signed Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and Anathema, earning the trio a lasting nickname?

Peaceville began in Dewsbury as a cassette label for founder Paul 'Hammy' Halmshaw's own band. Its three doom signings are still known as the Peaceville Three.

Which Swiss band's 1987 album Into the Pandemonium paved the way for gothic metal with orchestras and crooned vocals?

Celtic Frost's orchestration on the album inspired Paradise Lost to try the same on Gothic, guitarist Aaron Aedy has said. The record even covers Wall of Voodoo's 'Mexican Radio'.

Which Norwegian band paired a soprano with death growls and wrote its early lyrics in Early Modern English?

Theatre of Tragedy made the 'beauty and the beast' vocal contrast a trademark, then dropped both the archaic English and the growls for electropop on the 2000 album Musique.

Which Norwegian city was home to both Tristania and Sirenia, the two bands founded by guitarist Morten Veland?

Stavanger kept both bands after a split: Veland left Tristania over musical and personal differences and had Sirenia up and running in a matter of weeks.

Which Norwegian soprano formed Leaves' Eyes in 2003 with the members of her husband's death metal band Atrocity?

Liv Kristine launched the group in the same month that her first band announced it had removed her over musical differences. She had joined that band to sing on just one song.

Which record label saw Comalies by Lacuna Coil become the best-selling CD in its history by 2004?

Century Media had signed the band at the end of 1997, when it was still called Ethereal. The album took off after the single 'Heaven's a Lie' reached American radio.

Which Swedish band behind the 1994 album Wildhoney is named after a Babylonian goddess of the primordial sea?

Tiamat started out in 1987 as Treblinka, playing raw black and death metal. Wildhoney, an almost continuous 40-minute piece, took the group to the Dynamo and Wacken festivals.

Which Dutch band from Oss broke through with Mandylion, its first album with singer Anneke van Giersbergen?

The Gathering later left gothic metal behind for shoegaze and trip hop. Van Giersbergen departed in 2007 but returned for the album's 30th-anniversary shows in 2025.

Which 1993 Type O Negative album was the first Roadrunner Records release to be certified gold in America?

Bloody Kisses went gold in 1995 and platinum in 2000. Its cover of 'Summer Breeze' had to be re-recorded after Seals and Crofts objected to the band's parody lyrics.

Which 1995 Paradise Lost album does guitarist Greg Mackintosh call the one everything else the band does gets judged by?

Draconian Times was the group's fifth and most successful album. After four years of touring behind it, they tired of their signature sound and swerved into electronica.

Which German-language band led by Tilo Wolff has put a harlequin on its album covers as a logo?

Lacrimosa answers to nobody: unable to land a record deal, Wolff founded his own label, Hall of Sermon, in 1991 and has released every album through it.

Which Finnish band from Oulu bowed out in 2005 with The Funeral Album and a farewell show in its hometown?

Sentenced announced in advance that the record would be their last, then filmed the final gig for a concert film called Buried Alive. The farewell album went gold at home.

Which Finnish band titled a concert DVD Helsinki Vampires and paid homage to a vampire film with the single 'Lost Boys'?

The 69 Eyes mix gothic rock with glam metal in a style dubbed 'goth 'n roll'. The video for the single was shot in Hollywood and around Philadelphia.

Which 2005 HIM album made the group the first Finnish band to receive a gold record in the United States?

Dark Light was recorded in Los Angeles, where tattoo artist Kat Von D met the band. She went on to feature its music and logo on her show LA Ink.

Which Florida power metal band's 2003 album gave the Dutch group Epica, first called Sahara Dust, its name?

Kamelot based the album on Goethe's Faust. Epica's Simone Simons went on to sing on later records by the Americans, and the two bands toured North America together.

Which group formed in Melbourne by Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry did Paradise Lost's singer cite as a dark influence?

Dead Can Dance had the 'really bleak, dark sound' that Nick Holmes wanted to set beside death metal. The pair moved to London and became the 4AD label's highest-selling act.

Which Canadian songwriter's 'Cinnamon Girl' did Type O Negative cover on the 1996 album October Rust?

Neil Young recorded the original with Crazy Horse. October Rust opens with a prank: 38 seconds of buzzing meant to sound like a lead plugged into an amplifier the wrong way.

Which West Yorkshire town did Paradise Lost form in, yet only play a first hometown show for their 30th anniversary?

Halifax waited until 2018 for that homecoming gig. The band found its mix of goth and metal in the clubs of nearby Bradford, where DJs played both back to back.

Which English county, home of Cradle of Filth, left singer Dani Filth off the shortlist for its 2010 'Icons' campaign?

Suffolk's own promoters ran the campaign to sell the county through its people, places and products. The public nominated Filth, but the panel dropped him without giving a reason.

Which 1999 HIM single reached number one in both Finland and Germany and later went platinum at home?

Join Me in Death also won Video of the Year at the 2000 VIVA Comet Awards. It ranks as the fifteenth-best-selling single of all time in the band's home country.

Which thrash band did Type O Negative's frontman lead in the 1980s, releasing the album Retaliation before it split?

Carnivore dealt in harsh lyrics about religion and war. The singer's record contract outlived the band, which is how his next group landed on the same label.