Gothic rock is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Bauhaus, and The Cure.
Deathrock is a rock music subgenre that merges punk rock and post-punk with gothic and glam rock visuals and elements of horror film scores. Often overlapping with, and sometimes considered a subgenre of, gothic rock, the genre was pioneered by bands from the early 1980s Los Angeles punk scene, including Christian Death, Kommunity FK, 45 Grave and the Super Heroines. By the middle of the decade, the genre had begun to interact with the United Kingdom's gothic rock scene, leading to the formation of English deathrock bands like Rudimentary Peni, Sex Gang Children and Alien Sex Fiend. However, soon after the genre declined in popularity, and its name largely fell out of use. In the late 1990s, a revival of the genre began, in which groups like Bloody Dead and Sexy, the Phantom Limbs and Tragic Black expanded the scope of the genre to include elements of psychobilly, electronic body music and futurepop.
Andrew Eldritch is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He is the lead vocalist and only remaining original member of the Sisters of Mercy, a band that emerged from the British post-punk scene, transformed into a gothic rock band, and, in later years, flirted with hard rock.
Dark wave, or darkwave, is a music genre that emerged from the new wave and post-punk movement of the late 1970s. Dark wave compositions are largely based on minor key tonality and introspective lyrics and have been perceived as being dark, romantic and bleak, with an undertone of sorrow. Common features include the use of chordophones such as electric and acoustic guitar, violin and piano, as well as electronic instruments such as synthesizer, sampler and drum machine. Like new wave, dark wave is not considered an "unified genre but rather an umbrella term" that encompasses a variety of musical styles, including cold wave, ethereal wave, gothic rock, neoclassical dark wave and neofolk.
Kommunity FK is an American post-punk/gothic rock band which formed in 1978. The band helped establish what came to be known as the deathrock scene in Los Angeles.
Black Tape for a Blue Girl is an American neoclassical dark wave band formed in 1986 by keyboardist/songwriter Sam Rosenthal, the founder of Projekt Records. The band's fans include director David Lynch.
Lycia is an American dark wave band formed in 1988 in Tempe, Arizona. The main personnel of the band are Mike VanPortfleet, Tara VanFlower and David Galas. Although only achieving minor cult success, the band is notable for being one of the ground breaking groups in darkwave and ethereal wave styles. Their 1995 album The Burning Circle and Then Dust received some attention for the power pop hit song "Pray" and "remains a high point of American dark rock", according to AllMusic. Lycia's music is characterized by rich soundscapes and layers of echoed guitars, dark and ethereal keyboards, doomy drum machine beats, VanPortfleet's melancholic, whispered vocals and Vanflower's vivid voice. Trent Reznor and Peter Steele are some of their more well-known fans.
Pagan rock is a genre of rock music created by adherents of neopagan traditions. It emerged as a distinct genre from gothic rock in the 1980s. Bands in this genre will often use pagan and occult imagery and deal with pagan themes. In some cases the definition is stretched to include rock bands embraced by modern Pagans.
Ethereal wave, also called ethereal darkwave, ethereal goth or simply ethereal, is a subgenre of dark wave music that is variously described as "gothic", "romantic", and "otherworldly". Developed in the early 1980s in the UK as an outgrowth of gothic rock, ethereal wave was mainly represented by 4AD bands such as Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil, and early guitar-driven Dead Can Dance.
The Frozen Autumn is an Italian darkwave band, formed in May 1993, characterized by a blend of melancholic vocals, atmospheric gothic-wave and 1980s-style electropop.
Belfegore was a short-lived German gothic new wave band, formed in the early 1980s by Meikel Clauss. The group released several singles and two albums, initially for the German independent record label Pure Freude and later for Elektra Records. Belfegore are probably best known now for the US college radio hit "All That I Wanted", the video to which aired on MTV, VH1 and USA Network.
Aurelio Voltaire Hernández, professionally known as Aurelio Voltaire or simply Voltaire, is a Cuban-American musician, singer, composer, author, and animator. Known for his gothic style of dress and music, Voltaire is considered a leading figure in the dark cabaret music genre. He has released 13 studio albums, including Riding a Black Unicorn Down the Side of an Erupting Volcano While Drinking from a Chalice Filled with the Laughter of Small Children (2011), BiTrektual (2012), and Raised by Bats (2014). He has also created songs for the Cartoon Network animated series The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy (2001–2007).
Zombina and the Skeletones are an English rock band from Liverpool, formed in 1998 with vocalist Zombina and songwriter Doc Horror.
Waves under Water is a Swedish darkwave/synthpop band formed in October 2007 by the singer Angelica Segerbäck and the composer Johan Svärdshammar. The band has a romantic image which flirts with goth, steampunk and new romantic.
Bella Lune is a darkwave/dreampop band that was formed in 2007 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. The band incorporates elements of darkwave, post-punk, synthpop, shoegaze, and ethereal music to create a dreamlike trance throughout their sound. Bella Lune cites many 80s post-punk and new wave bands as influences, including The Cure, Joy Division, Depeche Mode, Cocteau Twins, New Order, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, and Love and Rockets.
The Breath of Life is a Belgian rock band.
Ash Code is an Italian dark wave band formed in 2014 in Napoli by the singer Alessandro Belluccio, the keyboardist Claudia Nottebella and the bass player Adriano Belluccio. Ash Code's music covers a wide range of genres including dark wave, post-punk, synth-pop and EBM.
Grave Babies is an American rock band formed in 2009 in Seattle, Washington. The band consists of Emily Gorman, Alex Noelke (bass), and Danny Wahlfeldt. The band released its latest album, Holographic Violence, in 2015 through Sub Pop-affiliated label Hardly Art.
Molchat Doma is a Belarusian post-punk band from Minsk, formed in 2017. Their current lineup consists of Egor Shkutko (vocals), Roman Komogortsev, and Pavel Kozlov. Their style has been described as post-punk, new wave, synth-pop, and cold wave.
Sextile is an American post-punk band from Los Angeles, California. The band consists of founding members Brady Keehn and Melissa Scaduto. The band takes its name from the aspect of the same name in astrology.
