| White Gothic | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1997 | |||
| Recorded | 1997 | |||
| Genre | Gothic metal | |||
| Length | 52:00 | |||
| Label | Independent | |||
| Necromance chronology | ||||
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White Gothic is the debut album by the German gothic metal band Necromance released in 1997.
| White Gothic | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1997 | |||
| Recorded | 1997 | |||
| Genre | Gothic metal | |||
| Length | 52:00 | |||
| Label | Independent | |||
| Necromance chronology | ||||
| ||||
White Gothic is the debut album by the German gothic metal band Necromance released in 1997.
The album was released on independently in 1997 and the band self-marketed the album to magazines. Afterwards the band signed a record deal with Pleitegeier Records.
Musically, the album's style is gothic metal. The output is characterized by distorted power chord guitars, symphonic keyboards, and steril computer drums. Other characteristical elements are Runhardt Scheffler's rough and half growled vocals, a relic from the band's death metal roots. Some vocals are sung by the female singer-guitarist Sandra. Her mid-range, melancholic voice is a very dominant element on songs such as "Morgenlied in Böser Zeit." The songstructures on the album are somewhat simple, basing more emphasis on dark, introspective, and decadentic atmosphere rather than rich soundscapes or technical playing. Some of the songs such as "Mysterious Night" and "Eternal Glory" contain more traditional guitar playing reminiscent of the early deathrock and gothic rock bands, and cleaner vocals. The production on the album is dry and thin, and the drums and keyboards are more up-front in the mix.
The word "white" in the album title refers to the Christian lyrical themes that collide with gothic dark romantic thematics. The lyrics contain Bible citations on End times on songs such as the outro "Voice in the Wilderness." Two of the album's songs are sung in German. [1]
Although criticized for production issues, varying song material and sometimes playing out of key, the album received positive reviews from the underground media. For example, the German gothic music and subculture magazine Orkus wrote about the album in its November issue in 1997: "Metallic guitars combined with hypnotic—melancholic—melodic keyboard sounds, a strongly whispering singing and a beautiful female voice to a symbiosis that is not only fun, but also very fresh sounding!" [2] Other zines also gave the album favorable reviews. Refraktor 6 wrote: "Here is now my masterpiece of Necromance... Friends of gothic sounds can access this without hesitation." [3] Different Frequenzies gave it 3 out of 4 and wrote: "Necromance gave me an interesting insight into a religious world and created with White Gothic a very innovative piece of music that music fans should not miss..." [4] Dark Heart wrote in winter 1997/1998: "Every song on the album is a gem in itself, you would not want to miss that if you heard it once... on its CD Necromance establishes their status as gothic - outright cult band." [5] [6]
Lacrimosa is a gothic duo led by German Tilo Wolff, the main composer, and Finn Anne Nurmi. They are currently based in Switzerland, but originally from Germany. Originally counted among the bands of the Neue Deutsche Todeskunst genre, Lacrimosa have developed their style more towards powerful metal, but gothic elements still remain.
Green Carnation is a Norwegian progressive metal band from Kristiansand, Norway, formed in 1990. Green Carnation's trend of music has continuously changed on every release one by one; from straight forward death metal in their demo, to death-doom, then a progressive doom metal sound, to an atmospheric gothic metal sound, to a melancholic hard rock sound and in 2006, went as far as to releasing an entirely acoustic album Acoustic Verses. The band released its first album in 14 years titled Leaves of Yesteryear on May 8, 2020, which marked a return to their earlier gothic progressive metal roots. A new single was composed, arranged, rehearsed and recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, called "The World Without a View", and released digitally on December 18th 2020.
Tristania is a Norwegian gothic metal band, formed in 1996 by Morten Veland, Einar Moen and Kenneth Olsson. Tristania's music is usually classified as Gothic metal with death influences, due to its strong tie and legacy within the gothic metal history. Their songs largely deal with dark and sentimental topics, including depression, sadness, suicide, love, absence, and anger.
Virgin Black is an Australian symphonic gothic and doom metal band. The band was signed to The End Records and Germany's Massacre Records, through which it released 4 albums and 1 EP. A fifth album, originally planned for release in 2006, was released independently in 2018. As of 2021, they are signed to Australian record label, Dark Escapes Music. Formed in 1995 in Adelaide, they have achieved international acclaim during their career, receiving praise from such magazines as Orkus, Metal Hammer, Legacy and The Village Voice.
Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitars of metal with different elements of orchestral classical music, such as symphonic instruments, choirs and sometimes a full orchestra, or just keyboard orchestration.
Acid Bath was an American sludge metal band from Houma, Louisiana, active from 1991 to 1997. Acid Bath combined doom metal roots with influences from hardcore punk, death metal, gothic rock, and blues to create the band's unique sound. In a Pit Magazine interview, vocalist Dax Riggs classified their sound as "death rock". In another interview, guitarist Sammy Duet described their sound as "gothic hardcore". They broke up after the death of bassist Audie Pitre in a traffic collision in January 1997.
Pronoian Made was an alternative rock/gothic metal band from Luxembourg which gained notoriety for being the first to play gothic influenced rock in the country, and also for being the first to succeed beyond national borders.
Bara no Seidou (薔薇の聖堂) is the fourth and final album by the Japanese visual kei rock band Malice Mizer, released on August 23, 2000. The title roughly translates as "Church of Roses" or "Sanctuary of Roses". In February 2007, Bara no Seidou was re-released by German record label Trisol Music Group, packaged in both jewel case and limited slipcase versions, both including the Cardinal music video collection DVD.
Neue Deutsche Härte, sometimes abbreviated as NDH, is a subgenre of rock music that developed in Germany and Austria during the early-to-mid 1990s and during early 2000s. Alluding to the style of Neue Deutsche Welle, the term was coined by the music press after the 1995 release of the German rock and metal band Rammstein's first studio album Herzeleid.
Love is Colder Than Death, commonly abbreviated LiCTD or LICTD, is an early German neoclassical dark wave band that was one of the cornerstones to Hyperium Records' Heavenly Voices compilation series of the early 1990s. It is named after the 1969 Fassbinder film Liebe ist kälter als der Tod. The band's music is characterized by its extensive use of both romantic and classical styled male and female vocals. Founded by Ralf Donis, Maik Hartung, Sven Mertens, and Susann Heinrich in 1990, the band members and music have changed slightly since then. The first few LICTD albums were released on the Hyperium record label in Europe and on the new Metropolis Records label in the United States.
The Crest was a gothic metal/darkwave band from Oslo, Norway noted for their gothic metal with catchy melodies, massive guitar sound, and a soothing female voice. The band was formed in 1996 by Nell and Kristian Sigland. After going through changes in name and line-up, the band settled on the name "The Crest" in 1999, after recording their second demo when they started to develop their characteristic sound.
Anajo was an indie pop band from Augsburg, Germany that was active between 1999 and 2014. Consisting of Oliver Gottwald, Michael Schmidt and Ingolf Nössner (drums), the band produced guitar pop with electronic sounds, these being more prominent in earlier recordings. Anajo's debut album was released in 2004 and the band went on to record three further albums, the most commercially successful reaching No. 51 in the German charts.
Necromance was a Christian gothic metal band from Spremberg, Germany, formed in 1987, disbanded in 2002. Originally signed to Morbid Records as a death metal act and later signed to Pleitegeier Records after changing the music style, the band built a reputation in the underground scenes touring with groups such as Demigod. Necromance released two albums in the 1990s: White Gothic (1997) and Wiederkehr der Schmerzen (1999). Their 2001 album Tribulation Force showcased a strong industrial metal influence. The band has toured Europe, and performed on notable European festivals such as Freakstock in Germany. Their two latest albums were well received by magazines such as Rock Hard and Metal Heart. The band leader Runhardt Scheffler typically writes lyrics about the End Times.
Wiederkehr der Schmerzen is the second album by the German gothic metal band Necromance, released on Pleitegeier Records in 1999.
Illuminate is a German Gothic music band from Karlsruhe formed in 1993 by Johannes Berthold.
Catharsis is the fourth and final studio album by Elis, released on 27 November 2009 by Napalm Records. It is the first and only album with Sandra Schleret as their new lead singer after Sabine Dünser's death; the band released in early 2007 the MCD "Show Me The Way".
Katra is a Finnish symphonic metal band founded by vocalist Katra Solopuro.
Panzerballett is a Munich quintet led by guitarist, composer and arranger Jan Zehrfeld. Their musical style is best described as jazz-metal.
X is the name of the tenth studio album by gothic rock band The 69 Eyes. The band chose "Red" as their first single. Days before the release of X, they released "Borderline" as their second single.
Ad Inferna is a French gothic metal/black metal and darkwave/gothic-industrial band consisting of members VoA VoXyD and Vicomte Vampyr Arkames, formed in 1998.