Purely visually, Gothic is already related to Metal. Musically, however, gothic metal is more an offshoot of black metal and gothic rock. So you could say that metal and gothic are only very distantly related. Nevertheless, there were and are bands that unite both sides and gather fans of both categories in front of the stage. Pioneers here were, for example, Tiamat, Paradise Lost or My Dying Bride. Gothic rock bands such as Moonspell and Fields of the Nephilim have also taken a step in the direction of gothic metal with some of their songs. A certain heaviness in melodies and lyrics is and always has been characteristic, and classical instruments also brought something new to metal music. Well-known representatives of Gothic Metal are also Theatre of Tragedy, Type O Negative and The Gathering. However, the boundaries between gothic metal, dark rock, dark metal and symphonic metal are becoming blurred. What musicologists can hardly tell apart, fans have not cared about for a long time. Today they also count bands like Nightwish, Within Temptation or Xandria as Gothic Metal. Other representatives of the genre are Cradle of Filth, Umbra et Imago and The Nefilim, although here, too, one should not take the classification into the genre so precisely. Gothic Metal is what you think Gothic Metal is.
