S&D : Female Fronted Goth Metal Bands

They split up?

and the singer is a cutey with a nice voice. definitely inspired by lacuna coil.

nobody will ever match the gathering's majesty though.

I'm experiencing a metal drought so far this year, I think. (I guess Lullacry's new Finnish goth-pop metal album is tolerable, though. Whether it has anything to do w/ metal is another question entirely.)
-- xhuck (xedd...), January 9th, 2006.
I'm really liking this album *Oppostition* I just got sent by a Pittsburgh band called Persephone's Dream - girl-singer atmospheric goth metal with actual riffs and hooks and tunes, which atmospheric goth metal almost never has (and sometimes I just accept that regardless). Only problem is, the album apparently came out in 2001. Got their other album *Moonspell* (named after the band?) too; that one seems less riffy and maybe more electronic and ethereal though (i.e., not as good, though still pretty), but it dates back to 1999.

-- xhuxk (xedd...), January 19th, 2006.
xp: Persephone's Dream (on even their debut) *sound* like old prog-metal guys, too, and their old prog-metal often tends to materializes even amid their Enigma-like material. Interesting that they got more, not less, metal later. I do wish they didn't stick a 12 minute world music lesson (including aforementioned dorky drum solo) called "Earth Dreams" in the middle of their first album, though. Basically, I guess, their imitations of the first Enigma album are fine, but their imitations of the second Enigma album leave me feeling kinda queasy.
-- xhuxk (xedd...), January 23rd, 2006.

Now playing the *Sonic Cathedral - Sirens* compilation ("an exclusive sampler celebrating the female voice in metal", by which they mean "dark gothic metal that often has no metal in it", which is fine with me), and I like a lot of it, especially the GREAT GREAT GREAT I FUCKING SWEAR HOW COME NOBODY LISTENS TO ANYTHING I SAY ABOUT THIS BAND Subterranean Masquerade, whose last CD had beautiful smooth jazz guitar parts and whose song "Suspended Animation Dreams" here is more blues psychedelia than goth metal. Other highlights include tracks by Peccatum, the Gathering, Star of Ash, Madder Mortem, and Lilitu. Also I just noticed that the song by Cirrah Nava, "Le Parade," starts with a weird Balkan organ-grider rhythm. Cool! So who the hell are they?
-- xhuxk (xedd...), January 27th, 2006.

Twelfth of Never, *Things That Were* -- good cdbaby.com Gathering-style dark goth new age metal/non-metal, if you like that kinda thing (some do, some don't) from Massachusetts. Best tracks: "Bratty Girl" (the least bratty sounding song with "bratty" in the title I've ever heard), "Recognition", "The Tiny Drawer", "Such are Mirrors" (eerie spoken word opening), "Left Unsaid" (which reminds me more of Opeth than the Gathering.) Beautifully crocheted guitar climaxes in a few tracks. 11th track is followed by a hidden 12th track of horror movie noises. Dedicated to a girlfriend of the keyboardist who died; her name was Tara Harding Lee, and she looks very pale like a vampire.

-- xhuxk (xedd...), January 31st, 2006.
these Pennsylvanians ("crosses No Doubt with Evanescence and little Disturbed...sometimes referred to as Dance Rock") sound promising to me, though the girl singing has a pretty rough voice (which could wind up waking in their favor more than against them):

http://cdbaby.com/cd/hollistunes

(Anyway, I'm still undecided about how much I like them. Their lyrics quote "Shake Your Booty" and "Into the Groove," I'm just not sure yet how clumsily. So far I prefer the synth parts to the funk basslines. And so far my favorite tracks are probably "Waiting" and "Better Day," two of their poppiest and least disco-metal and least rough-voiced.)

-- xhuxk (xedd...), March 30th, 2006.

Liking those Pennsy cdbaby new wave-synthed teen-rock disco-metallers Hollis more than I expected, especially ("Chemical," "Waiting," "Better Day," "Fade," "Automatic") when they can the gnu-metal shtick and let their girl Holly get her Patty Smythe and maybe Benatar on. "Fade" has '80s Bryan Adams riffs, and I can actually imagine people moving their thing to "Move That Thing," the song that quotes "Into the Groove". "Torn & Broken" and "Keep Me Down", where they try to act tougher, aren't quite so fun. But thumbs up regardless.

-- xhuxk (xedd...), April 1st, 2006.

Kerrang was really sexist supposedly in the 80s. Anyone have any memories?

haha "punk" took 20 years to catch up on mainstream america.

and goth-metal is still catching up with what disco was doing 30 years ago.