Time for metal.

Truthfully, this list is distinctly lacking in the metal department. I guess most of the metal I listen to is from my high school years, when I got pretty into the Norway goth scene. Quite cheesy, I know.

T is for Theatre of Tragedy. Originally a doom metal band, these guys set a pretty dark, gothic mood, complete with some rad piano pieces and orchestral melodies.


Not to mention the old movie samples. I know it's cheesy as hell, but I think they did a fucking great job with that one.


They struck a fine balance, contrasting deep male vocals with female soprano vocals. This mesh of vocals has remained the same through their significant change in musical style.
With the release of the album Musique, it was quite clear that Theatre of Tragedy would never be the same.


At this point most diehard fans were about ready to cry. The new synthpop/industrial style was pretty much the opposite of what they were looking forward to, and a lot of people saw it as "selling out."
Me? If there's anything this month of blog posts has demonstrated, it's that I'm a total sucker for electronic music. I thought it was so fucking cool.
Then the record Assembly came out, and the electronic style was even more refined. Everything was so tight, and the combination of heavy guitar and sweet ass boops and beeps just seemed so badass to me! Like, fuckin'... Universal Race. That's all I know how to say right now, and that pretty much says it all for me.


Since then, Theatre of Tragedy have released a few more albums, but I've had a hard time getting into them. Gone is the Electro pop sound, and long gone is the doom metal sound. I have a hard time viewing their newer albums as much more than generic overproduced metal. Pretty disappointing, though I am glad they didn't overdo either of their prior musical styles. Even so, I think I'd rather see a band break up than actively choose to suck ass. This is the point where I'm ready to hop on the "sellouts" bandwagon, sad but true.

Also, honorable mention goes to another norwegian gothic metal band, Tristania.
I've only heard the album Widow's Weeds, but it looks like they've been quite prolific since.