Gothic Metal is a broadly defined genre, comprising of two main subgenres: on the one hand there’s bands that grew out of the Death-Doom genre (Anathema, My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost), favoring gloomy, introspective atmosphere over outward bombast, and on the other hand there’s melodic symphonic bands that emerged instead from the more uplifting Power Metal (After Forever, Tristania, Within Temptation) and who are really only “Gothic” in dress and name. Below is an example of the former.

It probably speaks for itself: the lettering style is inspired by a Gothic – which is basically synonymous with blackletter – type. Of course, the astute reader will have noticed that everyone and their mom has blackletter(-inspired) wordmarks for logos. This is indeed a problem for whoever plays in the Gothic genre. The only recourse is to one-up the others by going all-in on the Gothic with yet further Gothic flourishes, regardless of whether they add anything of value to the design.

Some Gothic Metal bands to check out:

• Draconian
  • Band information
  • Spotify
• Theatre of Tragedy
  • Band information
  • Spotify
• Type O Negative
  • Band information
  • Spotify

Related (sub)genre(s):

Take me back to the sample overview.