Gothic Metal/Death Metal Music of Norway

Gothic metal is to be seen as a subgenre of heavy metal. It relates sinister, melancholic melodies with highly violent heavy metal. Musical features are the use of keyboards and mainly female singers. Choral patterns show a wide extent of variety from clean to roaring. The lyrics show great comparisons to gothic rock. Northern European and also Norway are classified as the root of the both metal music in general and gothic metal in specifically. In Oslo, many goth metal music clubs are established. The biggest Norwegian gothic metal scene includes ensembles like Myriads, Sirenia, Fleurety, Lumsk, Leaves Eyes (from Norway & Germany), Midnattsol (from Norway & Germany), The Sins of Thy Beloved, Tristania, Ved Buens Ende, Theatre of Tragedy and Virus.

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However, there is less popular death metal than black metal scene; Norway is known for death metal. The difference between black metal and death metal uses frequent tempo and time signature evolves. In the death metal, the choral is usually low and guttural, as opposed to black metal choral which are usually high-pitched. The sound in both is generally distorted and heavy; sometimes it makes a wall of sound. Popular Norwegian death ensembles include Cadaver, Blood Red Throne, Carpe Tenebtum, Aeternus, Myrksog, Fester, Zyklon and Darkthron’s first album known as Soulside Journey.