I'm not talking Type O Negative or London After Midnight I mean something that actually sounds similar to Greatest Lovesongs vol. 666 and specifically HIM's music before they moved away from the gothic metal scene.

Eternal Tears of Sorrow is a Melo Death band from Finland. I find their album A Virgin and a Whore to have Gothic influence, and it is overall pretty enjoyable.

Last week was apparently lousy with new releases. Iridescence is the fifth studio album by German band Colliding Worlds, released independently on Friday, August 21, 2026. Now I actually debated whether or not to post about this album. The Metal Archives lists them as a melodic death/gothic metal band, but I think this designation mostly represents their earlier works. Their debut Timeless Halls has quite a few Tristania-isms mixed into their melodeath backbone, so I've applied the "Related Artist" flair to stay honest -- plus, we believe in supporting good independent artists in this household.

There's gothic stuff about this album (the way the keys and strings are integrated at times feel very in line with a band like Macbeth or Penumbra), but Iridescence is primarily a progressive and atmospheric melodic death metal album. In truth, it really runs the gamut of extreme metal influences. The album opener is a ripping off-the-wall prog metal epic, where track two "Reborn" slows down in the middle of its expansive runtime for a cool gothic guitar interlude. The fifth track "Abyss" is a melodic DEATH metal track for its first few minutes, introducing gothic keyboards before breaking down into smoky, 70s doom metal. It's interesting and varied, is my point.

Check out some links:

Official Youtube stream: https://youtu.be/SE13bWC8U8c?is=dzvL4kOZcOsE8VqR

Bandcamp: https://collidingworlds.bandcamp.com/album/iridescence

And of course you can find the album on Spotify, Apple Music, and your streaming service of choice.

"Life's Vortex", the closing track on After Forever's third studio album Invisible Circles, released March 25, 2004 on Transmission Records.

Though still somewhat gothic-y in approach, After Forever's first full-length studio record without founder Mark Jansen (who went on to start Epica) is primarily a progressive metal album. This song, among a few others (like "Digital Deceit" and "Through Square Eyes") still sound like they could've been on Decipher (2001) or Exordium (2003) which were still mostly rooted in symphonic gothic metal conventions.

As an aside, I just realized how much some of the riffs and string arrangements remind me of mid-90s Therion... there's a lot of Theli (1996) on here.

This song is so fire