Goth
Gothic music is most commonly associated with Goth-Rock of the late 1970s, but is more generally an aesthetic that draws all the way back to Gothic architecture of the 13th century. The Goth aesthetic orients around what is essentially the art of bad taste: art that is not a pleasantry meant to inspire or expose the warmth or optimism in life, but rather a statement to inspire/expose the madness, melodrama and pessimism.
The subculture was further perpetrated from literature (Edgar Allen Poe, Bram Stoker, H.P. Lovecraft, etc.), philosophy (Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, etc.), painters (Hieronymus Bosch, Henry Fuseli, Jan van Eyck, etc.), and later even in film (namely the horror genre and the movement of German Expressionism). Later generations would draw from archives of mythology, folklore and religious texts to incorporate dark rituals into the culture.
It could be said that, whereas other art is the celebration of life, Gothicism is the celebration of death. However, the aesthetic's bleak tone implies more of a validation of the human attachment to life and our hopeless urge to sustain it despite death's futility; as if its purpose is to bring attention to the repressed panic that we're all going to die. This also ties into the idea that Gothic art voices a legitimate expression of sadness or despair in the artist, which in turn creates a community of people who use the culture as a comfort space in validating their own melodramatic sorrows and emotional struggles. A nicer interpretation is that Gothic art works as a showcase of how the dark or negative feelings in life are just as valid and beautiful as the bright and positive ones, an insistence that ugliness and beauty are the same, because they are both things we experience in life, and all in life is beautiful. Another form of participation, perhaps the most popular, is to simply exploit the culture as a fashion statement of an "alternative" lifestyle, wearing black and other such materials to replicate the look of vampires or other monsters in horror films.
Aside from the Satanic/spiritual chants and witchcraft recitations for rituals, the earliest of Gothic music were of the funereal or macabre themes in Classical pieces, examples including Bach's "Toccatta and Fugue in D Minor BWV 565," Mozart's "Lacrimosa," Pergolesi's "Stabat Mater," and others incorporating Gothic narratives, such as the witches in Hector Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique" and the ghosts in Schubert's "Erlklonig." Later program pieces would utilize stage performances of Gothic events in the stories, such as the ritualistic dancing in Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring."
More contemporary Gothic acts would draw from Classical Gothicism and incorporate it into more modern styles of songwriting and chamber music, most often labeled as Neoclassical Darkwave, bringing artists such as Dead Can Dance, Black Tape For a Blue Girl, Diamanda Galas, and Lingua Ignota, but also found in sparse experiments in other groups such as the piece titled "∞" by the progressive rock band Aphrodite's Child, in which the singer Irene Papas re-enacts a violent ritual chant no different from that in the dances in "Rite of Spring."
The culture's presence in Rock music has been thoroughly debated to have begun as early as Screamin Jay Hawkins' voodoo ballad "I Put a Spell on You," the Velvet Underground's chamber-pop song "All Tomorrow's Parties" (whose singer Nico would go on to record the album Desertshore, a seminal release for Goth music and chamber folk), the Doors' macabre performances from Jim Morrison (especially on "The End"), the dreary moods and devil imagery in Black Sabbath's early records, or the make-up and bloody stage shows from Alice Cooper.
But the most agreed-upon beginning of Goth culture compromising Rock music would be the rise of "dark punk" in the 1970s, birthing the genre of Goth-Rock with artists such as Siouxsie Sioux, the Cure, Joy Division, and Bauhaus. The movement would spawn even more radical derivations of the ugly Goth aesthetic by subtle exaggerations of Rock music cliches to illustrate disgust or hilarity within the music itself: Industrial music would take the danceable rhythms of New Wave and pervert it into grueling scenes of urban anxiety and construction noises (i.e. Einsturzende Neubauten, Cabaret Voltaire) ; Psychobilly and Horror Punk would hyperbolize the frenetic vocal performances of Rockabilly and Punk Rock into psychotic and violent characters (i.e. the Cramps, the Misfits); No Wave and Noise-Rock would use intense amounts of dissonance and the antagonistic elements from Punk and Post-Punk into a form of "anti-music" (i.e. the Birthday Party, Lydia Lunch); Darkwave would warp the electronic aspects of Synth-Pop into Post-Punk nightmares and ragas, and sometimes incorporate heavier reverb and chorus effects to create a more psychedelic/dream pop form known as Ethereal Wave (i.e. Cocteau Twins).
In time, the facet of "emotional hardcore" in the punk scene would be appropriated into commercial music that would also draw from the superficial fashion of the Goth aesthetic (what I know as "Hot Topic-core"), namely the pop-punk of My Chemical Romance, or the "scene music" metalcore of Bring Me the Horizon.
As a broad aesthetic, Goth has proved itself to be more of an attitude or philosophy than a sound, hence the wide range of genres under the "Goth" umbrella, and how albums like Swans' Children of God can swap between post-punk, sludge metal, and chamber music and still be considered just as much a part of the genre as Public Image Ltd's Flowers of Romance, which swaps between dub music and industrial.
Black Ambient
Black Ambient is a subgenre of Dark Ambient music, which incorporates in its sound some elements usually associated with Black Metal scene. The typical for Dark Ambient slow and dark atmosphere is taken to extreme levels of dirtiness, and is often complemented by harsh shrieks and haunting whispers, resulting in a very dark, sinister and hypnotic sound. Abgzvoryathre by Moëvöt is a characteristic album for this genre.
Coldwave
Coldwave is a style of Post-Punk music that originated in Europe in the late 1970s and early 1980s and is known for its generally dark, gloomy (thus "cold") atmosphere and heavy reliance on synthesizers. It was popular predominantly in continental Europe (especially in France, Poland, and Belgium) and consisted largely of bands that were heavily influenced by British post-punk acts such as Joy Division and Siouxsie and The Banshees (and these British acts are sometimes referred to as coldwave in those countries).
Whereas Polish coldwave bands such as Siekiera were more directly influenced by guitar-driven post-punk music, French and Belgian artists such as Clair Obscur and Siglo XX incorporated more synths and electronics and crossed over heavily with Minimal Wave and Minimal Synth. Due to the frequent genre-bending nature of these bands, it can be sometimes difficult to classify bands as strictly coldwave, post-punk, or minimal synth, but all of the artists in the coldwave scene shared a dark, cold, and metallic atmosphere and incorporated both guitars and synths.
Dark Ambient
(also known as Ambient Industrial)
Dark ambient is a form of Post-Industrial music that emphasizes an ominous, gloomy, and dissonant atmosphere. Similarly to Ambient, the genre often abandons traditional music structure, but it tends to be more eerie and unsettling than other styles of ambient. This dark and disturbing atmosphere can be evoked with the use of Drone, Musique concrète, Field Recordings, rumbles, machine noises, simple percussive instruments, distortion and synthesizers.
Although the term "dark ambient" was coined in the 1990s to describe the music of raison d'être, the genre can be traced back to the 1970s. One of the earliest influences on the development of dark ambient were Tangerine Dream's Zeit and Klaus Schulze's Irrlicht. Both albums were released in 1972 and heavily used droning organs and muted guitars to create a unique, distant atmosphere that also led to the emergence of Space Ambient. While Zeit was recorded with a prominent presence of dissonant synthesizers and a string quartet, the effects on Irrlicht were achieved by reversing and post-processing an orchestral rehearsal. This use of Electronic and musique concrète techniques was later adopted by many industrial and dark ambient artists.
The next big step leading to dark ambient was the birth of industrial in 1976. Throbbing Gristle's radical approach to music varied in its abrasiveness. While some of the records and performances consisted of a lot of Noise, repetitive, heavy rhythms and screaming vocals, others were closer to the more restrained, menacing soundscapes that would become dark ambient. This less extreme side of Throbbing Gristle could be heard on some live recordings such as Music From the Death Factory, but it became the most prominent in the soundtracks to After Cease to Exist (featured on The Second Annual Report) and In the Shadow of the Sun. The transition from industrial to dark ambient was solidified in the 1980s by artists such as Nurse With Wound, :zoviet*france: and Lustmord.
Since the mid 1980s, dark ambient has been associated and combined with a variety of different styles that value its dark atmosphere. Some of the genres that have borrowed from dark ambient include Ritual Ambient, Black Ambient, Martial Industrial, Neoclassical Darkwave, Drone Metal, and Dark Jazz.
Since dark ambient can function as background music to enhance the mood, it has been found suitable for many soundtracks. One of the first and most acclaimed movies to feature a dark ambient soundtrack was David Lynch's Eraserhead from 1977. Other popular motion pictures with such music include Donnie Darko (2001), Silent Hill (2006), and The Social Network (2010). The genre also found its place in video game music, most notably Diablo II, Fallout: The Soundtrack and Silent Hill (as well as other installments in those series).
Dark Cabaret
A dark, moody style of Cabaret-inspired music. Instrumentation can be very varied, ranging from pianos and synthesizers to violins, cellos, and accordions, to acoustic and electric guitars and bass. UK's The Tiger Lillies were one of the first acts to play in this style in the mid-1990s, though the genre was popularized by The Dresden Dolls in the early-to-mid-2000s.
Singer/songwriters Tom Waits and Nick Cave would also exploit the style in gothic aesthetics.
Darkwave
Darkwave is a music genre which emerged out of the New Wave style, borrowing aspects from Post-Punk. It combines a dark, introspective, sorrowful, and often gothic atmosphere with Electronic influences, particularly Synthpop. Although the genre started as a post-punk style, eventually artists started to make a greater use of synthesisers and drum machines, thus moving towards dark, electronic music (sometimes dipping into various Post-Industrial styles). As a result the term covers a broad range of dark, Gothic Rock inspired music with prominent, synthesised sounds.
Death Doom Metal
Death doom metal is a sub-genre of Doom Metal which incorporates numerous Death Metal elements into its originally thick and heavy sound and therefore aims to bring its distinctive features to more extreme levels. Slow to medium tempos are still usually employed, as is typical for doom metal's dark atmosphere; plodding tempos are greatly emphasized and maintain a very strong presence. Often, two-step down-tuned guitar chords are used with typical death metal rhythms and, at times, more accelerated chord progressions and riffs. Moreover, the lead guitar usually makes heavy use of the natural minor scale, thus resulting in a very distinct sound that is dark, haunting and cold that conveys a feeling of despair but is rhythmically heavy, thick and harsh at the same time. Also, when compared to doom metal and its other sub-genres, more aggressive double kick drumming is used to contribute to the overall harshness of the sound. This applies as well to the deep growling vocals that are normally employed, which are sometimes complemented with clean, usually male, vocals. The bass guitar remains as prominent and important as it is in doom metal in general and keyboards or synthesizers can be used to emphasize the bleak and desperate atmosphere that the artists intend to deliver. Lyrics are narrative in some cases and subject matter usually concerns a range of topics including death, pain, loss, depression and despair, with (anti-)religious themes being quite common as well.
The genre first emerged as a fusion of death and doom metal between the late 1980s and the early 1990s with the bands like Dream Death, Sempiternal Deathreign, Winter and diSEMBOWELMENT, all of which are considered old-school death doom metal nowadays, as well as Paradise Lost, who played an especially important role not only in pioneering but also in popularizing and uniquely defining death doom metal as a separate doom metal sub-genre with its own set of characteristics and its trademark sound in the early- to mid-1990s together with My Dying Bride, Anathema, and Katatonia, all of which have made a huge impact on the development of this genre and influenced a lot of its bands.
Elements of the genre have been used in and mixed with other genres by some bands; examples of these fusions include Draconian and My Dying Bride in the genre of Gothic Metal, and Evoken and Ataraxie in the genre of Funeral Doom Metal.
Deathrock
(also known as Death Punk, Goth Punk)
Deathrock is a Punk Rock subgenre that draws heavily from the sound and aesthetic of Gothic Rock. Like other punk genres, deathrock is guitar-driven but usually uses scratchy or echoing guitar effects instead of heavy distortion. Prominent bass lines are common with the bass guitar sometimes serving as the melodic lead instrument. Drumming can be very punk-oriented or have a decidedly tribal sound. Use of other instrumentation is common, especially synthesizers. Lyrical subject matter has varied among different deathrock scenes but is always dark and macabre.
Deathrock initially formed as an offshoot from the early Southern California punk rock scene of the 1970s and early 80s with bands like Christian Death, 45 Grave and Kommunity FK. Many of the early California deathrock bands started as punk bands or were composed of musicians from other punk and Hardcore Punk bands. The punk roots can easily be heard in early deathrock.
In the UK an analogous dark and gloomy punk scene, at the time called ‘positive punk’ took hold. The positive punk sound was highly influenced by the darker side of Post-Punk and often featured tribal drumming, scratchy, screeching guitar, high-pitched vocals and prominent bass guitar. There was a great deal of overlap between the Anarcho-Punk and positive punk movements with bands like Rudimentary Peni and Rubella Ballet bridging the two. Another brand of UK deathrock, 'batcave music', took its name from London's Batcave club and was highly influenced by glam rock is typified by acts like Specimen and early Alien Sex Fiend. Many acts, notably Cinema Strange, incorporate theatrical Dark Cabaret elements for an even more flamboyant sound.
For much of the 1990s the gothic music scene was dominated by Electro-Industrial and popularity in guitar driven deathrock waned. There have been, however, significant deathrock revivalist movements most notably the G-beat movement which came into its own in the early 2010s with bands like Deathcharge, Arctic Flowers and Belgrado. G-beat is a tongue-in-cheek play on D-Beat and pays homage to the anarcho-punk-leaning positive punk acts of the 1980s.
Doom Metal
Reveling in tension, despair, and dread, doom metal prizes atmosphere more than many of metal's other primary subgenres. Doom uses plodding tempos, repeated chords, and thick, distorted, down-tuned guitars to attempt to envelop the listener in a wash of desperate foreboding that can commonly last to the ten minute mark and beyond. Instruments generally keep to the standard guitar, bass, and drums, but it is not unusual to add keyboard passages and backdrops.
Doom vocals can be in any of the predominant metal styles, but all share a determined attempt to invoke emotional hopelessness and mental anguish. This is further amplified by the lyrical themes of grief, depression, fear, resentment, and suffering that are hallmarks of the style.
The roots of doom metal are considered to have been planted in the early 70s work of Black Sabbath. In the 1980s, European artists like Witchfinder General and Candlemass adopted the Doom sound as a full fledged genre unto itself, as well as American acts like Saint Vitus, Trouble and Pentagram. Their style of thick and depressive doom remained the standard until the early 90s, when newcomers such as My Dying Bride, Cathedral, Electric Wizard, and many others began to experiment in melding doom with several other metal subgenres. Doom has proven to be one of the most lasting and recognizable metal styles, maintaining a relatively small but devoted fan base in many countries.
Ethereal Wave
Ethereal wave is a sub-genre of Darkwave. The genre was pioneered by Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil and early Dead Can Dance. The music is characterized by atmospheric guitar soundscapes and soprano female vocals that create an ethereal, surreal and otherworldly effect. Sound effects like echo and delay are also often used. Ethereal wave initially evolved from the Gothic Rock scene, which was a strong influence on the genre, although many later ethereal wave artists were more heavily influenced by Dream Pop. 4AD Records and Projekt are generally seen as the two most important labels in the development of ethereal wave.
Funeral Doom Metal
The most melancholy of the Doom Metal styles, Funeral Doom takes the depressive atmosphere and slowed tempos to an extreme. Distorted chords are played at a dirge-like pace, often accompanied by mournful keyboards and vocals that are pushed back in the mix. The vocals become dreamlike chants or hushed growls in an effort to create the most oppressive and claustrophobic atmosphere possible. This sound was first popularized by Thergothon, with their moody atmosphere and dreamy mixing influencing many artists in the genre. Bands like Skepticism refine the traditional sound of the genre, and bands like Esoteric and Mournful Congregation often mix Funeral Doom Metal with Death Doom Metal elements.
Gothic Country
Gothic Country is a subgenre of Alt-Country heavily influenced by the Southern Gothic literary genre. Many artists also draw influence from American Folk Music, Country Gospel, Bluegrass, and various subgenres of Punk Rock. The genre was pioneered in the late 1990s and early 2000s in Denver, Colorado through the music of 16 Horsepower, Slim Cessna's Auto Club, and a number of affiliated artists including Jay Munly, DeVotchKa, The Denver Gentlemen, and Wovenhand.
Gothic Metal
Gothic metal is a subgenre of metal music that dates back to the early 1990s, with primary development in the European countries of England, Finland, Norway, Germany and Italy. The music itself is a fusion between Doom Metal and Gothic Rock, focusing on the aggressive riffs of metal music while backed by a primarily dark and melancholic atmosphere. The instrumentation is generally comprised of mournful guitars, plodding drums, ethereal synthesizers, and a general emphasis on “spooky” or “eerie” musical textures. While not a primary focus, some gothic metal bands tend to emphasize orchestral instrumentation similar to that of Symphonic Metal. Lyrical themes are often depressing in nature, revolving around doomed romances, tragedy, death, and general sadness. Notable bands of the genre include Type O Negative, Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Theatre of Tragedy and Tiamat.
Gothic Rock
Gothic Rock is a style of rock-based music focusing primarily on 'gothic' music and imagery. Typical aspects of the sound include synths, moderate-to-heavy employment of chorus and echo effects and "twangy" rhythm guitar. It developed in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and early 1980s as an offshoot of Post-Punk, and was initially applied to artists such as Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Cure, who had begun to introduce darker elements into the sound.
A harder, more punk-influenced style of the music, known as Deathrock, was pioneered in the U.S. in the early '80s by bands such as Christian Death and 45 Grave. Around the same time, a lighter, more 'ethereal' style known as Ethereal Wave, focusing on atmospheric guitar soundscapes, was pioneered by Cocteau Twins in the UK.
Horror Punk
(also known as Horror Rock)
Horror Punk is a horror movie themed genre of Punk Rock typified by Misfits. The horror punk aesthetic is decidedly nostalgic and campy, hearkening back to low budget science fiction and horror B-movies from the 1950s-60s and Novelty horror acts like Bobby "Boris" Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers. Horror punk often incorporates elements of Rock & Roll, Rockabilly and Doo-Wop from the 1950s and 60s, adding the nostalgic feel. The punk in horror punk can range from Hardcore Punk (early Misfits) to Pop Punk (Zombina & The Skeletones). With this intersection of genres and themes, the lines between horror punk, Deathrock and Psychobilly are often blurred and many bands play a hybrid of the genres. Other notable horror punk acts include Balzac, Blitzkid, Calabrese, Frankenstein Drag Queens and Wednesday 13.
Industrial
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Neoclassical Darkwave
Neoclassical darkwave is a genre combining dark and melancholic atmosphere with Western Classical Music. It was pioneered by Dead Can Dance and Black Tape for a Blue Girl, Darkwave-related bands who mixed elements of Dark Ambient with classical music inspired sounds and ethereal vocals. One of the most common features of the genre are instruments such as piano, harpsichord, and bowed string instruments, which are often replicated or mimicked by synthesizers. The vocals are almost always clean, often operatic or hushed. Typical examples of the genre include Elend, Dark Sanctuary, and Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble of Shadows.
Neoclassical darkwave has been widely adapted into Martial Industrial music, with artists such as In the Nursery, The Protagonist, Triarii, and H.E.R.R. consistently integrating the two genres. Another style that neoclassical darkwave is often mixed with is Neofolk, as evidenced in the works of bands similar to Ataraxia, Narsilion, and All My Faith Lost.
No Wave
No Wave was a short-lived movement in New York City in the late 1970s which took the ethics of Punk Rock but discarded melody and catchiness and replaced them with such features as extreme noise, distortion, feedback, angular rhythms, stream-of-conciousness lyrics, psychotic vocals, minimalism, abnormal tunings, dissonance and other unusual factors. The original movement essentially lasted from 1976-1979 and featured bands like Teenage Jesus & The Jerks, Mars, DNA and James Chance & The Contortions. The most well-known document of the era is the Brian Eno-produced No New York compilation.
While not part of the original movement, numerous bands have arisen which were influenced by the original movement and have themselves been labelled No Wave, such as Sonic Youth, The Birthday Party and Liars.
Post-Punk
With its roots in the mid to late 1970s, post-punk emerged alongside the initial Punk Rock explosion in the United Kingdom. While retaining punk rock's focus on trimming away excess, post-punk tends to place more importance on creating atmosphere and usually has more complex songwriting than punk rock. Musicians tend to be much more experimental, often incorporating influences from Dub, Funk, Krautrock, Art Rock, Experimental music, and Electronic music. Unlike New Wave, its more pop-based counterpart which emerged around the same time, post-punk often deals with more serious subject matter.
Stylistically, the genre has a general backbone consisting of a prominent, pulsating sound and rhythm section of bass and drums. On top of this arrangement are atmospheric, spiky, interweaving lead guitar lines commonly described as "angular", creating a cold and melancholic tone with extensive use of minor key melodies. Vocals tend to be menacing, monotone and in some cases, even robotic.
Public Image Ltd, formed after the implosion of Sex Pistols, are often heralded as the first post-punk band, although artists in the New York punk scene like Television had been much earlier playing an experimental style of punk rock that would later be classified by some as post-punk. Other (mostly British) bands followed, including Joy Division, Talking Heads, Gang of Four, and Wire and the genre came into its own in the late 70s, reaching its underground peak in the early to mid 80s.
Post-punk's underground popularity helped create many offshoots. Its sorrowful atmosphere was merged with increasing theatrics and influences from Glam Rock to create Gothic Rock, which bands like The Cure and The Sisters of Mercy leveraged to great chart success in the late 80s and helped form the pervasive Goth subculture. The bouncy syncopation and overall funkiness of post-punk bass is exploited to its maximum in Dance-Punk which saw mainstream popularity in the mid 2000s. Coldwave, popular in continental Europe and especially France, was a colder, more methodical affair which took influence from the avant-garde and science fiction. No Wave was a New York-based movement which took influence from post-punk and punk rock but focused on experimentation above all else. Post-punk's first wave saw a decline in underground popularity after the mid 80s as it was subsumed by new wave, gothic rock, Alternative Rock, and Alternative Dance, all genres which took heavy influence from the original post-punk movement.
Psychobilly
Psychobilly music is the cross-pollination of Punk Rock and Rockabilly. Inspiration for the style can be traced to U.S. acts The Cramps and Screamin' Jay Hawkins, though the first fully accredited Psychobilly band is generally considered to be The Meteors, who formed in the U.K. of the early 80s. It combines the energy and rhythm of Rockabilly tradition, the outsider world-view and confrontational nature of the Punk aesthetic, and a good dose of lurid observation and humor. Though past its heyday, Psychobilly maintains a vital underground scene internationally.
Punk Rock
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Ritual Ambient
Ritual Ambient is a subgenre of Dark Ambient that focuses on dark, deep, disturbing, ritualistic and occult atmosphere. It often features some chanting voices, tribal rhythms and appropriate samples.
Synth Punk
(also known as Electropunk)
Synth punk appropriates the harsh elements of Punk Rock but replaces the predominance of guitars with synthesizers and drum machines. The genre can be traced back to bands such as Suicide and The Screamers and borrows elements from Krautrock, No Wave and the experimental tradition. Synth punk differs from music that may be termed Dance-Punk in that it is often dissonant and lo-fi, rather than the more upbeat, dance-floor ready feel of dance-punk.
Traditional Doom Metal
Traditional doom metal is a style of Doom Metal that emerged in the early to mid-1980s, under the influence of bands from the previous decade such as Black Sabbath, Bedemon and Pentagram.
Traditional doom metal is rooted in Heavy Metal and utilizes a monotonous and heavy playing style, similar to that of Black Sabbath's early period: repetitive, rough and sometimes atonal guitar riffs; a "rocking to sleep" bass; and also some influences from both Blues Rock and Psychedelic Rock. Some bands attempt to complement the general slowness of their sound by adding some faster paced, dynamic sections, but this is rare and not essential to the overall sound of the genre. The vocal style utilized in traditional doom metal is clean and the atmosphere in the genre varies from cold, epic grief to despair and fury; rarely does it express any positive emotions.
Lyrics are typically based on themes such as depression, fear, grief, death and other pessimistic topics. Religion can also be a common topic in traditional doom metal; however, for many bands the use of religious themes is for aesthetic and symbolic purposes only.
Saint Vitus and Candlemass are considered to be the pioneers of the genre, but there were many other influential bands at the time, including Trouble, Witchfinder General, The Obsessed and Pagan Altar.
Definitions courtesy of rateyourmusic.com*
*except for "Goth" at the top, which was written by me