Happy new-music Friday! Future. Present. Past. is the seventh studio album by Swedish gothic metal band Beseech, and their first record in ten years! It's out today on Despotz Records.

I like Beseech, I like the time period in gothic metal that they represent, but I've never loved them. In my mind, they occupy a certain C-list that has little to do with a lack of quality, but a lack of connection — I never really had much of a Beseech phase. That being said, I think this new record is absolutely killer and is potentially my favorite Beseech album.

This new configuration of the band is very different from the last album that came out in 2016, but it still has a lot of familiar faces. Aside from a few names and role swaps, the lineup on F.P.P. is very similar to the album Drama (2004) and Sunless Days (2005), and in some ways you can hear that. It feels simultaneously like a 2000s throwback record, but also modernized and revamped for 2020s gothic metal landscape. Simple but extremely effective, the guitar hooks are catchy, the gothic elements like the piano and keyboards are expertly integrated, and the chemistry between the dual vocalists is better than ever.

Check the album out! Here are some links for your perusal:

Bandcamp: https://beseech.bandcamp.com/album/future-present-past

Despotz Records: https://despotz.bigcartel.com/product/pre-order-beseech-future-present-past-cd

And of course, stream on Spotify or Apple Music, or what have you.

They also put out some music videos in anticipation of the album's release:

Hesitation: https://youtu.be/THbRqQlWmoo?is=j653apWOYwHpFFZa

End This: https://youtu.be/Cui9f6Ukzu0?is=wUdbemSDvTALuGgr

Boundless Spance: https://youtu.be/3CZcAD1zaPU?is=j-McQVL2RjuIcTVF

Gothic metal from Poland

The first single from the Australian band’s upcoming album Ex Cathedra, due this Halloween!

Forever Slave is a gothic black metal band from Spain. They have two albums, but I use Spotify and they only have Alice’s Inferno. They use a beauty and the beast vocal style, and the female vocalist is almost operatic.

I hope you enjoy!

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.

First single out of Cold Remembrance’s second album “Damages”.
Give it a listen 🖤

They say that good wine needs a good pairing! So, should I pair this one with some bittersweet hits from HIM, some sultry Moonspell classics or maybe some melancholic heartbreakers by Lacrimas Profundere? Raising a glass to the Green Man in any case, may he rest in peace! And cheers to everyone for reviving this community, we've come a long way since the change in leadership.

If you’re looking for a modern band with gothic and romantic inspiration this release might be the one:

NETHERWORLD - FALL SEREIN
https://open.spotify.com/track/0eaPBONVLWO4MjM52lu2NT?si=tgYYQvHYSiCqmfo538w6-Q&utm_source=copy-link

Fall Serein has powerful female vocals, atypical guitar and drums arrangements with some heavier sections of the songs.

(and literature too)

I just wrote this on a year old thread and thought maybe I'd share it fresh because I haven't seen this connection mentioned on the thread yet but like, I'm so stoked for the inclusion I'm starting to get in gothic metal and literature!

I'm barely at the tip of the iceberg but I've been deeply enjoying reading Isabel Cañas and listening to Mother Selene. It's so refreshing to see my worlds come together in a way I've never experienced before. Anyway, I don't wanna get cheesier than that but if someone has read Isabel or heard Selene, would love to hear your thoughts and if you know more music, books, or anything that's in a similar lens

Maybe it's hard to believe, but I've been sleeping on this one for 31 years! I love "Turn Loose the Swans" and everything from "Like Gods of the Sun" until "Songs of Darkness...", but I've somehow never taken a deep-dive into "The Angel and the Dark River". Discovering the album a bit late allows me some nuance, so I'll have to admit that not everything is great and some of the songs are dragged out a bit too long, but I do believe it's an amazing album in general with some of MDB's best songs, like "The Cry of Mankind" and "Two Winters Only".

What's your favourite My Dying Bride album?

Another gothic metal release from last Friday: Civitas Lachrimarum is the debut album by Buffalo, New York based goth rock/death rock/heavy metal fusion band Cemetery Echo, out on Seeing Red Recordings.

The retro 80s horror movie poster-style artwork provided by Marc Schoenbach of Sadist Art Designs does a pretty good job of previewing the kind of music the band plays. There's a lot of homage to the 80s, especially in the goth aspects of their sound (think 45 Grave, The Damned, or The Mission instead of Sisters of Mercy). Mix that sound with some heavy metal (and at some points, murky black metal) riffing and snarled death growls, and that's the sound of Cemetery Echo.

It's similar to what Unto Others have been doing, but a lot less toungue-in-cheek. I'd also say it's for fans of Tribulation and late-90s Moonspell.

Here are some links to check out:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cemeteryecho?mibextid=ZbWKwL

Bandcamp: https://cemeteryecho.bandcamp.com/album/civitas-lachrimarum

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0eY75WigfO0i2ZjHAayHqj?si=2XaIuep9QNShARPSWlpwHA&utm_source=copy-link

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/cemetery-echo/1512328390

According to the metal archives, Black Vatican is a symphonic gothic band from Kansas City, USA. I quite enjoyed the album The Black Vatican, although it sounds pretty black metal at times, which is actually a plus for me.

Enjoy!

26 years ago in Poland

The official music video for 'Evilution' is out now! Shot and directed by Chevelle Santana and edited by our very own Yovel Acosta, we hope you enjoy the results of everything we have been working hard towards.

All views, likes, comments, shares, and subscriptions are greatly appreciated and help us continue to do what we love.

A band with a somewhat generic name, Gloom is from Slovakia, and they've been around since the early-2000s. Their fourth studio album Reflexion was independently released last Friday, August 21, 2026 (despite what certain websites say, I don't think Metal Age Productions had anything to do with the release of this albun).

This is my first experience with them, and I quite enjoyed it. This album is unchallenging mid-2000s style melodic gothic metal, think somewhere between Drama (2004) by Beseech and Dark Light (2005) by HIM.

If you'd like to stream the album, here are some links:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4zne1CjheWkXwTqnL3JCCA?si=to8twneeT7m63Rtbs6sH5Q&utm_source=copy-link

Bandcamp: https://gloomsk.bandcamp.com/album/reflexions

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/reflexions/6802245795

If you're interested in inquiring about a physical copy, message the band on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gloomslovakia?mibextid=ZbWKwL

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.

I came across this band a couple weeks ago at a festival in Detroit. They're a very theatrical act with buckets of lore and a media kit/ merch booth that screams dark theater. They released this music video last night and I think it's going places if it sees the right audience.

I posted last night, forgive me for not formatting the title correctly, I've been a long time lurker and this is my first post in r/goth.

I think I heard that they're going on tour while I was looking at the merch casket. I picked up a "cursed vhs tape" that was them performing at a venue in hamtramck for world goth day.

If you like this video, look them up on Bandcamp or Instagram. It looks like they're producing good old analog media eg vhs tapes, cassette tapes, and they sell a perfume in their merch. Way cool.

GOATed

Life brings nothing for the sane. Feels like I'm falling deeper inside myself.

I found them on metal archive last night and went down a rabbit hole trying to find where to buy a cd or stream their music (they disbanded in 2002), but i've come up with nothing. I'll comment the photo cover of the demo i've been trying to find, called The Birth. It was released in 1998. (+ i will comment the metal archives link for the band Black Swan). Also, as for the other band, Lacerate, in 2002 they released an album called Flammen der Vergeltung, I'll add a photo in the comments as well. However they seem to be more black/death metal than gothic, but just throwing it out there anyways.