Formed by Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan and former Tool guitar tech Billy Howerdel, A Perfect Circle is an extension of the alt-metal-fused-with-art rock style popularized by Tool in the early to mid-'90s. While similar to Tool in intensity and melancholy, A Perfect Circle is less dark and more melodic, with a theatrical, ambient quality... [+] Read More

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The goth-inspired Arkansas rock band Evanescence, with its Linkin Park-meets-Tori Amos sound backed by chugging guitars, easily made it to the top of the charts in 2003 with its Wind-Up Entertainment debut album, Fallen. Singer/pianist Amy Lee and guitarist/songwriter Ben Moody formed the band at the end of the '90s after meeting in their early... [+] Read More

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Heavy music and pained lyrics go together like cake and ice cream, and Belton, Texas quintet, Flyleaf, aren't about to break with tradition. But while many loud rockers reopen old wounds by singing about their broken homes and broken hearts, Flyleaf confront past traumas to heal old scars and prove in the process that hope shines brighter than... [+] Read More

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With the debut of their self-titled 1998 EP, Lacuna Coil (which translates to "empty spiral" in English) turned a lot of heads in Italy's ambient/goth scene thanks in part to Cristina Scabbia's haunting but mesmerizing vocals. Additional recognition came after a European tour with Moonspell and later with the Gathering and Seigmen. With the rest... [+] Read More

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Tool's greatest breakthrough was to introduce dark, vaguely underground metal to the preening pretentiousness of art rock. Or maybe it was introducing the self-absorbed pretension of art rock to the wearing grind of post-thrash metal -- the order really doesn't matter. Though Metallica wrote their multi-sectioned, layered songs as if they were... [+] Read More

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