Wake, (the)

A clear debt is held top Vision Thing era Sisters albeit with a slightly muddier sound and almost Rose of Avalanche vocals. (Not a Sarah Records band)

Wasteland

Very mid-80s sounding Although not particularly Missiony although there is a touch of Sisters lite and the more pop oriented end of Garden of Delight. “The Plague,” is a bit more Bauhausy or even early Cure.

Waterglass
“Departure,” immediately makes me think of the Church until the female vocals kick in and I start thinking Belly/Throwing Muses. There’s even an Asobi Seksu meets All About Eve vibe going on. Might be Scottish but certainly worth checking out.

Wax Idols

 “Dethrone,” was released in 2013 apparently and the band hail from California which is somewhat odd then that seem to have written a record that could have come from anywhere north of Watford Gap circa 1984. Nice dark guitar based indie pop.

Way Yelp

Typically uninspired industrial only slower

Weareoff

It appears that the band are a single word I can’t spot an incident of spaces across the sleeve/booklet etc. They kind of sound like Tri-State Killing Spree (the Curey one). “Chymera,” is very Depeche Mode.

We Are the Fallen

Top notch female fronted Gothic metal that sounds like everyone  you imagine it does  

Weathermen

Apparently got signed to Play it Again Sam as a joke but one they do rather well as it does sound very like much of their late 80s output

Webb, the

This duo have released at least a couple of albums of poppy bleepy synth Goth that reminds me as much of electro pop acts as Schmoof as anyone. Singer Becki is clearly inspired by Siouxsie’s style and that comes across in the vocal delivery too.

Webcore
A Jungle band releasing relatively chilled guitary experimental Goth/industrial. Nice bit of sampling with a relaxed groove. They’ve cropped up across compilations for a while.

Welle:Erdball
“Super 8” reminds me of that “Sex/chocolate,” song Schmoof did albeit with slightly more emotion

Weltschmerz

Music for horror films. Slightly Backworldly vocals and features a chap called Trevor who plays bass and noises.

Wembley, Stella

Stella Wembley has 2 what you would probably describe as CD singles released through Gothic Empire Records, one of which “All that I nees,” which appears to be distributed by Resurrection Records. She appears quite atmospheric in a slightly 80s kind of way.

Weto

Goth of the nu-metal school

What’s
High octane bleepy electronica

Where Angels Fall

 Competent Norwegian Gothic metal. You can pretty much imaging the rest

Whiplovers, the
“Morbid,” is an album length CDR. Very well produced because they have even printed a proper colour booklet and worked out how to double side it and everything which is a pain I can confirm from personal experience. Suspect they might be German. Very bleepy and little to criticise. Very mid 90s goth vocal style. Could have been signed to Nightbreed but with hints of Visage.

Whipping Boy

Some desperate promoter obviously thought they could pass whipping Boy off as the new Cure. Fuck knows how. I had a fair idea what was going on music wise in 1995 and I don’t recall them at all but as they sound like a less edgy Catherine Wheel cum early Blur its not surprising.

Whispers in Shadows

Very atmospheric, clear Cure, Bauhaus, Chameleons influences.

“All we can ever do is wave to each other”

Certainly currently my favourite Austrian band,

White Russia

 “O Jerusalem,” is a weird one. Virtually nothing on the packaging to give away any clues other than some rather sinister manipulated photographs. Most of the tracks are quite abstract in a trip hop kind of way with a bit of a Bjork/Sugarcubes vocal thing going on. Track 8 is a little more traditional synth pop with quite an 80s feel but the CD gives no indication of what the track might be called. Amazon suggests “China Heart,” if the download version matches the physical release, and the lyrics do seems to correlate- this one could be montage backing to an 80s teen romantic comedy.  

White Sock Theory, the
The most interesting of the bands on the AP the contest CD. More subtle with a bit of variety unlike most of the other full out noise merchants. Nice sampley contrasts

Whores of Babylon, the

Perhaps to be expected from the name “Fall of Agade,” begins with some Eastern noodling and the whole track is a bit more subtle and involved than the usual Candlelight fare with the eastern mystical themes running through the track like a silk thread.

Wildflowers, the

I’m not sure if the Wildflowers are really a goth band but if they wear Stetsons and a lot of black (which I can’t help betting they do) they could slip quite discretely between more mainstream Flesh for Lulu and the Church on an alt-night bill

William Control

Side project of William from Aiden apparently a la Alice Cooper the name being both the band and him hence it is filed under “W”. Musically what’s not to love. Big choruses, a touch of the Killers remarkably catchy. Rather natty cover of  “Can’t Help Falling In Love With You.” Touches of HelloGoodbye

Winter in Eden

Female fronted Gothic metal, you know what it sounds like already

Winterland
Appear to come from New Zealand and sound for the most part like some of the more mainstream 80s Goth. Particularly the Mish at times but elsewhere they might as well be Big Country or Del Amitri. The “Alone in a fairground,” is a real inconsistent mixed bag but presumably there are so few bands in New Zealand they have to cover a fair few bases. Almost want to be Tears for Fears at times

Winter Severity Index

Quite atmospheric and bleepy with haunting vocals lost in the mix. Italian apparently. Very good.

Within Temptation

Fantastic epic gothic metal with flourishes of eastern European Eurovision entries. Acoustic version of Ice Queen shows that they are equally adept at low key atmospheric stuff. I suspect these are the best Goth band with a lead singer called Sharon around. Tinges of medievalism and All About Eve too, what’s not to like?

Apparently later albums went a bit more straight metal but early works create a fantastic melting pot of classical, Celtic folk and rock with Sharon’s powerful voice reminiscent of both Enya and Kate Bush at times. In fact when Cleopatra inevitably get round to doing their Gothic tribute to Kate Bush I would love this lot to do “Wuthering Heights,” it would be an instant classic. Many tracks would make a perfect soundtrack to a rock version of Lord of the Rings or similar epic fantasy film.

Without Face

“Astronomicon,” is what is apparently known as progressive Gothic metal. I don't know about that but they are very good. Hail from Hungary and one of the best bloke sings girl sings combos I've heard in a long time. The odd flurry of 70s orog synths too.

Witt, Joachim

Germanic sounding full on heavy European guitar Goth. Traditional growly bloke soft woman vocal contrast.

Wolfenmond

Aufbruch is one of those weird folky neo-medieval that a certain type of European goth seems to subscribe to. Don’t get me wrong I think it is pretty ace and packaging is all good and Viking but what sets this one out is the sudden bursts of electronics

Wolfgang Press
I don’t know what inspired me to buy my first Wolfgang Press album although I can kind of remember picking it out of those lovely vinyl racks upstairs in Selectadisk. If you took me back to the store which is now Backlash I could probably even point to the spot I was stood in.
Nothing struck a chord at the time but bizarrely what brought my interest back was watching Tom Jones live at Nottingham Royal Concert Hall (yes that Tom Jones) who covered “A girl like you,” with such passion that I think he is probably the second best Goth vocalist I have ever heard after Eldritch delivering the track in a far darker manner than the band themselves.
Typical of 4AD stable mates they have a varied output over their career

Wolfsheim

Fronted by a shorter version of Peter Serafinowicz he of deep voice and multiple comedy persona’s Wolfsheim do a nice line in European electro.

“Once in a lifetime” their contribution to the excellent DVD “The Darkside” hopefully still available somewhere on the net is probably their high point but they certainly come close with plenty of others including “Kunstliche Welten,” also on the Spectators album.

I suspect they are bigger in Europe than the uk as they took second billing on the dvd cover despite being up against Lacuna Coil, the Mission and Alien Sex Fiend amongst others.

Wolfsleeve

A less punks Alien Sex Fiend turning into growly metal

Wolz, Christian
“E Inom Rah” immediately reminds me of Peter Gabriel’s excellent “Passion,” the soundtrack he did for the Last Temptation of Christ. Seems to be a one man band and originate from Germany although the record company seem to be French. Iris for it is they do have a lovely logo of a sort of pixie head. I can’t remember on what grounds Trev justified selling these through Nightbreed but perfectly nice atmospheric ambient with an eastern feel.
Wraith, the

Very early 80s NMA sound.

Wumscut

Probably one of the biggest Industrial bands I had no real experience of until recently and even now my knowledge is confined to the contents of a single double a side CD single

Jesus Antichristus seems to apply the glitter stomp fairly effectively and despite my fears that the band might be an absolute unremitting sonic assault but they appear to have rather more subtlety than I had imagined whilst still being pretty full on electro industrial