Artists like Charon

Entwine was a Finnish gothic metal band from Lahti, formed in 1995. They released seven studio albums before disbanding in 2019.

Sentenced was a Finnish gothic metal band that played melodic death metal in their early years. The band formed in 1989 in the town of Muhos and broke up in 2005.

Viikate is a Finnish heavy metal band from Kouvola, formed in 1996. The band is known for its melancholic lyrics, drawing inspiration from Finnish romance movies of the 1950s and Finnish singers of the era, including Reino Helismaa. Their style has been variously described as "Helismaa-metal", "wire metal", and "death schlagers".

Tiamat is a Swedish metal band founded near Stockholm in 1990 and led by Johan Edlund. To date they have released ten studio albums. The band went through a number of stylistic changes in their earlier releases before settling on gothic metal. Under Edlund's leadership, the band would modify their style with influences ranging from Black Sabbath, Mercyful Fate, Candlemass, Pink Floyd and King Crimson combined with Sumerian lyrical themes. H. P. Lovecraft's writings also appear to have influenced Tiamat's thematology, a development consistent with a broader trend in death metal culture.

Mokoma is a Finnish thrash metal band formed in Lappeenranta, Finland, in 1996. Their music also has grindcore and death metal influences with traditional Finnish melancholy.

Moonspell is a Portuguese gothic metal band formed in 1989. The group released their first EP, Under the Moonspell, in 1994 and followed up with their debut album, Wolfheart, a year later. They quickly became the most recognizable metal band from Portugal and a key figure in gothic metal.

Tristania was a Norwegian gothic metal band formed in 1996 by Morten Veland, Einar Moen and Kenneth Olsson. Tristania's music is usually classified as gothic metal. Their songs largely dealt with dark and sentimental topics, including depression, sadness, suicide, love, absence, and anger.

Sirenia is a Norwegian gothic metal band from Stavanger, founded in 2001 by Morten Veland.

Leaves' Eyes is a symphonic metal band based in Germany, formed in 2003 by Liv Kristine and Alexander Krull (Atrocity). Kristine departed in 2016 and was succeeded by Elina Siirala. The band has released nine studio albums, a live album and DVD as well several singles and EPs.