Roots of Angellore

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.

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.