The Ten Best Denver Goth Bands — 2016 Edition

We firmly believe that Denver is a match for anybody when it comes to quality music in any genre, and the dark world of Goth is no different, even when it's branching out into industrial and horror-punk. With Captain Blood opening for the Other at the 3 Kings Tavern on March 12, and Echo Beds preparing for a spring tour, it's as good a time as any to look more closely at some of our Gothy talent, listed here in alphabetical order. Frankly, we're glad that these ten bands won't cheer up.
10. Born in Winter
The question that will always rear its ugly head in music communities as tight as the Goth scene is, is that band actually, really, genuinely Goth? To which we reply: Quit over-thinking it. Yes, Born in Winter, fronted by talented bad-ass Nicole Benton, blurs the lines between metal and Goth but the band is suitably dark and dynamic. The vibe’s right, and the font that the band’s name is written in seals the deal.

9. Captain Blood
More horror punk than trad Goth although, to be honest, this genre tag game sure gets tiresome in a hurry. To be fair, the Goth community embraced the likes of the Misfits, the Other, TSOL, etc. a long time ago. As you’d expect, there a top-class psychobilly/surf element to Captain Blood that males for riotous good fun.

8. Caustic Soul
With vocals that are more reminiscent of the Mission than the Sisters of Mercy, Caustic Soul is one of Denver’s great Goth bands, embracing the darkness but never sounding tacky. The band sometimes, but not always, incorporates elements of industrial into the sound, and it does it well. But we like them best when they’re playing it bleak and minimalistic. Either way, this is a classic Denver band worth checking out.
7. Dark Orchid
While singer Tonja Nolan possesses a Siouxsie Sioux vibe, there is a subtlety about Dark Orchid that's absent elsewhere in the scene. The band All About Eve isn’t far from Dark Orchid's mark, blending the epic with the operatic.

6. Echo Beds
Distortion- and bass-heavy, Echo Beds are definitely approaching the darkness from the heavier side of things, and the vocals sound pained to the point of agony. Dig a little though, and you'll find great tunes underneath the very deliberate noise.

Read on for five more Denver goth bands.
5. Fiction 8
This lot sprang out of a band called Creeping Eruption, formed in Boulder in 1989. As the years went by, band members have come and gone, and they settled on the Fiction 8 name in 1993. Here’s a rule of thumb for you – if a Gothish band has a number in the name, the sound will incorporate electronic elements.

4. Necro Construct
Anthemic in that gnarly Rammstein sort of way that hooks you into the songs before you even knew that the song had hooks, these guys have names like Rivet and Xanthus, and the band says on Facebook that, “The Alien Space Vessel Necro Construct is a spacecraft designed for fighting eldritch threats throughout the universe, and is currently ported in orbit around planet Earth.” What else do we need to say?

3. The Silver Cord
“We are not pop – that is all,” the men of the Silver Cord say on their Facebook page. That’s not all though, because while the band might not consider itself "Goth," it does say that it conveys the darker side of the human condition. Which is true. There’s an element of Joy Division about the vocals, though this band is sonically richer — and suitably sombre.
2. The Siren Project
Polish singer Malgorzata Wacht is the not-so-secret weapon here, a woman with a set of pipes that pushes the band into the realm of the exceptional. It’s operatic, it’s industrial, it’s – fuck it, it’s awesome.

1. Toothgnasher
Definitely an industrial band but, hey, if it can perform at the Colorado Goth Fest, then who are we to argue? Sinister to the point of being nasty, these guys also score extra points for covering the Cure’s “Lullaby.”