Glittering Gothic

Growing up, I loved Evanescence, Within Temptation, Florence + the Machine, My Chemical Romance, artists who created beautiful cinema with words and music. Glittering Gothic is my ode to them and to the gothic stories that remain some of my favorites: Dracula, Wuthering Heights, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Edgar Allan Poe, Ozymandias, The Ring of Nibelungen, The Masque of the Red Death.

This is the first album in my Cinephonic Series, albums that tell cinematic stories through music. Glittering Gothic weaves two parallel narratives: a Victorian gothic tale of a girl inheriting a home and all the family secrets it hides, and the madness of being a creator, searching deep in your own soul for material: your pains, your weaknesses, your secrets, your past.

Under it all runs a story about chasing immortality. So much of gothic literature was fascinated with death: the boundary between worlds, the thin veil, and the Faustian bargain. This album explores chasing immortality through various means: monuments of stone, blood contracts with demons, vampire's kisses promising eternal life. But ultimately, it discovers that true immortality comes through creation itself.

The tale of eternal love and the darkness of loss. Moments when the veil between worlds grows weak and we can walk between them. After it all, learning that nothing lasts forever and being okay with that. Finding peace in impermanence. Discovering that our works can reach new hearts long after we're gone, achieving a kind of immortality we never expected. It's a lot, and hopefully epic.

Dark symphonic rock felt like the only way to tell these gothic stories. The production blends orchestral grandeur with modern electronic textures: church bells and organs meet shimmering synthesizers and industrial beats. Dramatic dynamic shifts move from intimate, haunting verses to explosive, choir-backed choruses, creating sound that's both timeless and contemporary.

The album's wide BPM range (70-175) supports the theatrical storytelling. Slow, mournful ballads like "Alone With Poe" (70 BPM) contrast with frantic, chaotic pieces like "Beautiful Madness" (165 BPM) and passionate intensity like "Tempest" (175 BPM). Each song functions as its own gothic tale while contributing to the larger narrative arc.

Vocals shift between ethereal whispers and operatic power, supported by ghostly choirs and theremin. The production captures that Evanescence meets Within Temptation energy: lush, cinematic, emotionally devastating. Every element serves the story, from the delicate piano in intimate moments to crushing guitars in moments of transformation and revelation.