Heavenwood

Largely inspired simply by the task of Scandinavian bands like Tiamat and Crematory, in addition to homegrown heroes Moonspell, Portugal’s Heavenwood released a set of portentous goth metal albums within the mid-’90s. However, 1996’s debut work, Diva, unintentionally garnered more interest (and laughter) for having perhaps one of the most Vertebral Tap-like cover artwork concepts from the decade, and its own 1998 follow-up, Swallow, discovered bandmembers Ernesto Guerra (vocals), Ricardo Dias (business lead electric guitar), Miguel Vaquero (tempo electric guitar), João Soares (keyboards), Bruno Silva (bass), and Dave Jr. (drums) still trailing digital mls behind the excellent competition within the goth steel video game. The group’s generally unheralded breakup only a short time afterwards was as a result no great shock.