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%% Examples must note how they fit a trope or when it occurs, not that it exists.
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[floatboxright:
Primary Stylistic Influences:
+ GothRock, PostPunk, SynthPop, ElectronicMusic
]
[floatboxright:
Secondary Stylistic Influences:
+ DreamPop, {{Ambient}}, {{Industrial}}, occasionally {{Techno}}, {{Trance}}, ClassicalMusic and/or World Music
]

Dark Wave is to SynthPop what GothRock is to [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]]; [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs This is Your Premise on Goth.]] In essence, Dark Wave is Goth's brooding angst, but with a greater reliance on synthesizers rather than guitars.

Dark Wave is related to, but is not a subgenre of {{Industrial}}. Whilst both genres are electronic, DarkWave is generally softer. Naturally there is some overlap; some Dark Wave artists will often put an EBM or Futurepop style song on their album to broaden its dance floor appeal. {{Industrial}} artists can also be heavily inspired by DarkWave; creating some utterly harrowing works of pure {{Angst}} / {{Wangst}} in the process. More folk-influenced acts typically overlap with neofolk, while mixing the genre with classical typically results in neoclassical; depending on the type of folk used, neofolk and neoclassical very well may overlap.

Generally, however, it is fair to characterize DarkWave as {{Goth}}ic NewWaveMusic or SynthPop. Synthesizers will be the predominant instrument, although guitars can be used in moderation.
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!! Examples of DarkWave acts include: [[index]]

* AAIMON (Crossed with heavy influence from the Witch House genre)
* ADULT. (Crossed with [[{{Techno}} Detroit techno]] and old-school [[{{Industrial}} EBM]])
* AFI: Starting with ''Crash Love,'' have been moving in this direction before fully embracing it with ''Burials,'' albeit with more orchestral than electronic elements.
* Ash Code
* Music/{{ASP}}
* Ataraxia
* Attrition
* Music/{{Autumn}}
* Music/AuralVampire
* Music/{{Austra}} (Crosses over with DreamPop)
* Bella Morte
** Music/TheRainWithin (Crosses over with UsefulNotes/{{Synthwave}})
* Belmez Faces
* Bestial Mouths
* Music/TheBirthdayMassacre (Crossed with IndustrialMetal. Definitely one of the more YMMV entries on this list)
* Black Tape For A Blue Girl
* Blaqk Audio
* Music/{{Blutengel}}
* Boy Harsher
* The Break-Up
** Blakk Glass
** The Labrynth
* Butterfly Messiah
* The Cassandra Complex
* Music/{{Celldweller}}
* Music/CharliXCX (Older material)
* Chiasm
* Music/TheChurchBand: Early work especially. The album ''Starfish'' was a TropeCodifier for the softer side of the genre which evolved into DreamPop.
* Music/ClanOfXymox
* Music/TheCruxshadows
* Collide
* Music/ColdCave
* Music/{{Coldkill}} (Collaboration between Rexx Arkana of FGFC820 and Eric Eldredge of Interface)
* Music/{{Crosses}}
* Das Ich
* Day Twelve
** Mari Kattman
** Helix (CreatorCouple project of Mari Kattman and Tom Shear of Assemblage 23)
* Dead Astronauts
* Music/DeadCanDance
* Music/DeathInJune
* Deine Lakaien
* Music/{{Delerium}} (Side project of the {{industrial}} group Music/FrontLineAssembly)
* Music/DepecheMode: Both one of the {{Trope Codifier}}s and one of the most successful in the mainstream.
** ''Music/ABrokenFrame'' (1982)
** ''Music/ConstructionTimeAgain'' (1983)
** ''Music/SomeGreatReward'' (1984)
** ''Music/BlackCelebration'' (1986)
** ''Music/MusicForTheMasses'' (1987)
** ''Music/{{Violator}}'' (1990)
** ''Music/SongsOfFaithAndDevotion'' (1993)
** ''Music/{{Ultra}}'' (1997)
** ''Music/PlayingTheAngel'' (2005)
** ''Music/{{Hourglass}}'' (2007; Dave solo)
* Diary of Dreams
* Die Form
* Diorama
* Diva Destruction
* Drab Majesty
* Music/{{Editors}}
* Music/{{Efterklang}}
* Music/EgoLikeness (Crosses over into {{Industrial}})
* Music/EmilieAutumn (Just one of many genres she dabbles in)
* Faith Assembly
* Music/{{Fockewolf}} (Also {{Industrial}})
* The Frozen Autumn
* Music/HannahFury
* Music/FuturePerfect (Also [[{{Industrial}} Futurepop]])
* Music/LisaGerrard
* Girls Under Glass
* Glove
* Goethes Erben
* Music/{{Grimes}} (Also AlternativeDance and DreamPop)
* Music/HaveANiceLife
* Hexheart (Side project by Jasyn Bangert of God Module)
* Music/HisNameIsAlive (first two albums are ethereal wave mixed with DreamPop)
* Music/TheHumanLeague (First two albums, before [[LighterAndSofter their shift to]] {{New Wave|Music}} pop disco)
** ''Music/{{Reproduction}}'' (1979)
** ''Music/{{Travelogue}}'' (1980)
* Music/HungryLucy
* Illusion of Light
* In Death it Ends
* Music/InStrictConfidence (Also {{Industrial}})
* [[Music/{{iamamiwhoami}} ionnalee]]
* [[Music/IrisUS Iris (US)]] (Now-disbanded duo comprised of Reagan Jones and Andrew Sega)
** Hallowed Hearts (Founded by Alex Virlios and Andy Sega in the wake of Iris's dissolution)
* Irrlicht
* Johnny Hollow
* Music/JoyDivision (mainly straight PostPunk, but also dabbled in and heavily influenced darkwave as well, particularly with their more synth-driven songs such as "Isolation" and "Love Will Tear Us Apart")
** ''Music/UnknownPleasures'' (1979)
** ''Music/{{Closer}}'' (1980)
** ''Music/SubstanceJoyDivisionAlbum'' (1988)
* Kid Moxie
* Kirlian Camera
* Music/TheKnife
* L'Ame Immortelle
* Lacrimosa
* Music/TheLastDance
* Music/LebanonHanover (also GothRock)
* Light Asylum
* Linea Aspera
** Keluar
** Zanias
* Music/LondonAfterMidnight (Crosses over with GothRock)
* Lorelei Dreaming
* Love is Colder Than Death
* Music/LoveSpiralsDownwards
* Music/{{Lycia}} (Also DreamPop)
* The Machine in the Garden
* Malaria!
* Music/MaliceMizer
* Midnight Resistance
* Music/MidnightSyndicate
* Minuit Machine
** Hante.
* Music/MolchatDoma
* Music/MsMr
* Music/NoxArcana
* Music/GaryNuman (Especially his later works)
* Opera Multi Steel
* Pink Industry
* Music/{{Perturbator}} (mixed with UsefulNotes/{{Synthwave}})
* Pretentious, Moi?
* Music/{{Propaganda}}
* Project Pitchfork (Crosses over into electro-industrial, and later aggrotech).
* Psyche
* Psychic Guilt
* Real Life (Originally straight {{New Wave| Music}}[=/=]{{Synthpop}}, but shifted in the DarkerAndEdgier direction starting in the late '80s)
* Music/{{Reapers}} (Their self-titled song [[FilkSong is based on the antagonists of the]] ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series)
* Music/{{Riki}}
* Music/SchwarzStein
* Music/{{Seabound}}
* Seeming
* Music/ShePastAway (also GothRock and PostPunk)
* Music/SheWantsRevenge
* Sine City
* Music/{{Skin}} (Music/{{Swans}} side project. Mixed with neofolk)
* Music/TheSoftMoon
* Music/SoporAeternusAndTheEnsembleOfShadows
* Suicidal Romance
* Music/SwitchbladeSymphony (Primarily on their first album; later albums combine this with a TripHop sound)
* Music/YouseiTeikoku
* Music/ThouShaltNot
* Trentemøller (From ''Lost'' onwards)
* Trisomie 21
* TR/ST
* Music/TwinTribes (also PostPunk)
* Until BEN
* Vandal Moon (crossed with UsefulNotes/{{Synthwave}})
* Music/VernianProcess (Sometimes crossed with SteamPunk)
* Void Vision
* Wolfsheim
* Music/ChelseaWolfe (combined with GothRock and DoomMetal)
* Xeno & Oaklander
** Martial Canterel
* Xibling (Also Dance Punk and Industrial)
* X-O-Planet
* Zen Mother (also Progressive Rock and Noise Rock)
[[/index]]

!! Tropes Common In DarkWave:

* DarkerAndEdgier: Than AlternativeDance or SynthPop, which it is often closely related to.
* DreamPop: A lot of overlap between the two genres. The so-called "Ethereal Wave" subgenre (Lycia, Music/LoveSpiralsDownwards, Love Is Colder Than Death, etc.) can pretty much be called "Gothic DreamPop," in fact.
* EchoingAcoustics: Much like in GothRock and DreamPop, this is quite common. Especially when the band in question is DreamPop-influenced.
* GenreMashup: A lot of this happens, since the genre has a varied set of influences and a somewhat vague definition (for example, non-electronic artists such as Rasputina and Voltaire are sometimes even classed as Darkwave due to their lyrical themes and promotional aesthetics!).
* {{Goth}}: Along with GothRock and {{Industrial}}, this is the main thing they listen to.
* GothRock: A genre it was influenced by and sometimes overlaps with. The genre as a whole can basically be described as GothRock plus SynthPop.
* LighterAndSofter: Compared to a lot of {{Industrial}}, Dark Wave can seem friendly and accessible- it's not nearly as noisy or aggressive.
* SillyLoveSongs: Straight love songs are more common in this genre than in GothRock or {{Industrial}}, oddly enough. Still nowhere near ubiquitous, though.
* SynthPop: There are a lot of Dark Wave artists that count as both, mixing the atmospherics of dark wave with the catchy song structures of synth pop. A good way to think of this genre is as the gothed up version of synth pop, in fact.
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