ThouShaltNot

ThouShaltNot was a band active from 1998 to 2013, who blended post-punk, goth, industrial music, and synthpop influences into a complex, melodic and often mystically lyrical style. Their lineup was Alex Reed (lead singer and songwriter, guitars), Aaron "Foo" Fuleki (guitars, percussion and backing vocals) and Jeremy David Long (guitars, keyboards and backing vocals), all of whom are classically trained musicians.

Their music is known for its ornate and interweaving melodic lines, with complex and careful orchestration. Their lyrics are sophisticated and often spiritual, while frequently hiding a playful (even subversive) wit. Their song "Inside of You, In Spite of You" from their CD The White Beyond has been described as "an industrial/post-punk 'I Am The Walrus'", while "If I Only Were A Goth" (from You'll Wake Up Yesterday) is popular -- even notorious -- for gently poking fun at the conceits underlying the Goth subculture.

The band originally began as a solo project by Alex Reed in the late 1990s, and with its dissolution in 2013 Reed has returned to solo work under the name "Seeming".

Their website can be found here.

CDs

 * The Deepest Ice (1999/2000, self release)
 * ThouShaltNot (2000, ADSR Musicwerks)
 * The Holiness of Now (2001, ADSR Musicwerks; reissued by Dancing Ferret Discs in 2003)
 * The White Beyond (2003, Dancing Ferret Discs)
 * Land Dispute (2006, Dancing Ferret Discs)

EPs

 * You'll Wake Up Yesterday (2002, ADSR Musicwerks)
 * Vier Factor No. 1 (split with The Crüxshadows, Paralysed Age, and The Dreamside, 2003, Dancing Ferret Discs)
 * The Projectionist (2005, independent release)
 * New World EP (2008, independent release)

"I'll burn with your love like I was Birkenau, I'll conquer your love like you were Poland. I'll act on my love like Pontius Pilate, I'll give you my love like I was Brutus, I'll radiate love like Three-Mile Island, I'll prove you my love like I was Judas."
 * Anti-Love Song: "True Love" is initially a Gothic cabaret-style depiction of former flames meeting for what would appear to be innocent drinks and reminiscences for old times' sake, picks up into a drunken, menacing waltz, and then, well, it gets worse.

"''The thing that I'd be best at Is impersonating Lestat. If I only were a goth"
 * Beware of Hitch-Hiking Ghosts: "State Road 25", which is sung from the point of view of the ghostly passenger.
 * Filk: They probably wouldn't identify it as such, but "If I Only Were A Goth" is a snarky re-write of "If I Only Had A Brain" from The Wizard of Oz.
 * Goth: Gently sent up in their popular parody, "If I Only Were A Goth".
 * Goth Rock
 * "I Am" Song/I Am the Noun: "Inside of You, In Spite of You".
 * Industrial
 * Obsession Song: "True Love" is of the "If I Can't Have You, no one will" variety.
 * Post Punk
 * Self-Titled Album: 2000's ThouShaltNot.
 * Shout-Out: To Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, in "If I Only Were A Goth":


 * Song Parody: "If I Only Were A Goth" is a classic song parody sung to the tune of "If I Only Had A Brain" in a minor key.
 * Synth Pop
 * Word Salad Lyrics: "Inside of You, In Spite of You" dips into this trope in places.