Choir Metal
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Symphonic metal where a massed choir — large mixed ensembles, Latin and liturgical chant, ecclesiastical voicings — is the defining instrument rather than a backing texture. Choirs sing full SATB harmony, antiphonal call-and-response and chant-like ostinatos over mid-to-fast double-kick metal, frequently layered against death-growls or operatic leads. Production is cavernous and reverberant to evoke cathedral space, with pipe-organ, brass and timpani; the mood is sacred, ritual and monumental, the human voice multiplied into a wall that often carries the main melodic hook.
History
Therion pioneered choir-as-lead-instrument when Christofer Johnsson rebuilt the band around full classical choirs on Theli (1996) and Vovin (1998), turning massed voices into Therion's signature. Greece's Septicflesh recorded Communion (2008) and The Great Mass (2011) with a 32-voice Prague choir, and Italy's Fleshgod Apocalypse made operatic and choral layers central to their tech-death. Black-metal acts adopted it too: Dimmu Borgir's Abrahadabra (2010) leaned on choir, and Norway's Borknagar and the symphonic black scene used chant and SATB ensembles for grandeur. Wherever symphonic metal sought sacred or apocalyptic weight, the choir became the load-bearing voice, a thread running from Therion's 1990s template through modern orchestral-metal spectacle.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- To Mega Therion(1996) — TherionSpotifyYouTube
- The Rise of Sodom and Gomorrah(1998) — TherionSpotifyYouTube
- Son of the Staves of Time(2007) — TherionSpotifyYouTube
- Anubis(2008) — SepticfleshSpotifyYouTube
- The Vampire from Nazareth(2011) — SepticfleshSpotifyYouTube
- The Violation(2011) — Fleshgod ApocalypseSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Wikipedia — Theli (album)
- Communion (Septicflesh album)
- Therion discography
- Encyclopaedia Metallum (Metal Archives) — Therion, Septicflesh, Haggard entries
- Metal Injection — Septicflesh Filmharmonic Orchestra of Prague (32-voice choir)