Symphonic Melodeath
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Melodic death metal scored with full orchestral and choral arrangements — sweeping strings, brass, timpani and operatic choirs layered over the Gothenburg dual-guitar harmonies and death growls. Tempos range from cinematic mid-pace to blistering double-kick and blast-driven passages, the orchestration doubling or countering the guitar melodies to create a grandiose, often menacing 'metal-meets-film-score' sound. Production is dense and widescreen; growled lead vocals sit against soprano choirs and bombastic crescendos, with technical, harmonized riffing and dramatic dynamic swings between hushed orchestral interludes and crushing full-band climaxes.
History
The thread runs from Children of Bodom's neoclassical melodeath and Dimmu Borgir's orchestral extremity into a distinct symphonic-melodeath current in the 2000s. Greece's Septicflesh became a cornerstone, recording with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra on Communion (2008) and beyond, while Italy's Fleshgod Apocalypse fused symphonic death with classical bombast on Agony (2011). Finland's Wintersun pushed orchestral melodeath to maximalist extremes on Time I (2012). Labels such as Season of Mist and Nuclear Blast championed the style, which blends melodeath's harmony and growl with the scale of film and classical music, influencing a wave of orchestrally-augmented extreme metal worldwide.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- Anubis(2008) — SepticfleshSpotifyYouTube
- The Vampire from Nazareth(2011) — SepticfleshSpotifyYouTube
- The Violation(2011) — Fleshgod ApocalypseSpotifyYouTube
- The Forsaking(2011) — Fleshgod ApocalypseSpotifyYouTube
- Sons of Winter and Stars(2012) — WintersunSpotifyYouTube
- Hate Me!(2003) — Children of BodomSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Metallum (Metal Archives): Septicflesh, Fleshgod Apocalypse entries
- Wikipedia: Communion (Septicflesh, 2008)
- Agony (Fleshgod Apocalypse, 2011)
- Chaoszine / Decibel features on symphonic death metal and the City of Prague Philharmonic collaborations