Symphonic / Orchestral Metal
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Metal fused with the full vocabulary of the orchestra: sweeping string sections, brass fanfares, choirs and harpsichord or pipe-organ keyboards layered over distorted guitars and double-kick drums, often at mid-to-fast tempos (140-200 BPM). The orchestration ranges from lush keyboard pads to genuine recorded symphonies and 30-plus-voice choirs. Vocals split into two camps — soaring operatic/mezzo-soprano sopranos and clean tenors on the lighter side, guttural death growls and black-metal rasps on the heavier side — giving the whole family its cinematic, grandiose, fantasy-and-fate mood.
History
The family crystallized in Sweden when Therion's 'Theli' (1996) traded death-metal vocals for real choirs and classical arrangements, while Finland's Nightwish ('Angels Fall First', 1997) married operatic female vocals to power metal. Dutch acts Within Temptation and After Forever, then Epica, built the female-fronted gothic-symphonic mainstream that exploded across Europe in the 2000s. In parallel, a heavier orchestral wing grew from Emperor's black-metal symphonics and Greece's Septicflesh, Italy's Fleshgod Apocalypse and Germany's Haggard, who fused full orchestras to extreme metal. Nuclear Blast, Napalm and Season of Mist drove the scene; today bands routinely record with the Prague Philharmonic and play with live orchestras.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Metallum (Metal Archives) band/album entries
- Wikipedia: Symphonic metal
- AllMusic genre and artist profiles
- Loudersound / Metal Hammer features on symphonic metal