Symphonic metal is a type of music that combines elements of heavy metal with symphonic or orchestral styles. It describes any metal band that uses instruments and sounds from classical music, such as orchestras, choirs, or keyboards. This style includes the loud drums and guitars typical of metal music, along with musical elements from classical compositions.
Bands in this genre may include singers who have studied classical music, leading to terms like "opera metal" or "operatic metal." Examples of well-known symphonic metal bands include Therion from Sweden, Nightwish from Finland, Xandria from Germany, Rhapsody of Fire from Italy, Emperor from Norway, Lorna Shore and Trans-Siberian Orchestra from the United States, and Epica and Within Temptation from the Netherlands. These bands often use musical styles found in movie scores, in addition to classical music elements. Many musicians in this genre have formal training in music or have learned to sing in a classical style.
Symphonic metal is sometimes confused with other metal subgenres, such as power metal, black metal, and death metal. Many bands from the 1990s, including power metal and more extreme styles like black metal and death metal, already used symphonic elements in their music. Symphonic power metal is sometimes incorrectly grouped with symphonic metal.
Musical characteristics
The metal subgenres that often include symphonic bands are gothic metal, power metal, black metal, death metal, and classic heavy metal. Like many other metal bands, those that use a symphonic style may draw influences from several different metal subgenres.
Symphonic metal bands often use music workstation keyboards and orchestras, which help distinguish them from non-symphonic bands in the same subgenre. Other instruments, such as guitars, bass, and drums, may play simpler parts compared to the more complex and detailed keyboard or orchestral sections. Bands that do not use live orchestras often use pre-recorded sounds on workstation keyboards (such as strings, choirs, or pianos) to create a "pseudo-orchestral" sound. This is common among bands with limited budgets. Some symphonic metal bands avoid keyboards entirely, instead using pre-recorded live orchestra or choir tracks, or virtual software instruments during album recordings. This is typical for bands with more complex arrangements that are difficult for a small number of keyboardists to perform live.
The role of classic metal instruments (guitars, bass, and drums) varies depending on the subgenre a symphonic band is associated with. These instruments, along with lead vocals, may be used to play simple, catchy melodies more often than in non-symphonic bands. This makes symphonic metal one of the more accessible styles within metal.
Songs in this style are often highly atmospheric, though usually more upbeat than those in many non-symphonic metal bands. Songs with dark themes may include bright, major-key fanfares. The choice of keyboard sounds is especially important for creating mood and atmosphere.
Lyrics in symphonic metal cover a wide range of topics. Like power metal and opera (including symphonic progressive rock), fantasy and mythological themes are common. Concept albums inspired by operas or epic poems are not unusual.
Symphonic metal bands may often feature a female lead vocalist, usually a soprano. Male vocalists, such as baritones or bass-baritones, are also common in gothic metal. Growling, death-metal-style vocals are sometimes used but less frequently than in other subgenres (an exception is Mark Jansen in Epica). Backing vocals, often from a choir or choral ensemble, may be included.
It is common for bands, especially those with female lead singers, to use operatic vocal styles. These bands may be called operatic symphonic metal and include groups such as Epica, Nightwish (Tarja Turunen, Floor Jansen), Haggard, Therion, Operatika, Dremora, Dol Ammad, Visions of Atlantis, Aesma Daeva, and Almora, among others. The operatic style is not limited to symphonic metal and can also appear in avant-garde metal, progressive metal, and gothic metal. Many bands with operatic female vocalists also include male vocalists who use harsh vocals for contrast, a style often called "beauty and the beast."
Origins and evolution
One of the earliest songs by a heavy metal band to use string arrangements was "Spiral Architect," the final track on Black Sabbath's fifth album, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, released in 1973. In the 1980s, the band Celtic Frost included orchestration, woodwinds, horns, and choral voices in their albums To Mega Therion and Into the Pandemonium. A 2021 article by Metal Hammer ranked Into the Pandemonium as number two on its list of the best 25 symphonic metal albums. The article noted that while neither Celtic Frost album fully fits the category of "symphonic metal," many other symphonic metal recordings might not have existed without Into the Pandemonium.
An early example of a symphonic metal song was "Dies Irae" by the American Christian thrash metal band Believer. This track appeared on their 1990 album Sanity Obscure and suggested the operatic style later used by bands like Therion (named after the Celtic Frost album To Mega Therion) and Nightwish. Jeff Wagner, in his book Mean Deviation, described the song as a major creative milestone in metal. At the time, few extreme metal bands had combined the genre with classical music as smoothly as Believer. The band continued using operatic and symphonic elements on their 1993 album Dimensions, particularly in the multi-song suite "The Trilogy of Knowledge." The gothic metal band Saviour Machine, formed in 1989 and releasing its first studio album in 1993, has also been described as symphonic metal.
In the early 1990s, more bands began blending symphonic and extreme metal styles. The Dutch band The Gathering released their demo An Imaginary Symphony in 1990, combining death growls and synthesizer melodies. Their 1992 debut album Always was among the first to mix death growls, synthesizer leads, and female soprano vocals. The Finnish band Amorphis released The Karelian Isthmus, merging death metal with melodic synthesizer melodies. The Dutch band Orphanage included synthesizer leads, death growls, and female soprano vocals in their 1993 demo Morph. In 1995, the Norwegian band Theatre of Tragedy released their self-titled album, combining death growls, synthesizer leads, and female vocals. The Swedish band Therion became influential for using live orchestras and classical music techniques. Over time, these elements became more central to Therion's music than their death metal roots, as seen on their 1996 album Theli. Another early influence was the Finnish progressive metal band Waltari's album Yeah! Yeah! Die! Die! Death Metal Symphony in Deep C. In mid-1996, the band Rage released Lingua Mortis, their first collaboration with the Prague Symphony Orchestra.
During the mid-1990s, many other bands followed, including After Forever, Nightwish, Rhapsody of Fire, Within Temptation, Rain Fell Within, Epica, Delain, Leaves' Eyes, Xandria, and Edenbridge. The symphonic metal genre gradually developed around strong female lead vocals and the frequent use of keyboard playing inspired by classical music. Some bands combined these elements with power metal, which often features upbeat fantasy themes and stylized keyboard sounds. Others blended them with death metal, which includes heavy guitar riffs and intense drumming with double bass sections.
The symphonic style in metal subgenres
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The term "symphonic metal" refers to any metal band that uses symphonic or orchestral elements. It is not a specific subgenre but a way to describe bands that mix metal with symphonic music. Some bands, like Aesma Daeva, call themselves "symphonic metal," and the term is also used for bands like Epica and post-2002 Nightwish, which are not clearly defined in terms of subgenre. In heavy metal, subgenres are often named based on the musical style of the metal part. The word "symphonic" is usually added to the subgenre name of a band. Since no "symphonic metal" band is purely symphonic, the term can be used by any band that identifies as such. Symphonic heavy metal and symphonic gothic metal bands are often not clearly classified, leading to the idea that "symphonic metal" is a distinct subgenre, even though it includes bands from other styles like symphonic black, death, and power metal. Symphonic elements are often used in songs by bands from other subgenres.
Symphonic black metal has similar features to melodic black metal, but it uses keyboarding or instruments commonly found in symphonic or classical music. It can also include black metal bands that use atmospheric keyboarding, similar to symphonic metal or gothic metal. The symphonic elements in this genre are usually an important part of the band's music and are used throughout the entire song. The first symphonic black metal bands include Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, Emperor, and Carach Angren.
Symphonic power metal refers to power metal bands that use keyboards or instruments from classical music, similar to symphonic metal. These elements are often key parts of the music compared to regular power metal, adding more layers and variety to the sound. Bands in this genre often use clean vocals, with some adding a small amount of screams or growls.
The first symphonic power metal song was "Art of Life," a 29-minute song by the Japanese heavy metal band X Japan in 1993. The Italian band Rhapsody of Fire played an important role in developing this style with their 1997 debut album, "Legendary Tales." They started with a baroque style influenced by Vivaldi and Paganini and later used full orchestras and choirs. The influence of symphonic and operatic music is also heard in bands like Luca Turilli's Rhapsody and Turilli / Lione Rhapsody. Rhapsody's contributions to symphonic metal are shown in songs like "Emerald Sword," "Dawn of Victory," and "Lamento Eroico," and longer pieces like "Gargoyles, Angels of Darkness," "The Mystic Prophecy of the Demonknight," and "Erian's Mystical Rhymes." The Finnish band Nightwish, who debuted the same year, also performed symphonic power metal, as shown in songs like "Wishmaster" from the album "Wishmaster" and other songs until 2000. Since the album "Century Child," they gradually reduced their power metal influences, with songs like "Ghost Love Score" from the album "Once" and "The Poet and the Pendulum" from the album "Dark Passion Play" showing more use of orchestral elements.
The German band Blind Guardian introduced some symphonic elements in the album "Nightfall in Middle-Earth," but it was not until 2002 with the album "A Night at the Opera" that they established their symphonic power metal style, mainly with the song "And Then There Was Silence." They continued to create more symphonic songs, such as "Sacred Worlds" and "Wheel of Time" from the album "At the Edge of Time," and "The Ninth Wave," "At the Edge of Time," "The Throne," and "Grand Parade" from their latest album, "Beyond the Red Mirror." They also made orchestral versions of previously released songs like "The Lord of the Rings" and "Theatre of Pain," both included on the compilation album "The Forgotten Tales." Blind Guardian went deeper into symphonic music with the album "Legacy of the Dark Lands," a fully orchestral album composed by singer Hansi Kürsch and guitarist André Olbrich, credited to the Blind Guardian Twilight Orchestra, as Hansi was the only member of the band to perform on the album.
- Several of the most widely known symphonic power metal bands
- Twilight Force
- Kamelot
- Rhapsody of Fire
- Nightwish
- Epica
- Blind Guardian
Symphonic gothic metal was first pioneered by the American band Saviour Machine. One of the first gothic metal bands to release a full album featuring "beauty and the beast" vocals, where death metal vocals are contrasted with clean female vocals, was the Norwegian band Theatre of Tragedy in 1995. After the departure of lead singer Liv Kristine in 2003, she and her future husband, Alexander Krull, formed the symphonic metal band Leaves' Eyes. The band is one of the pioneers of the "beauty and the beast" vocal style. The contrasting styles of vocals are also sometimes performed by only one vocalist, an example of this being Ambre Vourvahis of Xandria, who combines and layers her clean (and occasionally operatic) vocals with her deep gutturals on the band's 2023 album "The Wonders Still Awaiting." Other bands, such as the Dutch band Within Temptation in 1996, expanded on this approach. Their debut album, "Enter," was released the following year, followed shortly by an EP, "The Dance." Both releases used the beauty-and-beast approach delivered by vocalists Sharon den Adel and Robert Westerholt. Their second full-length album, "Mother Earth," was released in 2000 and used only den Adel's vocals, except for one B-side track that did not make the final album release. The album was a commercial success, with their lead single, "Ice Queen," topping the charts in Belgium and the Netherlands. Their third album, "The Silent Force," came out in 2004 as an "ambitious project featuring a full orchestra and 80-voice choir accompanying the band." The result was another commercial success across Europe and introduced "the world of heavy guitars and female vocals" to a mainstream audience.
Within Temptation's brand of gothic metal combines "the guitar-driven force of hard rock with the sweep and grandeur of symphonic music." The critic Chad Bowar of About.com describes their style as "the optimum balance" between "the melody and hooks of mainstream rock, the depth and complexity of classical music and the dark edge of gothic metal." The commercial success of Within Temptation has led to the emergence of a large number of other female-fronted gothic metal bands, particularly in the Netherlands. A typical example of their most symphonic sound can be heard in the songs "Jillian (I'd give my Heart)" and "Our Solemn Hour."
Another Dutch band in the symphonic gothic metal style is After Forever. Their debut album, "Prison of Desire" in 2000, was "a courageous, albeit flawed first study into an admittedly daunting undertaking: to wed heavy metal with progressive rock arrangements and classical music orchestration – then top it all off with equal parts gruesome cookie-monster vocals and a fully qualified opera singer." Founding member, guitarist and vocalist Mark Jansen left After Forever a few months after the release of their second album, "Decipher." Jansen would go on to form Epica, another Dutch band that performs a blend of gothic and symphonic metal. Their debut album, "The Phantom Agony," came out in 2003 with music that combines Jansen's death grunts with the "angeli"