Symphonic metal is a cross-genre style designation for the symphonic subsets ofheavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitars of metal with different elements oforchestralclassical music, such as symphonic instruments, choirs and sometimes a full orchestra, or just keyboard orchestration.
Symphonic metal bands can feature classically trained vocalists, in which case they can be attributed nicknames such asopera metal oroperatic metal. Perhaps the most prominent examples of symphonic metal bands are Swedish bandTherion, Finnish bandNightwish, German bandXandria, Italian bandRhapsody of Fire, American bandsLorna Shore andTrans-Siberian Orchestra and Dutch bandsEpica andWithin Temptation. Those bands place a large focus on elements prevalent infilm scores in addition to the more basic classical components utilized more widely in the genre. Many people who participate in this genre of metal music have a degree in musical thought or have been taught how to sing in a classical style.
Nightwish is one of the prime acts adopting the symphonic metal style. The use ofkeyboards through traditional piano and strings and thesoprano vocals ofTarja Turunen, until her departure from the band in 2005, were distinct parts of their original sound.[1][2]
The metal subgenres most typically featuring a subset of symphonic bands aregothic metal,power metal,black metal,death metal and classicheavy metal. As with many other metal bands, those adopting a symphonic style may feature influences from several metal subgenres.
A symphonic/progressive metal song by the band Capricia, who have since turned tovideo game development. This song is part of the albumOf Bird and Cage, which is aconcept album written to accompany thevideo game of the same name that the band deems an interactive album.
Music workstation keyboards andorchestras are often a key feature of the style, distinguishing symphonic from non-symphonic bands within the same metal subgenre. Other instruments, including guitars, bass and drums, may at times play relatively simple parts in contrast to the complex and nuanced keyboard and/or orchestral parts. Bands that do not use live orchestral instrumentation on their recordings or when playing live typically utilize factory presets on workstation keyboards (i. e., strings, choirs, pianos, pipe organs, etc.) to conjure up a "pseudo-orchestral" sound, where parts are played idiomatically according to keyboard technique. This is particularly characteristic of lesser-known bands on tighter budgets. Some symphonic metal bands abstain from using keyboards entirely, preferring to use orchestral backing tracks pre-recorded by a live symphony orchestra and/or choir during an album session, or recorded using virtual software instruments in asequencer. This is particularly characteristic of bands that feature deeper and more complex arrangements which could be more difficult for one or two keyboardists to reproduce faithfully in a live performance.
It is more difficult to generalize about the role of the classic metal instruments (guitars, bass and drums), as they vary depending on the metal subgenre to which the symphonic band mostly associates. With varying frequency, symphonic bands may employ these instruments (as well as the lead vocals) to play more simple, catchy melodies than non-symphonic bands, which arguably make the symphonic metal style one of the most accessible in metal.
Songs are often highly atmospheric, though more upbeat than those of many non-symphonic metal bands; songs with morbid themes routinely feature prominent major-key fanfares. Particularly central to creating mood and atmosphere is the choice of keyboardtimbre.
Lyrics cover a broad range of topics. As with two of its often overlapping elements, power metal and opera (including symphonicprogressive rock), fantasy and mythological themes are common.Concept albums styled after operas orepic poems are not uncommon.
The contrast betweenSimone Simons' operatic vocals andMark Jansen'sdeath grunts is a feature ofEpica's music, as demonstrated over symphonic power metal in this sample of the song "Abyss of Time - Countdown to Singularity" from their albumΩmega (2021).
Bands in this genre may often feature a female lead vocalist, usually asoprano. Male vocalists (baritone orbass-baritone), are also common in gothic metal. Growling, death-metal-style vocals are not unknown but tend to be used less frequently than in other metal subgenres (a notable exception beingMark Jansen inEpica). Backing vocals, often consisting of a choral ensemble or fullchoir, may be employed.
It is common for bands, particularly female-fronted bands, to feature operatic lead vocals. Such bands may be referred to asoperatic symphonic metal[3] and include the likes ofEpica,Nightwish (Tarja Turunen, thenFloor Jansen),Haggard,[3]Therion, Operatika, Dremora,Dol Ammad,Visions of Atlantis,Aesma Daeva, andAlmora, among countless others. The operatic style is not tied exclusively to symphonic metal, but may appear inavant-garde metal, progressive metal and gothic metal. Many bands featuring operatic female vocalists also have a male vocalist who usesharsh vocals for contrast, in a vocal style often referred to as "beauty and the beast".[4]
One of the earliest songs by a heavy metal band to include string arrangements is "Spiral Architect", the closing track of the fifthBlack Sabbath album,Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, released in 1973.[5] In the 1980s,Celtic Frost experimented with orchestration, woodwinds, horns, and choral voices in the albumsTo Mega Therion andInto the Pandemonium.[6] A 2021 article byMetal Hammer listed the latter at number two in its list of the best twenty-five symphonic metal albums.[6] The article claims that while perhaps neither Celtic Frost album constitutes "full-blown" symphonic metal, the rest the symphonic metal recordings listed in the article likely would not exist if not forInto the Pandemonium.[6]
An early prototypical symphonic metal song was "Dies Irae" by American Christianthrash metal groupBeliever.[7] Appearing on their 1990 albumSanity Obscure, it foreshadowed the operatic approach used by the bandsTherion (named after the Celtic Frost albumTo Mega Therion) andNightwish.[8] According to Jeff Wagner in his bookMean Deviation, the song was a creative watershed in metal, and except forMekong Delta, no otherextreme metal band at the time had merged the genre withclassical music so seamlessly.[8] The band continued with operatic and symphonic elements on their next release,Dimensions (1993), on the multi-songsuite "The Trilogy of Knowledge".[9][8][10] The gothic metal bandSaviour Machine, which formed in 1989 and released itsfirst studio album in 1993, has also been referred to as symphonic metal.[11][12]
Nightwish,Rhapsody of Fire andWithin Temptation all released their first album in 1997. Within Temptation's sound was usually defined as gothic metal, being overall simpler than Nightwish's power metal, but both bands shared two frequent symphonic metal elements: powerful female lead vocals fromTarja Turunen andSharon den Adel respectively, and the heavy use of classically influenced keyboard playing.
Many new symphonic bands appeared or came to wide attention in the early to mid-2000s, including Rain Fell Within,After Forever,Epica,Delain,Leaves' Eyes,Xandria, andEdenbridge, all featuring female vocals and the characteristic keyboards. Power metal, with its relatively upbeat fantasy themes and stylized keyboard sounds, tended to be an important influence on these groups.
The term "symphonic metal" denotes any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements; "symphonic metal" then is not so much a subgenre but rather a cross-generic designation. A few bands simply refer to themselves as "symphonic metal", particularlyAesma Daeva, and the term is applied by some to generically ambiguous metal bands likeEpica and post-2002Nightwish. Following heavy metal's tradition of classifying its subgenres based on the differences among the musical structures in the electric, "metal" part of bands' sound, the label "symphonic" is usually prefixed to the subgenre to which a band mostly belongs. No "symphonic metal" band being simply symphonic, a subgenre definition could be attributable to any bands simply defining themselves as symphonic metal. Symphonic heavy metal and symphonic gothic metal bands are the main objects of such neglect of classification, originating the misperception of "symphonic metal" as a coherent and separated metal subgenre excluding symphonic black, death, and power metal bands. Symphonic elements are often implemented in songs by bands of other subgenres.
Symphonic black metal has similar components asmelodic black metal, but uses keyboarding or instruments normally found in symphonic or classical music. It can also include black metal bands that make heavy usage of atmospheric keyboarding in the music, akin to symphonic metal orgothic metal. The symphonic aspects of this genre are normally integral parts of a band, and as such are commonly used throughout the whole duration of a song. The prototypical symphonic black metal bands areDimmu Borgir,Cradle of Filth,Emperor andCarach Angren.
Symphonic power metal refers topower metal bands that make extensive usage of keyboards, or instruments normally found in classical music, similar to symphonic metal. These additional elements are often used as key elements of the music when compared to regular power metal, contributing not only an extra layer to the music, but a greater variety of sound. Bands in this genre often feature clean vocals, with some bands adding relatively small quantities of screams or growls.
The first prototypical symphonic power metal song was "Art of Life", a twenty-nine-minute song performed by Japaneseheavy metal bandX Japan in 1993. A defining role for the style's development was played by Italian bandRhapsody of Fire since their groundbreaking 1997 debut,Legendary Tales, first with a baroque approach influenced byVivaldi andPaganini, and subsequently with a growing film-score-oriented turn employing full orchestras and choirs. The influence of symphonic and operatic music are equally audible in cognate bandsLuca Turilli's Rhapsody andTurilli / Lione Rhapsody. Rhapsody's contributions to symphonic metal are best exemplified by short songs like "Emerald Sword", "Dawn of Victory" and "Lamento Eroico", and long suites such as "Gargoyles, Angels of Darkness", "The Mystic Prophecy of the Demonknight" and "Erian's Mystical Rhymes". Finnish bandNightwish, who debuted the same year, also performed symphonic power metal, their style being well exemplified by songs like "Wishmaster" from the albumWishmaster and the rest of their discography until the year 2000. Since the albumCentury Child, they gradually decreased their power metal influences, with over 10-minute epics like "Ghost Love Score" from the albumOnce and "The Poet and the Pendulum" from the albumDark Passion Play as the best examples of their new course making a more extensive use of orchestral elements.
German bandBlind Guardian also introduced some symphonic elements in the albumNightfall in Middle-Earth, although it wasn't until 2002 withA Night at the Opera when they established their symphonic power metal style, mainly with the song "And Then There Was Silence". They gradually composed more and more symphonic songs such as "Sacred Worlds" and "Wheel of Time", both featured on the albumAt 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 albumThe Forgotten Tales. Blind Guardian went deeper into symphonic music with the albumLegacy of the Dark Lands, a fully orchestral album composed by singerHansi Kürsch and guitaristAndré Olbrich that kept the band's spirit but was 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
Symphonic gothic metal was first pioneered by American bandSaviour Machine.[13][14] One of the first gothic metal bands to release a full album featuring "beauty and the beast" vocals, wheredeath metal vocals are contrasted with clean female vocals, was the NorwegianTheatre of Tragedy in 1995. From then on after the departure of lead singerLiv Kristine in 2003, she and her future husband,Alexander Krull, formed the symphonic metal bandLeaves' 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 ofXandria, combining and layering her clean (and occasionally operatic) vocals with her deep gutturals on the band's 2023 albumThe Wonders Still Awaiting. Other bands, such as the DutchWithin Temptation in 1996,[15] expanded on this approach. A debut album,Enter, was unveiled in the following year, followed shortly by an EP,The Dance.[16] Both releases made use of the beauty-and-beast approach delivered by vocalistsSharon den Adel andRobert Westerholt. Their second full-length,Mother Earth, was released in 2000 and dispensed entirely with the death metal vocals, instead "relying solely on den Adel's majestic vocal ability", apart from oneB-side track that did not make the final album release.[16] The album was a commercial success, with their lead single, "Ice Queen", topping the charts in Belgium and their native Netherlands.[17] Their third album,The Silent Force, arrived in 2004 as an "ambitious project featuring a full orchestra and 80-voice choir accompanying the band".[18] The result was another commercial success across Europe[18] and introduced "the world of heavy guitars and female vocals" to "a mainstream audience".
Within Temptation's brand ofgothic metal combines "the guitar-driven force of hard rock with the sweep and grandeur of symphonic music".[18] The critic Chad Bowar ofAbout.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".[19] The commercial success of Within Temptation has since resulted in 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 strain isAfter 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".[20] Founding member, guitarist and vocalistMark Jansen departed After Forever a few months after the release of their second album,Decipher.[21] Jansen would go on to formEpica, another Dutch band that performs a blend of gothic and symphonic metal. Their debut album,The Phantom Agony, emerged in 2003 with music that combines Jansen's death grunts with the "angelic tones of a classically trainedsoprano,Simone Simons, over a lush foundation ofsymphonic power metal".[22] The music of Epica has been described as combination of "a dark, haunting gothic atmosphere with bombastic and symphonic music".[23] Like Within Temptation and After Forever, Epica has made use of an orchestra. Their 2007 albumThe Divine Conspiracy was a chart success in their home country.[24]
This blend of symphonic and gothic metal has also been arrived at from the opposite direction. The bandNightwish from Finland began as a symphonic power metal act[25] and introduced gothic elements on their 2004 albumOnce,[26] particularly on the single "Nemo".[27] They continued to mix their style of "bombastic, symphonic and cinematic" metal with a gothic atmosphere on their next album,Dark Passion Play, in 2007.[28] The Swedish groupTherion also introduced gothic elements to their brand of symphonic metal on their 2007 albumGothic Kabbalah.[29]
