Symphonic metal is a cross-genre style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style can feature different elements of orchestral classical music, such as symphonic instruments, choirs and sometimes a full orchestra, or just keyboard orchestration.
Despite many bands of the 1990s, both in power metal and in extreme genres such as black metal and death metal, having already incorporated "symphonic" elements into their compositions through the simple use of keyboards as a secondary element, a following wave of bands stepped up the symphonic side by adding more ambitious classical features, developing their neoclassical guitar playing in a baroque direction, adding large multi-voice choirs, and reserving greater space to the symphonic component of their arrangements, thereby setting the standard for what is today considered symphonic metal. Some symphonic metal bands also started to feature classically trained vocalists, in which case they were attributed nicknames such as opera metal or operatic metal.
Perhaps the most prominent examples of symphonic metal, having given the most crucial contributions to the expanded use of symphonic elements in it, are Swedish band Therion, Finnish band Nightwish, Italian band Rhapsody of Fire, Dutch bands After Forever, Epica, and Within Temptation, Norwegian band Dimmu Borgir, and American band Trans-Siberian Orchestra. These bands place a large focus on elements prevalent in film scores in addition to the more basic classical components utilized more widely in the genre. Some of the main composers in this style of metal music are classically trained or have been taught how to sing in a classical style.
Musical characteristics
The metal subgenres most typically featuring a subset of symphonic bands are gothic metal, power metal, black metal, death metal and classic heavy metal. As with many other metal bands, those adopting a symphonic style may feature influences from several metal subgenres.
Music workstation keyboards and orchestras 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 in some cases play relatively simple parts in contrast to the complex and nuanced keyboard and/or orchestral parts, typically in the case of symphonic heavy metal and symphonic gothic metal acts. The use of such instruments (as well as the lead vocals) to play simpler, catchier melodies than those of the average non-symphonic band arguably makes the symphonic style one of the most accessible in metal. 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 a sequencer. 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.
On average, songs under the symphonic metal umbrella 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 keyboard timbre. It is nonetheless hardly possible to generalize about the role played by the classic metal instruments (guitars, bass and drums) within symphonic bands, as it can entirely vary depending on the metal subgenre to which the symphonic band mostly belongs.
Lyrics cover a broad range of topics. As with two of its often overlapping elements, power metal and opera (including symphonic progressive rock), fantasy and mythological themes are common. Concept albums styled after operas or epic poems are not uncommon.
Bands in this genre may often feature a female lead vocalist, usually a soprano. Male vocalists (baritone or bass-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 being Mark Jansen in Epica). Backing vocals, often consisting of a choral ensemble or full choir, may be employed.
It is common for bands, particularly female-fronted bands, to feature operatic lead vocals. Such bands may be referred to as operatic symphonic metal and include the likes of Epica, Nightwish (Tarja Turunen, then Floor Jansen), Haggard,
Origins and evolution
One of the earliest songs by a heavy metal band to include string arrangements is "Spiral Architect", the closing track of the fifth Black Sabbath album, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, released in 1973. In the 1980s, Celtic Frost experimented with orchestration, woodwinds, horns, and choral voices in the albums To Mega Therion and Into the Pandemonium. A 2021 article by Metal Hammer listed the latter at number two in its list of the best twenty-five symphonic metal albums. Appearing on their 1990 album Sanity Obscure, it foreshadowed the operatic approach used by the bands Therion (named after the Celtic Frost album To Mega Therion) and Nightwish. According to Jeff Wagner in his book Mean Deviation, the song was a creative watershed in metal, and except for Mekong Delta, no other extreme metal band at the time had merged the genre with classical music so seamlessly. The gothic metal band Saviour Machine, which formed in 1989 and released its first studio album in 1993, has also been referred to as symphonic metal.
left|thumb|[[Therion (band)|Therion's Lori Lewis and Christofer Johnsson with symphonic orchestra and choir during the live classical show at the Miskolc Opera Festival, Hungary, 2007.]]
More bands began combining symphonic and extreme metal elements in the early 1990s. Dutch band The Gathering released their demo An Imaginary Symphony in 1990 combining death growls and synthesizer leads, leading to their first album Always... in 1992 which was one of the first albums combining death growls, synthesizer leads and female soprano singing. Finnish band Amorphis released The Karelian Isthmus combining death metal with melodic synthesizer leads. Dutch band Orphanage released their demo Morph in 1993 also combining synthesizer leads, death growls and also female soprano singing. In 1995, the Norwegian band Theatre of Tragedy released their self-titled debut album Theatre of Tragedy with death growls, synthesizer leads, and female singing. This blend would be used more prominently in 1996 with their second album Velvet Darkness They Fear. 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 Theatre of Tragedy in 1995. From then on 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, combining and layering 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 Within Temptation in 1996, expanded on this approach. A debut album, Enter, was unveiled in the following year, followed shortly by an EP, The Dance. Both releases made use of the beauty-and-beast approach delivered by vocalists Sharon den Adel and Robert 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 the B-side track "Jane Doe". Their third album, The Silent Force, arrived 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 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 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 departed 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, emerged in 2003 with music that combines Jansen's death grunts with the "angelic tones of a classically trained soprano, Simone Simons, over a lush foundation of symphonic power metal". The music of Epica has been described as combination of "a dark, haunting gothic atmosphere with bombastic and symphonic music". Like Within Temptation and After Forever, Epica has made use of an orchestra. Their 2007 album The Divine Conspiracy was a chart success in their home country.
This blend of symphonic and gothic metal has also been arrived at from the opposite direction. The band Nightwish from Finland began as a symphonic power metal act and introduced gothic elements on their 2004 album Once, particularly on the single "Nemo". 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. The Swedish group Therion also introduced gothic elements to their brand of symphonic metal on their 2007 album Gothic Kabbalah.
Symphonic death metal
Bands described as symphonic death metal include Ex Deo, Septicflesh, Children of Bodom, MaYaN, and Fleshgod Apocalypse. Haggard's 2000 album, Awaking the Centuries, has been described as death metal–styled symphonic metal. Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Mors Principium Est, Skyfire, Starkill, and Wintersun are known for their symphonic melodic death metal sound. Mechina combines symphonic death metal with industrial metal.
The symphonic death metal scene includes deathcore bands mixing the two genres together, starting in the late 2000s with The Breathing Process and Winds of Plague. In the early 2010s, Make Them Suffer developed the symphonic deathcore subgenre further in their earlier material, as did Betraying the Martyrs, known to "temper the punishing brutality of deathcore with melodic flourishes pulled from symphonic and progressive metal, giving it a theatricality that feels distinctly European." It was not until the late 2010s and early 2020s when the symphonic deathcore scene started rising in popularity with bands like Shadow of Intent, Lorna Shore, and A Wake in Providence. Some bands such as Worm Shepherd, Carnifex in their later albums, and Mental Cruelty combine the genre with symphonic black metal.
See also
- List of symphonic metal bands