Metal Symphony
| Symphonic metal | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Early 1990s, Scandinavia and the Netherlands |
| Typical instruments |
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| Fusion genres | |
| Other topics | |
| Symphonic power metal | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins |
|
| Cultural origins | Early to mid 1990s, Finland, Italy and Japan |
| Symphonic gothic metal | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins |
|
| Cultural origins | Mid 1990s, Norway and the Netherlands |
| Symphonic death metal | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins |
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| Cultural origins | Late 1990s and early to mid 2000s, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, and Italy |
Symphonic metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music which combines the heavy drums and guitars of metal with different elements of orchestral classical music, such as symphonic instruments, choirs and sometimes a full orchestra. Keyboards reminiscent of power metal also sometimes feature.
Symphonic metal bands often feature classically trained female vocalists, giving rise to the nickname opera metal or operatic metal, and it is not uncommon for them to feature a second vocalist performing growls, a more common characteristic of gothic metal. Perhaps the most typical and prominent examples of symphonic metal bands are Finnish band Nightwish, Dutch bands Within Temptation, Delain and Epica, and Swedish band Therion, all four of which place a large focus on elements prevalent in film scores on top of the more basic classical components utilized more widely in the genre.
The main musical influences on symphonic metal are early gothic metal, power metal and NWOBHM.
Music workstation keyboards and orchestras are often the focal point of the music, which, in essence, distinguishes the subgenre from other metal subgenres. Other instruments including guitars, bass and drums typically 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 less-known bands on tighter budgets. Some symphonic metal bands abstain from using keyboards entirely, choosing to use orchestral backing tracks, either 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 that would be more difficult for one or even two keyboardists to reproduce in a live performance.
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Wikipedia