symphonic metal

The tradition & historical record

Symphonic metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that makes use of symphonic or orchestra elements. The style can feature different elements of orchestral or classical music, such as symphonic instruments, choirs and sometimes a full orchestra, keyboard orchestration emulating a full orchestra, or compositional influences from classical and orchestral music. The roots of symphonic metal date to the 1960s and '70s with early metal bands such as Deep Purple recording with a full orchestra and Black Sabbath using an orchestral string section. The genre saw more development in the 1980s and '90s as bands emphasized their symphonic side by adding more ambitious classical features, developing their neoclassical guitar playing in a baroque direction, adding large multi-voice choirs, and writing lengthy songs influenced by orchestral structures. 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 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 also have strong influences from film scores in addition to the more basic classical components utilized more widely in the genre. ¹

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. ¹

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. ¹

From the 1960s and '70s, a number of early or influential bands on the development of heavy metal music used occasional orchestral elements in some of their songs. In 1969, the English group Deep Purple, recognized as early pioneers of metal music, released their album Concerto for Group and Orchestra. The title composition was a 50-minute piece combining blues rock with backing from The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Arnold. The music was all written by the band's keyboardist Jon Lord who had studied classical and baroque piano from childhood. The group's then-guitarist Richie Blackmore said in a 1979 interview with Sounds magazine how he enjoyed classical music as a listener but was not enthusiastic about the orchestral project as he felt "[t]he orchestra was very condescending towards us, and I didn't like playing with them, so it was one big calamity onstage." 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. Led Zeppelin, also recognized as a foundational influence on metal, hired musicians performing orchestral strings and brass for their 1974 song "Kashmir" from their untitled fourth album, and also used a Mellotron keyboard to add further instrumental layers emulating an orchestra. Progressive rock groups of the 1960s and '70s often incorporated quasi-orchestral elements, and some of the more aggressive such groups had songs that both verged on metal and were also influenced by classical works. ¹

Symphonic black metal has similar components as melodic 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 or gothic 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 are Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, Emperor and Carach Angren. ¹

Symphonic power metal refers to power 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 Japanese heavy metal band X Japan in 1993. A defining role for the style's development was played by Italian band Rhapsody of Fire since their groundbreaking 1997 debut, Legendary Tales, first with a baroque approach influenced by Vivaldi and Paganini, 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 bands Luca Turilli's Rhapsody and Turilli / 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 band Nightwish, who debuted the same year, also performed symphonic power metal, their style being well exemplified by songs like "Wishmaster" from the album Wishmaster and the rest of their discography until the year 2000. ¹

Symphonic gothic metal was first pioneered by 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 Theatre of Tragedy in 1995. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Symphonic metal”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

symphonic metal is music genre that blends heavy metal with classical music, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 9 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²