Symphonic Metal

I love Symphonic Metal. A mixing of two styles that seem like they would not match ... but they do!!! Classical and Metal!!!

What are your favorite Symphonic Metal bands?

Mine favorites are:

1. Therion (one of my all time fave bands)
and
2. Nightwish

I need to get more of this style in my collection. That's partly why I'm posting this thread. I want to discover more bands in this style. Christian or secular. Lyrics don't matter to me quite so much.

Are there any fans of this genre?

I don't listen to too much of Symphonic Metal but, I really do like the genre. Only have 2 in my collection. HB and Within Temptation. Great bands.

Good call on Within Temptation!



Who's HB?

HB is a Christian Finnish symphonic metal band.  Most of their albums they record both in Finnish and English which is interesting.  Here's their Metal Archives page.

I'm not big into the genre either, but I do really like Whisper From Heaven and am excited for their debut album!  While not symphonic in the Therion/Nightwish style, I LOVE Virgin Black.  Their latest two albums are recorded with the Adelaide Symphony and they're pretty epic.

LEAH

Not a Christian band, but the lyrics aren't bad in this video.
My favorite symphonic...

Murdock used to be a huge fan of Therion. He hasn't heard anything after Gothic Kabbalah.

Thanks for the recommendations guys!

I've just added HB and Leah to my list! Very impressive on both counts!

I'm also a fan of Virgin Black! Great Gothic Metal!

Believer's "Trilogy of Knowledge" and "Dies Irae" are my all time favorites. Saviour Machine too. I honestly have a hard time pinning down if something is "syphonic metal" since lots of different kinds of metal use symphonic or classical elements. The new Ulterium Records band Sleeping Romance is pretty good and sounds like Nightwish and Within Temptation. Nightwish's Oceanborn is definitely a high watermark for this kind of music and I think Sleeping Romance can compare pretty well at least in terms of riffs, performance and memorability. The song "Devil's Cave" is even better though I couldn't find the studio recording on youtube.

You must check out Dark Moor. Especially Beyond the Sea, absolutely amazing.

Oh and you can't forget Promise Land!  Great Christ-centered lyrics too.

Thanks again you guys for the great recommendations! Ya'll are awesome!!!

The absolute best voice in the genre.  

Forgot about this other band I listen to, Leaves' eyes is also a great band.

Not a big fan of the lyrical content....but I like Epica and ReVamp.

Great calls guys! I'm already a huge fan of Leaves' Eyes and Epica! I saw Leaves' Eyes live in concert and got to hang out with the band! They are AWESOME!!!

One of the best live acts too.

When I saw them they were with Kamelot.

I've heard 'of' Xandria, but hadn't heard them. Good stuff.

After Forever is pretty good too. Their old singer is now the singer for Nightwish! I'm also a huge Nightwish fan. Saw them live too.

Pretty much every band has been mentioned here, but you may dig with Delain, specially the first 2 albums. Like Within Temptation but better. 

Amberian Dawn also has some killer tracks too, this time more like old nightwish



I second Epica as best band in the genre. Get The Quantum Enigma if you haven't yet, is one of the best sympho metal albums ever. The same for Design your Universe.



For Xandria get the last two albums too. Awesome stuff.

I'll post more later if i find more stuff in my gallery

RavenWolf wrote:Great calls guys! I'm already a huge fan of Leaves' Eyes and Epica! I saw Leaves' Eyes live in concert and got to hang out with the band! They are AWESOME!!!

One of the best live acts too.

When I saw them they were with Kamelot.

I've heard 'of' Xandria, but hadn't heard them. Good stuff.

After Forever is pretty good too. Their old singer is now the singer for Nightwish! I'm also a huge Nightwish fan. Saw them live too.

Want to know a cool story? A friend asked me to go see Leaves' Eyes with him a few years ago. I was flat out broke and couldn't go, he still went without me though. At the end of the show, he got to meet Liv Kristine and called me over the phone. He then asked her to speak to me on the phone. It was freaking awesome.

ParaNormaN wrote:

RavenWolf wrote:Great calls guys! I'm already a huge fan of Leaves' Eyes and Epica! I saw Leaves' Eyes live in concert and got to hang out with the band! They are AWESOME!!!

One of the best live acts too.

When I saw them they were with Kamelot.

I've heard 'of' Xandria, but hadn't heard them. Good stuff.

After Forever is pretty good too. Their old singer is now the singer for Nightwish! I'm also a huge Nightwish fan. Saw them live too.

Want to know a cool story? A friend asked me to go see Leaves' Eyes with him a few years ago. I was flat out broke and couldn't go, he still went without me though. At the end of the show, he got to meet Liv Kristine and called me over the phone. He then asked her to speak to me on the phone. It was freaking awesome.

HAAHAAHAA!!!! That's freeking AWESOME dude!

Yeah, Leaves' Eyes are totally killer cool to their fans. Heck, I started talking to a guy at the bar and we had a beer together. I thought he looked familiar, and then he introduced himself as Alexander Krull. I almost spit my beer out bro!!!

I could not hardly believe that one of my Metal god heroes was having a beer with me! We talked for about 15 minutes til he said he had to go and get ready for the show!

That night, I hung out with him and Liv Kristine after the show! We talked about their early albums and they were just so incredible cool to me! I had came to the concert alone ... with not a friend. I left the concert feeling like I had made friends with one of my favorite bands!

That's not to mention how awesome Kamelot was on stage that night too! I never got to meet those guys though.

RavenWolf wrote:

ParaNormaN wrote:

RavenWolf wrote:Great calls guys! I'm already a huge fan of Leaves' Eyes and Epica! I saw Leaves' Eyes live in concert and got to hang out with the band! They are AWESOME!!!

One of the best live acts too.

When I saw them they were with Kamelot.

I've heard 'of' Xandria, but hadn't heard them. Good stuff.

After Forever is pretty good too. Their old singer is now the singer for Nightwish! I'm also a huge Nightwish fan. Saw them live too.

Want to know a cool story? A friend asked me to go see Leaves' Eyes with him a few years ago. I was flat out broke and couldn't go, he still went without me though. At the end of the show, he got to meet Liv Kristine and called me over the phone. He then asked her to speak to me on the phone. It was freaking awesome.

HAAHAAHAA!!!! That's freeking AWESOME dude!

Yeah, Leaves' Eyes are totally killer cool to their fans. Heck, I started talking to a guy at the bar and we had a beer together. I thought he looked familiar, and then he introduced himself as Alexander Krull. I almost spit my beer out bro!!!

I could not hardly believe that one of my Metal god heroes was having a beer with me! We talked for about 15 minutes til he said he had to go and get ready for the show!

That night, I hung out with him and Liv Kristine after the show! We talked about their early albums and they were just so incredible cool to me! I had came to the concert alone ... with not a friend. I left the concert feeling like I had made friends with one of my favorite bands!

That's not to mention how awesome Kamelot was on stage that night too! I never got to meet those guys though.

Man, that is so cool!

I second HB and Delain.  Something a bit different than the other recommendations thus far would be Royal Hunt.  Their primary songwriter is their keyboardist, so he definitely brings a symphonic element, though they are more neoclassically bent.  Perhaps they lean closer to hard rock than metal.  DC Cooper (their former and current vocalist) is probably my favorite vocalist of all time!

I like Xandria's first album but cant get into the rest of their stuff...I'll have to check out Delain.  I'm probably in the minority, but I think Dark Passion Play is one of the best ever Nightwish albums....