Symphonic Metal Band 2025

Top 20 Rated Metal Bands

Symphonic metal combines influences from heavy metal and classical orchestral music, often involving arrangements featuring symphonic elements, although many also feature full symphonic orchestras. In its pure form, female vocals, choral backing, symphonic musical instruments, or their imitations done through keyboard synthesizers are often used and full symphonic orchestras often appear on recordings. The style is most closely associated with concept albums, duets, and multiple vocalists.

First hints of symphonic metal were heard in influential bands like The Gathering and Theatre of Tragedy, who were among the first to include such elements as keyboards and female vocals in their music. Other contributors to the development of this genre include Rage and Symphony X, who tried to blend orchestra and metal.

The emergence of symphonic metal as a separate genre usually refers to 1996-when the album “Theli” was issued by the Swedish band Therion. The same band, Therion, did feature symphonic elements since their very beginnings and combined those elements with death metal, but their distinctive style would be consolidated there.

The year 1997 stands out in particular in the chronicles of the development of symphonic metal; it has included the first albums of those three bands which later became truly influential: Nightwish, Rhapsody, and Within Temptation. Nightwish and Rhapsody integrated symphonic arrangements into power metal, while the very first album by Within Temptation was of a genre close to gothic metal by Theatre of Tragedy, taking a further step in the diversification of symphonic metal.

The trend spread, finally to black metal. Bands like Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir, already known for their increased melodicism, began to use keyboards prominently, which was against the dogma of “true black metal.” Cradle of Filth went even further and recorded several songs featuring duets with female vocalists. Around the same time, bands like Bal-Sagoth and Summoning appeared, using keyboards and orchestras as actively as guitars and not adhering to black metal ideology.

During the late 90s and early 00s a number of bands developed the “operatic metal” line in their music – After Forever, Epica which was an off-shoot of After Forever, Leaves’Eyes a side project of the vocalist Liv Kristine from Theatre of Tragedy, Edenbridge and Tristania.

Apocalyptica is unique in its genre, and the band plays thrash metal on cellos. Their style is often referred to as symphonic metal, although it does not stem from any of its subgenres. Rather, it is an experiment by the musicians that originally consisted of symphonic cover versions of classic metal bands. The term “Cello Rock” appeared in English when referring to a similar genre.

The popularity of symphonic arrangements spread even on old hard rock and heavy metal bands. Orchestra performances and records were made from Metallica, Aria, Scorpions, Deep Purple, Rage and Manowar. Manowar’s album in 2007, conceptual entitled “Gods of War” contains an experiment of the band with symphonic instruments and keyboards.

Trending Now

Top 10 Best Metal Albums of 2024

2024 has been a fantastic year for metal, with legendary bands returning and new acts making their mark. From progressive masterpieces to crushing death metal,

The Top 10 Sopranos in Metal Music

In the vibrant landscape of metal music, attempting to rank its talented sopranos feels almost conditional, as each vocalist brings an unparalleled level of skill

Note: Voting is allowed once every 24 hours.