Symphonic Metal
One subgenre that I originally couldn’t be bothered with – even though it is a major one – is Symphonic Metal. This is an off-shoot genre of Power Metal, and thus shares much of its musical DNA with its parent genre. This linkage is also visible in some of the bands’ names. These are often lifted from Power Metal songs. If a Symphonic Metal band is called Dragon-Fiddler, then it’s likely a Power Metal band once put out a track called something along the lines of “Dewi’s Mystical Hymne (The Scarlet Dragon-Fiddler).”
Where Symphonic Metal bands differ from Power Metal bands is that the former put even more emphasis on the bombast, believing themselves to be following in the footsteps of scoring giants like John Williams and Hans Zimmer – though they’d be lucky if they could do the score for a Uwe Boll movie –, and they’re more likely to be female-fronted; and if they aren’t, then it still sounds like they are.
It’s generally easy to recognize Symphonic Metal bands from others. Nine out of ten bands have a serif wordmark with a textured gradient fill for a logo, with maybe one or two customly elongated tails – making it look like someone sneezed while working on the letters; the tenth band, meanwhile, probably has a regular Power Metal logo.
Some Symphonic Metal bands to check out:
- Nightwish
- Rhapsody (of Fire)
- Within Temptation
Related (sub)genre(s):
Take me back to the sample overview.