Symphonic Metal

The orchestra as siege engine

The largest army ever marched onstage, symphonic metal, sets guitars, bass and drums beside orchestral instruments and choirs, whether a real orchestra in the room, a keyboard workstation imitating one or a backing track fired off a hard drive, and lets the strings and brass carry the melody while the band drives the rhythm underneath. The guitars often play the simpler part. That is deliberate. The riff is the gun carriage and the orchestra the cannon bolted on top of it, wheeled up to the walls of the song so the chorus can smash through the battlements at full charge.

The lead voice is usually female and often operatic, with a growling male voice brought in for contrast, and the songs run highly atmospheric while staying brighter than most of what metal plays. What separates symphonic metal from its neighbours is the job the orchestra does. In gothic metal the keyboards darken the room. Here the orchestra holds up the roof, and pulling it out would bring the whole cathedral down on the drummer's head.

Symphonic metal storms the hall

Branching out of one orchestra pit like four tunnels dug from the same crypt, the map runs in as many directions as there are older styles to dress in strings: a gothic strand, a power metal strand that Rhapsody of Fire built on Vivaldi and Paganini, a black metal strand led by Emperor and Dimmu Borgir, and a death metal strand where Fleshgod Apocalypse fire orchestra and blast beats at the same target. Each wears the same tailcoat. Most wear it over armour.

The gothic strand found a second home in the Netherlands, where the symphonic metal bands Within Temptation, After Forever, Epica and Delain all grew up, and Finland supplied the name most people know. Nightwish leaned toward power metal on Oceanborn and folded gothic shades in later, on Once. Norway added Sirenia. Germany added Xandria and Leaves' Eyes.

The borders get crossed from every side. The Finnish cellists of Apocalyptica began by playing Metallica on four cellos in 1996 and sit on the edge of symphonic metal without an orchestra at all, power metal bands such as Kamelot and Sabaton hire orchestras without leaving home, and deathcore bands led by Lorna Shore have bolted symphonic layers onto breakdowns heavy enough to crack a stage. The strings survive it. Kamelot even borrowed Simone Simons of Epica to sing Marguerite on The Black Halo.

Scores for opening night

Five symphonic metal albums, one for every corner of the map, from a choir session in Hamburg to a death metal band that hired its own orchestrator. Start with the choir.

• Therion Theli Nuclear Blast, 1996

  The North German Radio Choir and the Siren Choir behind the band, "To Mega Therion" as the video, and Christofer Johnsson's last lead vocals until 2004.

• Nightwish Oceanborn Spinefarm, 1998

  Tarja Turunen's operatic voice over Tuomas Holopainen's keyboard battalions, faster and nearer power metal than the debut, and platinum in Finland.

• Within Temptation Mother Earth DSFA, 2000

  "Ice Queen" became the breakthrough, Celtic touches came in from the Braveheart soundtrack, and sales reached around 800,000 copies worldwide by 2011.

• Epica The Divine Conspiracy Nuclear Blast, 2007

  Simone Simons at the centre of a 75 minute concept about the hidden unity of religions, produced with Sascha Paeth, and the band's first Dutch top ten.

• Fleshgod Apocalypse Agony Nuclear Blast, 2011

  Technical death metal at full blast with an orchestra laid over it, and Francesco Ferrini's first record as a full-time member on piano and orchestration.