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As of today, Symphonic’s 1* is now 11%. 2% rise in about 2 weeks. I've also noticed that once a bad review goes live, 2 or 3 new 5* reviews go up a day later. I've read these and they read like fake reviews.
May 3, 2022 · I have been listening to some of the harshest forms of Metal (Death, Black, Grindcore...) for almost 30 years on different Kef speakers. They are fantastic due to how linear the frequency response is and how easy it is to work with directivity.
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Is Within Temptation a symphonic apex?
- X Japan - Art of Life
- Sirenia - Riddles, Ruins & Revelations
- Haggard - Eppur Si Muove
- The Young Gods - L’Eau Rouge
- Aesma Daeva - The Eros of Frigid Beauty
- Delain - Lucidity
- The Devin Townsend Project - Deconstruction
- Avantasia - The Metal Opera
- Labyrinth - Return to Heaven Denied
- Bal-Sagoth - Starfire Burning Upon The Ice-Veiled Throne of Ultima Thule
In the early 90s, X Japan (née X) were at their height of popularity. With fame and fawning came limitless self-indulgence. Band leader Yoshiki purchased a Hollywood recording complex and dug into his Scrooge McDuck-ian vault to hire London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to join him on Art Of Life’s two-year-long recording journey. Rife with everyt...
Pushing the boundaries of what it means to be a symphonic metal band, Sirenia’s 10th studio album Riddles, Ruins & Revelations embraced the darker side of the human psyche, as themes of addiction and declining mental health took centre stage in this sprawling epic. The Norwegians welcomed huge, melodic death metal elements to an already bustling pa...
Asis Nasseri has overseen Haggard’s development from early 90s prog-death hopefuls to an extraordinary chamber orchestral metal collective, employing oboe, clarinet, flute, kettledrum and crumhorn. With an impressive 28 credited musicians, their third album Eppur Si Muove – based around the life of Italian astronomer Galileo – was an undertaking as...
No one has ever made symphonic metal quite like Geneva’s The Young Gods. If their self-titled debut album’s looped samples of classical music and barbed riffs instigated a cataclysmic new dawn for heavy music, the follow-up was stealthier yet no less devastating. From La Fille De La Mort’s invoking of molten new landscapes from the most pastoral of...
A collective masterminded by obsessive leader/boundary-pusher John Prassas, this Minnesota-based ensemble were unique for a number of reasons, their combination of avant-garde metal with gilded chamber music and modern classical being one of them. Aesma Daeva pushed additional buttons with The Eros Of Frigid Beauty’s use of drum programming, and fl...
Former Within Temptation keyboardist Martijn Westerholt intended Delain to be a studio project, but his ambitious vision melded cinematic orchestration and bombastic metal into an extravagant gothic symphony too good to be kept locked away. Appearances from previous bandmate Sharon den Adel and then-Nightwish bassist Marko Hietala helped Delain’s c...
Devin Townsend is no stranger to the kitchen sink approach. Such was the scope of the third album of his eclectic Devin Townsend Project venture, and the sheer volume of ideas crammed in, that the symphonic elements weren’t actually the headline act. But even with the Canadian’s eccentricity and humour doing their best to hog the limelight on Decon...
The brainchild of Tobias Sammet, this debut album from Avantasia featured a raft of top vocalists, including Michael Kiske of Helloweenand Sharon den Adel from Within Temptation, on a concept album based around the witch trials in Germany in the 16th and 17th centuries. The album lived up to the title, having a massive, almost Wagnerian approach th...
This Tuscany sextet lean more towards power metal than full-on symphonic metal, but their strength lies in how huge they make the traditional guitar/bass/drums/keys line-up sound. The speed and fluidity of Return To Heaven Denied nudged ahead of early Dragonforce and Sonata Arctica on the timeline, but their incorporation of classical guitars, keyb...
The Yorkshire black metallers suffered from horrendous technical issues on this second album, but it forced them to be inventive, and the result is one of the finest symphonic black metalalbums ever released. Not only was it inevitably brutal, they took inspiration from movie composers such as John Williams, turning towards the wildly imaginative a...
- Jonathan Selzer
- Seven Spires – Emerald Seas (Frontiers Music SRL) Seven Spires have truly captured the spirit of fantasy in their work, and the artists prosper from an education in music coupled with a high degree of care shown to the many sub-genres from which the album draws.
- Magnus Karlsson’s Free Fall – We Are the Night (Frontiers Music SRL) Magnus Karlsson returns with his third Free Fall album, bringing with him a slew of vocal juggernauts from power metal and beyond to propel the album to greatness.
- Majestica – A Christmas Carol (Nuclear Blast Records) A Christmas album may be an unusual candidate for topping year-end lists, but the grandeur and splendor of Majestica‘s approach to a timeless Christmas tale is a spectacular display of triumphant innovation and joyful composition.
- Primal Fear – Metal Commando (Nuclear Blast Records) Few metallic blades can hope to cut as deep as good old fashioned German steel, and the assembled veterans that make up Primal Fear continue to make that very point with yet another brilliant blend of punchy riff work, blinding speed and the occasional epic twist.
Nov 17, 2021 · From Delain and Devin Townsend to Celtic Frost, Nightwish and Cradle Of Filth, these are the 25 best symphonic metal releases that saw metal embrace its grandiose side
- Spencer Grady
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The greatest Symphonic Metal albums of 2021, as voted by RYM/Sonemic users.
