This month’s playlist is all about symphonic metal, a subgenre which combines metal with classical music. That might be the use of classical music, or classically-trained singers who sing in a more operatic style.
Symphonic metal happens to be one of my favourite styles of music; music by Within Temptation has showed up in several of the previous monthly playlists. Christine and I have seen them live twice; we’ve also seen Delain live twice, although one of those was where Delain were supporting Within Temptation.
I first got into symphonic metal when I met Hari, my ex-girlfriend, as she was already into bands like Nightwish and owned a couple of their albums. Though we split up over sixteen years ago, I’ve continued to enjoy this genre of music and Christine likes it too. Anyway, on with the playlist – as always, you can listen along on Spotify.
- “Faster” by Within Temptation. This was the first single from Within Temptation’s fifth studio album, The Unforgiving, and is their most played song on Spotify. And with good reason – it’s one of my favourites and shows off lead singer Sharon den Adel’s huge vocal range.
- “Bring Me To Life (Synthesis)” by Evanescence. I’ve specifically chosen this newer version from Evanescence’s 2017 album Synthesis, rather than their debut single, as it’s a better fit for the genre with what sounds like a full orchestra backing the band. It also doesn’t have Paul McCoy’s vocals that were in the 2003 single version (also featured on the soundtrack to the early Marvel film Daredevil); these were not included in the original demo (also on Spotify) and were added at the insistence of the record label.
- “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)” by Xandria. It’s a gender-flipped symphonic metal cover version of the epic Meat Loaf song, and yes, it’s of a similar length too. I really like this version.
- “Victims of Contingency” by Epica. Epica really go all in for orchestral accompaniments for their songs, and this is a really good example. It’s definitely metal, with a growly male voice during the verses, but with lead singer Simone Simmons singing the chorus.
- “Nemo” by Nightwish. Nemo was taken from Nightwish’s 2004 album Once, which was their final album featuring their original lead singer Tarja Turunen (who has since pursued a solo career). Again, this is big with the orchestral accompaniment, especially after the key change towards the end.
- “We Are The Others” by Delain. This song was the second single from Delain’s third album, and is a tribute to Sophie Lancaster. It’s a song about feeling like an outcast, and the importance of becoming friends with other outcasts.
- “Hunger” by Amaranthe. Amaranthe are towards the commercial end of symphonic metal, with relatively tight songs that are more friendly to radio play. They’re also quite prolific, having released seven albums since this, their first single, came out in 2011.
- “Magic Forest” by Amberian Dawn. This song has a bit of an 80s feel to it. I’ve listened to a few of Amberian Dawn’s songs, including their ABBA cover, but this is my favourite.
- “Hunting High and Low” by Metalite. This is also a cover, of a song by Stratovarius, but I prefer this version. They’re relatively new, compared to many of the bands on here – this was released as recently as 2020.
- “Edge of Your Sword” by LEAH. Unlike the others on this list, LEAH isn’t a band but a solo music project by Leah McHenry. She releases all her songs independently of a major label, and this is my favourite of hers.
Epica are fantastic. Chasing the Dragon is one of those songs that makes the hair on the back of my neck stick up.