Symphonic Metal

Symphonic metal consolidated in the late 1990s, when European bands began treating orchestra and choir not as decoration but as part of the composition. Finland's Nightwish was the decisive case, putting a soprano in front of a metal band; in the Netherlands, Within Temptation and After Forever followed a similar path, and in Italy Rhapsody pushed the idea to its narrative extreme, with records conceived as the soundtrack to a saga.

What sets the genre apart is integration: the arrangements do not accompany the guitars, they compete with them for space. This brought resources from opera and film music into metal — wide dynamics, recurring themes, the contrast between lyrical female vocals and growls. It is also the subgenre where production weighs most, since balancing dozens of layers demands studio work that most metal does not require.