Dutch Symphonic Metal

If Finland's Nightwish opened the door, it was the Dutch bands that turned symphonic metal into a scene with an identity of its own. Between the mid-1990s and the late 2000s, a circuit concentrated in a small country produced Within Temptation, After Forever, Epica and ReVamp — groups that shared musicians, producers and studios, and that pushed the format in distinct directions: the more melodic, pop-leaning side of one, the progressive and choral side of another. It was also where the contrast between lyrical female vocals and growls became established language rather than experiment. No other country concentrated so many significant bands of the genre in so short a span.