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You don't even need to be a golden oldie to lament the cultural abyss that has opened up before the youth of today. The Top 40 is awash with mindless dance music, boy bands and black American female singers pumping out the same old songs with different titles. To many, it seems our musical evolution is actually going backwards, thanks to today's youth.
While it's a bit of a hard ask to expect most people these days to get into classical music, let alone opera, there are people - even teenagers - who actually listen to a great deal of both! Just don't expect any of the 96.7% who listen to mainstream radio to be among the new cultural elite!
You see, it is actually in the vast genre of Heavy Metal that classical and opera are actually making a huge comeback! There are parents out there who listen to music nowhere near as sophisticated as their black-clad, long-haired teenage kids, as "easy-listening" music by definition means unexciting and uncomplicated. Yet, their kids are listening to a complex, anthem-like blend of classical and opera with various genres of Metal. While the rest of the world listens to passionless, repetitive pop, there is now an underground movement of youth who listen to today's musical virtuosos!
Since there are bound to be older people who would actually like to check out some of the more inspiring music of today, I'll give a brief outline of the genres and bands to look out for (as well as a recommended album of each group mentioned). The influence of classical and/or opera can vary from quite slight to rather intense, and the Metal at its base can range from melodic to extreme. So I'll start with the melodic genres, and finish off with the more extreme. It's not that much different from comparing, say, the more serene movements from Vivaldi's Four Seasons with some vibrant Wagner, or "Mars" from Holst's Planets.
Symphonic Metal is a good general term for Heavy Metal inspired by classical music, while Opera Metal or Operatic Metal is also sometimes used to describe those band with vocals similar to that of opera. Symphonic Metal bands can vary quite a bit, from heavy bands who do very "symphonic" music, through to guys on cellos playing Heavy Metal songs! Having a woman with incredible vocal ability at the helm is almost a signature of this genre. She will either sing like a diva, an opera singer, or perhaps even like an Irish folk singer; more often than not, she will do all of the above.
One of the major bands worthy of note is Denmark's' pride, Within Temptation ("Mother Earth"). The delightful vocals of Sharon den Adel have enchanted millions across the world, and the band's music is a great example of catchy, orchestrated music punctuated by heaviness. Other divas abound, and Symphonic Gothic Metal bands might also have a male backing vocalist who sings "gruff" as a contrast to the female lead-singer's "clean" vocals, like Norway's Tristania ("World Of Glass").
Bands like Therion ("Vovin"), who have almost a whole choir, and Epica ("The Classical Conspiracy"), who have dramatic opera-style vocals, will have a strong classical instrument component to their style. And let's not forget Apocalyptica ("Plays Metallica by Four Cellos") - four young fellows on cellos, who started off playing Metallica covers for a laugh, and now tour the world with their own unique form of acoustic Metal.
Symphonic Power Metal is just Power Metal - smooth but fast-paced Metal characterised by good musicianship and impressive "clean" vocals (usually male) - with a noticeable symphonic element. This is usually achieved through adding classical aspects to the dynamics of the songs, a liberal use of orchestra-like keyboards, and soaring vocals. The songs can sound like anthems, and the lyrics often sing of outdated concepts such as honour, the bonds of brotherhood, the glory of battle, the horror of war, and pretty much anything that probably inspired all the great classical music and operas of the last few centuries. The singers can out-sing any of the world's most commercially-successful vocalists, and guitarists you've never even heard of make the guitar "virtuosos" you listen to sound like beginners!
Outfits like Symphony X ("The Odyssey") are more on the technical side, while Italy's legends Rhapsody ("Rain Of A Thousand Flames") are often so bombastic they have been dubbed "Hollywood Metal" (or even "Film Score Metal"). Kamelot ("The Black Halo") border on a commercial sound, ranging from slow, haunting songs to sophisticated faster ones, while Sonata Arctica ("Ecliptica") prefer fast, anthemic songs with impassioned singing and wild keyboard solos. And then there is the divine Nightwish ("Once") from Finland, one of the first metal bands to feature operatic female vocals, and still one of the major culprits of introducing opera to our teens.
So far, not much seems that strange, especially if you remember all those attempts at orchestrated rock in the '70s. Maybe just a bit heavier, a lot more diverse, and somewhat more inspired. But there is one more symphonic style of Metal, and like some of the more unsettling pieces of classical music, it is a wonder to behold, but not for the faint hearted.
Symphonic Black Metal is, put simply, the greatest horror music the world has ever heard. Lordly, spooky, divine and menacing, it truly is one of the most unique musical genres ever devised by man. It is a combination of Norwegian Black Metal of the 1990s and, of course, symphonic elements. Black Metal started in Norway as a mix of various Metal (and even Punk) influences, and became noted for its brutally unique sound and corpse-paint whitened faces. You may even remember that it also became infamous for a plague of church burnings throughout Norway, as well as a couple of murders!
Musically, Black Metal is definitely an extreme form of music, with machine-gun drums, eerily-screeched lyrics about the battle between Good and Evil, and guitars being savaged at a frantic rate. What separates it from Death Metal (besides the ghoulish persona's) is that beneath the cacophony, each song has an underlying melody that is akin to some of the more spookier or melancholy pieces of classical music, with influences from traditional Viking music through to Baroque.
When some bands in the late '90s started adding keyboards and creating a more atmospheric orchestrated sound, it opened up Black Metal to a whole new audience. Both the music and stage presence of Symphonic Black Metal bands these days is quite theatrical (gruesomely so), and despite the extreme elements, can be just as bombastic as the other genres. Not every song is fast and brutal, since the emphasis is generally on creating an eldritch presence, and often albums will feature a purely orchestrated song. Actually, it's become quite common to have a piece of classical music as the first song leading into the album, which is actually a very effective device.
Bands like Britain's legendary Cradle Of Filth ("Midian") often feature operatic female backing vocals, and are masters of constructing music from layers of both light and dark. Norwegian stalwarts Dimmu Borgir ("Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia") compose morbid anthems, while fellow countrymen Emperor ("IX Equilibrium") opt for a more technically-complex sound.
So Symphonic Black Metal, while heavy and modern, has a delightfully spooky and grandiose feel that admirers of Die Walküre should appreciate, though you'll need to be open-minded, and probably give it more than one listen.
So there you have it - hopefully a short but informing introduction to those who like classical and/or opera, but had no idea just how big the Heavy Metal universe is, and that their cultured tastes could find new musical delicacies to savour there.
Frank Okos
I hope you enjoyed this article. If you'd like to see some more of my writing, you can check out my blog. It has a casual approach, is often a bit zany (I have a unique sense of humour), but more often than not, quite informative as well: http://ozzyfrank.wordpress.com/
My Ubuntu ("Linux for Human Beings") technical blog: http://ubuntugenius.wordpress.com
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