Symphonic black metal

Symphonic black metal is a subgenre of black metal that emerged in the 1990s and incorporates symphonic and orchestral elements.^[1] Notable symphonic black metal bands include Dimmu Borgir, Emperor and Carach Angren.

Characteristics

Symphonic black metal is a style of black metal that incorporates symphonic and orchestral elements. This may include the usage of music workstation keyboards to conjure up "pseudo-orchestral" landscapes with default presets (e.g. strings, choirs, piano, organs, and pads), or full orchestral arrangements containing woodwinds, brass, percussion, keyboards and strings. Bands may feature solo instruments such as violins in addition to virtual or live orchestral arrangements. Vocals can be "clean" or operatic in style, and song structures are more defined or are inspired by symphonies, and follow a typical riff-based approach. Many of the characteristics of traditional black metal are retained, such as shrieks , fast tempos, high treble and tremolo-picked electric guitars. The overal sound and themes can be considered wider than traditional black metal, many groups of symphonic black metal use themes such as vampirism (Theatres des Vampires, Cradle of Filth), occultism and the paranormal (Carach Angren). Political themes are more neglected by them as in other black metal subgenres.

See also

• List of symphonic black metal bands

References