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Apr. 23rd, 2006 11:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miko2I've been a fan of Battlelore for a few years. They're a Finnish metal band that only writes about Tolkien themes, and their approach is melodic heavy metal with three different vocalists -- a beautiful female vocalist, a counterpoint male vocalist, and then a "grunting, death metal" style vocalist.
I've always thought that was a very unique approach. Then, much more recently, I was introduced to Nightwish, another Finnish band who play very operatic metal with a powerful female vocalist who is a trained opera singer. I thought that was very unique too.
Well, I was very misinformed on both accounts. As I noticed a few days ago, there are quite a few North European bands that play operatic metal and are fronted by strong female vocalists -- and some of those are also not just talented singers but operatically trained voices as well. And in this Goth Metal scene it's also a fairly common approach to pair a beautiful female vocalist with a grunting death-metal male vocalist, and possible with a nice baritone male vocalist as a third counterpoint. This is common enough that there's a name for this type of music -- B&B Metal, as in Beauty & The Beast.
So I've been exploring a bit more. I bought two new cds yesterday, Nightwhish: Once and Leaves' Eyes: Vineland Saga. It turns out that Leaves' Eyes is a Norwegian band. Up until now, most of the bands of this type that I found were Swedish or Finnish, or German. Within Temptation is a Dutch band, and it turns out there are several bands of this type from the Netherlands... After Forever, another one of those with a certified operatically trained vocalist, and The Gathering. And then there's Tristiana, another Norwegian band that falls into the three-vocal B&B Metal category.
And these are really just the top names in a genre that is apparently quite pervasive in Northern Europe. So much so, that some of these bands are considered, although very good, also quite formulaic. Who knew?
I mean, I've never listened to Evanescence but I'd certainly heard about them. Many of these European bands are somewhat like them, only harder, true metal bands (Evanescence is not a metal band).
Well anyway, it's fun how the internet allows you to explore so much new music that you might never have even known about otherwise.
The Gathering: Leaves
The Gathering: Liberty Bell (Jeff alert: this video takes place in a space capsule)
After Forever: Emphasis
After Forever: My Choice (Sky alert: there is a very short clip of this band singing Skunk Anansie's "Weak" with the Dutch Orpheus Orchestra, so short I didn't link it, but thought you'd be interested. A Skunk Anansie cover? ^_^ )
Tristania: Evenfall
I've been watching my latest Ah! My Goddess anime video today, and joy of joys! Senbei the unhappiness demon makes an appearance! Oh, but what's this? He never does his happy dance! The happy dance was the best part about Senbei!
Oh, and happy birthday to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
miertam!
I've always thought that was a very unique approach. Then, much more recently, I was introduced to Nightwish, another Finnish band who play very operatic metal with a powerful female vocalist who is a trained opera singer. I thought that was very unique too.
Well, I was very misinformed on both accounts. As I noticed a few days ago, there are quite a few North European bands that play operatic metal and are fronted by strong female vocalists -- and some of those are also not just talented singers but operatically trained voices as well. And in this Goth Metal scene it's also a fairly common approach to pair a beautiful female vocalist with a grunting death-metal male vocalist, and possible with a nice baritone male vocalist as a third counterpoint. This is common enough that there's a name for this type of music -- B&B Metal, as in Beauty & The Beast.
So I've been exploring a bit more. I bought two new cds yesterday, Nightwhish: Once and Leaves' Eyes: Vineland Saga. It turns out that Leaves' Eyes is a Norwegian band. Up until now, most of the bands of this type that I found were Swedish or Finnish, or German. Within Temptation is a Dutch band, and it turns out there are several bands of this type from the Netherlands... After Forever, another one of those with a certified operatically trained vocalist, and The Gathering. And then there's Tristiana, another Norwegian band that falls into the three-vocal B&B Metal category.
And these are really just the top names in a genre that is apparently quite pervasive in Northern Europe. So much so, that some of these bands are considered, although very good, also quite formulaic. Who knew?
I mean, I've never listened to Evanescence but I'd certainly heard about them. Many of these European bands are somewhat like them, only harder, true metal bands (Evanescence is not a metal band).
Well anyway, it's fun how the internet allows you to explore so much new music that you might never have even known about otherwise.
The Gathering: Leaves
The Gathering: Liberty Bell (Jeff alert: this video takes place in a space capsule)
After Forever: Emphasis
After Forever: My Choice (Sky alert: there is a very short clip of this band singing Skunk Anansie's "Weak" with the Dutch Orpheus Orchestra, so short I didn't link it, but thought you'd be interested. A Skunk Anansie cover? ^_^ )
Tristania: Evenfall
I've been watching my latest Ah! My Goddess anime video today, and joy of joys! Senbei the unhappiness demon makes an appearance! Oh, but what's this? He never does his happy dance! The happy dance was the best part about Senbei!
Oh, and happy birthday to
miertam!
