symphonicmetal

Playlist of the month: Symphonic Metal Covers

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A screenshot of the symphonic metal covers playlist on Spotify

Following last month’s playlist of ska covers, I’m going to do another playlist of covers – this time in the subgenre of symphonic metal. In my previous symphonic metal playlist, I included a couple of covers, so these are all different songs. You can listen along on Spotify.

  • “Summertime Sadness” by Within Temptation. Within Temptation did a whole album of cover versions, called The Q-Music Sessions, and this is a cover of the Lana Del Rey song. It’s at a faster tempo than the original and was later included on their sixth studio album, Hydra. When we saw Within Temptation for the second time, in 2014, they played an acoustic version of this.
  • “The Phantom of the Opera” by Nightwish. This a cover of the titular song from the musical, originally performed by Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford. This was recorded when Tarja Turunen was still Nightwish’s lead vocalist, with Marko Hietala performing the male part.
  • “Smalltown Boy” by Delain. Smalltown Boy, originally recorded by Bronski Beat in 1984, is a well-known song about being gay in a small town and wanting to move to a more welcoming city – a common experience for gay men in the 1980s. Delain is another band I’ve seen live more than once, and this was recorded with their original line-up with Charlotte Wessels as the lead vocalist.
  • “Enjoy the Silence” by Lacuna Coil. Italian band Lacuna Coil have recorded a few covers in their time, so I could have chosen their cover of REM’s ‘Losing My Religion’. Instead, here’s their cover of Depeche Mode’s ‘Enjoy The Silence’. This is probably my favourite song of theirs.
  • “Lay All Your Love On Me” by Amberian Dawn. Amberian Dawn have recorded more than one ABBA cover, so I could have shared “Gimme Gimme Gimme” as well.
  • “The Chain” by Evanescence. Considering that Evanescence have been around for well over 20 years now, this is actually one of their more recent recordings and is a Fleetwood Mac cover. However, it only covers the first bit of the song; famously, the second part of the original is used as the theme music for Formula 1 racing.
  • “Frozen” by Mortemia. A suggestion by Spotify that came up when I was compiling this playlist. This is a cover of the Madonna song and the first single from her Ray of Light album.
  • “Take on Me” by Northern Kings. Northern Kings is a supergroup, made up of, amongst others, the aforementioned Marko Hietala from Nightwish, who recorded two albums of covers. This is a cover of the famous A-Ha song.
  • “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Exit Eden. Whilst Northern Kings are a male supergroup, Exit Eden is a female equivalent who mostly (but not exclusively) record covers, including this one of the Bonnie Tyler classic. I could have chosen ‘Run!’ which also features Marko Hietala, again.
  • “Because the Night” by Domina Noctis. Another Spotify suggestion, this is a cover of the Patti Smith original (although I know it better for the earlier Eurodance covers by Jan Wayne and Cascada).

Playlist of the month: Symphonic Metal

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Screenshot of the symphonic metal playlist

This month’s playlist is all about symphonic metal, a subgenre which combines metal with classical music. That might be the use of classical music, or classically-trained singers who sing in a more operatic style.

Symphonic metal happens to be one of my favourite styles of music; music by Within Temptation has showed up in several of the previous monthly playlists. Christine and I have seen them live twice; we’ve also seen Delain live twice, although one of those was where Delain were supporting Within Temptation.

I first got into symphonic metal when I met Hari, my ex-girlfriend, as she was already into bands like Nightwish and owned a couple of their albums. Though we split up over sixteen years ago, I’ve continued to enjoy this genre of music and Christine likes it too. Anyway, on with the playlist – as always, you can listen along on Spotify.

  • “Faster” by Within Temptation. This was the first single from Within Temptation’s fifth studio album, The Unforgiving, and is their most played song on Spotify. And with good reason – it’s one of my favourites and shows off lead singer Sharon den Adel’s huge vocal range.
  • “Bring Me To Life (Synthesis)” by Evanescence. I’ve specifically chosen this newer version from Evanescence’s 2017 album Synthesis, rather than their debut single, as it’s a better fit for the genre with what sounds like a full orchestra backing the band. It also doesn’t have Paul McCoy’s vocals that were in the 2003 single version (also featured on the soundtrack to the early Marvel film Daredevil); these were not included in the original demo (also on Spotify) and were added at the insistence of the record label.
  • “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)” by Xandria. It’s a gender-flipped symphonic metal cover version of the epic Meat Loaf song, and yes, it’s of a similar length too. I really like this version.
  • “Victims of Contingency” by Epica. Epica really go all in for orchestral accompaniments for their songs, and this is a really good example. It’s definitely metal, with a growly male voice during the verses, but with lead singer Simone Simmons singing the chorus.
  • “Nemo” by Nightwish. Nemo was taken from Nightwish’s 2004 album Once, which was their final album featuring their original lead singer Tarja Turunen (who has since pursued a solo career). Again, this is big with the orchestral accompaniment, especially after the key change towards the end.
  • “We Are The Others” by Delain. This song was the second single from Delain’s third album, and is a tribute to Sophie Lancaster. It’s a song about feeling like an outcast, and the importance of becoming friends with other outcasts.
  • “Hunger” by Amaranthe. Amaranthe are towards the commercial end of symphonic metal, with relatively tight songs that are more friendly to radio play. They’re also quite prolific, having released seven albums since this, their first single, came out in 2011.
  • “Magic Forest” by Amberian Dawn. This song has a bit of an 80s feel to it. I’ve listened to a few of Amberian Dawn’s songs, including their ABBA cover, but this is my favourite.
  • “Hunting High and Low” by Metalite. This is also a cover, of a song by Stratovarius, but I prefer this version. They’re relatively new, compared to many of the bands on here – this was released as recently as 2020.
  • “Edge of Your Sword” by LEAH. Unlike the others on this list, LEAH isn’t a band but a solo music project by Leah McHenry. She releases all her songs independently of a major label, and this is my favourite of hers.