The Best Symphonic Metal Album - Metal Storm Awards 2024

A Wake In Providence - I Write To You, My Darling Decay

Formed in the same year as Lorna Shore and once briefly having that band's current vocalist Will Ramos as part of their line-up, A Wake In Providence have been slow to join the symphonic deathcore trend, but now that they have done so on I Write To You, My Darling Decay, they've made sure to offer a very distinctive take on the sound. There's a real gloomy, haunting atmosphere to the album reminiscent of bands like Kardashev, and some real progressive tendencies in their songwriting. The album is not without bombast, however; not only are there elaborate symphonic arrangements, but the soaring clean vocals that contrast the gutturals and screams are occasionally accompanied by some very dramatic operatic singing. The deathcore has also matured, prioritizing quality over quantity when it comes to breakdowns and delivering a slew of solid riffs for the other sections of the songs. I Write To You, My Darling Decay is a big step forward on multiple fronts for A Wake In Providence and signals a very bright future for the band out of the shadows of their peers.

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Assemble The Chariots - Ephemeral Trilogy Episode 1: Unyielding Night

Considering this comes 16 years after the band first formed, one can only hope that the remaining two episodes of the trilogy implied by the album's title will arrive more swiftly, but Assemble The Chariots have clearly poured a lot of love and attention into Ephemeral Trilogy Episode 1: Unyielding Night. The symphonics on this album are more elaborate than those encountered on pretty much any other symphonic deathcore record, and the metal itself owes almost as much to styles such as melodeath and extreme power. The songs here are fast, grandiose, and glorious, featuring nods to acts as varied as Shadow Of Intent, Fleshgod Apocalypse and Nightwish, with spoken-word narration tying everything together in a big, ambitious story concept.

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Cathubodua - Interbellum

Interbellum is symphonic power metal that doesn't sacrifice either aspect for the other side; violin is the most prominent instrument here, but the wider symphonic arrangements are very impactful. Nevertheless, Cathubodua's fast riffs are front and centre, and deserve to be so, while Sara Vanderheyden is a powerhouse behind the microphone, belting out sensational choruses and nailing verses, yet still finding it within her to rise into operatic territory or descend into growls. The album's concise 30-minute runtime will leave you hungry for far more after listening to knockout hit after knockout hit, with not a second of filler to be found in any of its songs.

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Charlotte Wessels - The Obsession

Martijn Westerholt may have kept the Delain name when 80% of the band departed in 2021, but the other four members are arguably faring better than the group they left behind now that they're reunited under Charlotte Wessels's own name. The Obsession represents a shift in the direction of Wessels's project as it moves from a solo endeavour to a full-band effort, shedding the pop/rock aspects of previous releases in favour of a more metallic approach, and the synergy of these musicians comes through clearly. Wessels is as always a compelling and captivating vocalist, and her voice lifts up already solid chorus hooks, while the songs' riffs and solos make the strength of The Obsession a collaborative success.

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Far Beyond - The End Of My Road

Far Beyond's Eugen Dodenhoeft is evidently very methodical in his approach to this project, as albums don't come frequently; when they do arrive, it's clear that a lot of attention has been paid to their construction. The End Of My Road is a richly symphonic take on a mesh of folk, melodeath, and meloblack that bears similarities to acts like Wintersun, Brymir, and Dodenhoeft's own Euphoreon, and the wonderful tapestries of melody on the album, both faster and daintier ones, are perfectly accompanied by the orchestrals, choirs, and mixture of clean and harsh vocals that compose the album's many layers.

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Fleshgod Apocalypse - Opera

There've been major change in personnel for Fleshgod Apocalypse since the previous album, Veleno, but while the prospect of enjoying an album from the band without the voice of Paolo Rossi is a daunting one, Veronica Bordacchini makes the clean vocal role entirely her own on Opera. Inspired by a near-death experience after a climbing accident on the part of Francesco Paoli, the record features the bombastic orchestrals and ballistic drum blasts that everyone has come to expect from Fleshgod Apocalypse, but Bordacchini's diverse range of vocal styles adds a new dimension to the band's sound. Opera also is arguably more melodically inclined and accessible than previous releases, but accomplishes this without sacrificing the band's ferocity.

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Folterkammer - Weibermacht

Perhaps "operatic black metal" would be the better descriptor for Folterkammer - we tend to blend a lot of terms that we don't fully understand, but Andromeda Anarchia's highly controlled and powerful voice definitely sounds like it belongs on a stage singing Italian under heavy makeup. With libretto by Dani Filth, perhaps. We don't have a category for that, though (there are not too many "operatic metal singers" who sound this much like the real thing), so symphonic it is. And symphonic it is anyway, if by "symphonic" you mean bombastic, fustian, sounds like Fleshgod Apocalypse with the Eyes Wide Shut-style sadomasochistic Art Deco aesthetics of Imperial Triumphant, the parent band of this sophisticated black metal group. Weibermacht is a compelling take on tuxedo-wearing black metal and it closes with a cover of The Velvet Underground's "Venus In Furs", which is absolutely not to be missed.

Hyloxalus - Make Me The Heart Of The Black Hole

Hyloxalus are billed as symphonic power metal, but once you set foot inside this vast, tenebrous chamber, it's hard not to feel as though you've been lured there by some evil spirit: perhaps this is, in fact, cosmic black metal with a fuller sound and a little more melody. The synths are so cold, the rhythms so insistent and mechanical, the choruses so frighteningly ethereal - yes, perhaps there's some Seven Kingdoms in here, but really, Hyloxalus are more Alien than Star Wars, and more Event Horizon than Alien. They're even comparable to Death on occasion. After all, not just anyone can be the heart of the black hole: you’ve got to sound sufficiently ghastly, spectral, and void-suckingly evil. Hyloxalus seem up to the challenge.

Lamašhtu - Längtan

While the exact details may escape non-Swedish-speakers, it's clear enough from the music alone that Lamašhtu are telling a story: one that's based on a book and follows Tro, to be a bit more specific, but more importantly for us a story that's expressed through a heavy mixture of symphonic and progressive metal. Längtan traverses a variety of sounds, becoming foreboding and blackened or epic and majestic or quirky and spritely as the tale evolves, but there's an overarching sense of progression, like a fantastical score. Sandra Mattson's vocals are mid-range and pointed; sometimes she soars away or performs little exercises for dramatic or narrative effect, and there are some harsh vocals, but mostly she has the centered presence of a narrator with a timbre and delivery that demand attention, and that makes Längtan a successful symphony even for those who can't follow its conceptual contours.

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Seven Spires - A Fortress Called Home

Symphonic metal can often get the bad rap of basically being metal with some orchestral-sounding synths slapped on top. That's a pitfall that can be avoided by how well those orchestral elements are integrated within the songs themselves. Seven Spires do that trick by having quite intricate, prog-like structures to the songs, integrating a bit of melodic black/death in addition to the usual power metal, and by still having a lot of the emphasis be placed on choruses that are memorable without being obnoxiously poppy. A lot of the heavy lifting is done by Adrienne Cowan's amazing vocal performance, which gives a lot of the songs both the memorability and the emotional core to take them from good songs to great songs.

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