She followed that up with “Fading Into Silence” earlier this year. “Lust” explores passion at its most dangerous and intoxicating. The song captures all-consuming desire, the kind that thrives despite the risk of burning out. Sophia Mengrosso has been vocal about using honesty in her process, examining her experiences and struggles as inspiration for her lyrics rather than seeing them as limitations.

Musically, the song has an epic melodic motif that is repeated across different instrumentation combinations like a character theme in a movie or play. The dramatic theater-like presentation courses through the veins of every element of this song, especially the vocal delivery. It has the sensibilities of symphonic metal but is a bit softer around the edges.

Sophia Mengrosso has carved out space where opera training and metal intensity meet without one undermining the other. “Lust” shows she’s not backing away from the heavier side of her sound while keeping the vocal sophistication that sets her apart. She’s planning to collaborate with like-minded artists and continue building a discography around strength and perseverance. For someone using music to process pain and create space for empowerment, “Lust” fits that mission without being heavy-handed about it.

Although the instrumental post-rock label isn’t exactly what we’re used to, it’s nice to see how different artists use their talent to develop a new kind of music material.

Ilydaen was one of the few bands to give this new genre its name, and showed the world what their talent is made of. The band was created in 2009, originating from Liège – Belgium, and has released 3 albums since 2012.

In their 2012 album “Digressions”, the band started off with a smooth opening from their first track ‘Rewind’ that later ascended the next track ‘Grinding Calls’, but soon the tracks became too similar that it seems you’re listening to 1 long track rather than 6 different ones with different beat. The only tie-breaker was Track 4 ‘Tormenting Stones’ as it was to the background vocals that made it stand out from the rest.

But if you wanna hear more from them, then make sure you checkout their latest 2-track album “Implementary”.

Symphonic Black Metal:

Now, this is the subgenre that really tired me! About 500 symphonic black metal bands give or take! Luckily, I could only check about 300!

Symphonic black metal is not like any other sub genre, very deep, and very mysterious. Usually, it doesn’t mean literary symphonic, it just refers to how the music generally sounds. Vocals could switch from other clean vocals or harsh vocals, but they didn’t really insist on having female vocals like other symphonic metal sub genres. So countable, like “13 Winters”, “Ansectral Legacy”, “Fear of Insomnia”, “Im Nebel”, “Vaakevandring” and others who were mainly formed in the mid-90s.

Checking out the bands, it was very interesting to know their lyrical themes. They have very dark thoughts, black and suicidal ideas. Their lyrics could be about pain, hate, darkness, mythology, immortality, depression, pessimism, anti-religious proclamations, death, ghosts, fear, madness, dreams and nightmares, satire, wolves, magic, vampires and misery.

Some bands tend to have some harsh make up, or masks on their faces, consisting of the two colors black and white, either in videos or live. The band that first came with this tradition was “Avatar” formed in Belgium back in 1992. Then other bands followed their same tradition as “Apogheum”, “Frozen Path”, “Knight of Darkness”, “Lustnotes”, “Misteltin”, “Perversus Stigmata” and “The Chaos Nether Silence.”

In 1989 two symphonic black metal bands were known to the world. One was named “Bal-Sagoth” from England, and the other is “Obtained Enslavement” from Norway. “Bal-Sagoth” released their first full-length album “A Black Moon Broods Over Lemuria” in 1995 and was credited as awesome! And they are still active till now. As for “Obtained Enslavement” they released their album, a year earlier called “Centuries of Sorrow” but unfortunately split up in 2000.

At the beginning of the 2000s Europe witnessed a huge number of symphonic black metal bands being born; more than 120 bands since 2000, such as “Aeons ov Frost”, “Cruel Humanity”, “Dana”, “Keen”, “Miza Vers”, “Ravenage”, “The Moor” and others.

Symphonic Gothic Metal:

There isn’t a real description for symphonic gothic metal; it is somehow similar to symphonic metal. However, it has more use of orchestras than any other sub genre. You can feel the piano, feel the flute, and most of all feel the great voice of the vocalist. Mostly, symphonic gothic metal bands are female fronted.

As usual, I’ll start with the first symphonic metal band. “Entropy” from Netherlands formed in 1989, which was typically fronted by the vocalist Maaike Breijman, then replaced with Shanna Bartels. As for myself, I haven’t been aware of them, as their album “Become a God” in 1995 wasn’t given so many credits.

Of course, since I mentioned the word Gothic, it can naturally occur to you “Within Temptation” formed in 1996 fronted by their soprano female vocal Sharon Den Adel, who actually is the former vocalist of the band accompanied with Robert Westerholt. The first album “Enter” was released in 1997 along with Nightwish’s album “Angels Fall First” and there was a great competition between both albums. But because of the great music “Within Temptation” had, and “Nightwish’s” Tarja’s strong operatic voice, both bands managed to have great fans and break records since the first album.

“Within Temptation’s” last album “The Heart of Everything” that was released in 2007 contains 11 very beautiful tracks, which I highly recommend.

““The Heart of Everything” is a strong album, and an appealing blend of gothic and symphonic metal. The songs are dynamic and bombastic with metal guitars winding around and through epic orchestral arrangements. They have the optimum balance of the melody and hooks of mainstream rock, the depth and complexity of classical music and the dark edge of gothic metal”, states Chad Bowar from about.com

– Check Symphonic Metal – Part One through here.

For those who don’t know about Symphonic Metal, let me tell you about it. Symphonic Metal is a genre of metal, accompanied with different elements of music similar to classic orchestras or symphonies. They are mostly known for their classical themes and their female vocalists.

As for genres, there are many different sub genres of symphonic metal, let me name some: Power, Black, Death, Progressive, Operatic, Gothic and others. But the main three are Black, Power and Gothic. These three are how symphonic bands are categorized.

Usually in Metal tracks, we hear the normal instruments such as guitars, bass, and drums. But as for Symphonic Metal tracks some instruments were added, to give that feeling of a musical symphony, such as Keyboards, which play the most important role in the music, and tend to have the most complex, difficult part in any classical track- cellos, violins, flutes, and other classic instruments. Some bands could just use a keyboard to do all the classical parts. Others could use real instruments in recording or even getting an orchestra live!

Lyrics of Symphonic Metal are highly expansive, covering a wide range of topics. They often have a scent of fantasy, or dramatic themes. Epics are considered to be the most used of a symphonic metal track.

Also bands in Symphonic Metal tend to have female vocalists. Female figures with their operatic voice, give a symphonic feeling. Those female vocalists of the best Symphonic Metal bands tend to sing mezzo-soprano melodies. And who would be a better example than Sharon Den Adel, “Within Temptation’s” vocalist? With her high-pitched voice, and operatic style, this band broke all the boundaries known for a symphonic metal band!

Other bands with male vocalists usually fall into symphonic black and symphonic death metal, such as “Wintersun”, “Anorexia Nervosa”, “Lux Occulta” “Crimson Moonlight” and others.

These were the characteristics; let’s now talk about the genres and the bands!

Symphonic Metal:

I guess that genre speaks for itself! It is pure symphony mixed with metal. Not black, not power, and not death, just symphony, few bands stick to this genre. The first pure symphonic band is “Dunwich” formed in 1985 from Italy. The last known line up for the band was Claudio Nigris, who was the composer and the keyboardist, and Francesca Naccarelli who was the vocalist. The last album they released was in 2008 and called “Heilagmanoth”.

One of the very, very interesting bands that appeared in 1991 and still alive is “Haggard”. However they started as a death metal band, but later transformed into symphonic metal as they developed. They have a very interesting line up consisting of 16 members! Starting normally from drums and bass, till violin, cello and piccolo. Let alone 2 soprano vocals!

“Haggard”, as I have been told are famous here in Egypt, for their pure symphonic style. Two songs of which I heard were “De La Morte Noire” and “The Observer”, and I was stunned. If you haven’t heard them yet, I guarantee you a great piece of art.
Later on, in 1993, another band came out from Czech Republic called “Interitus”. This band, apart from “Dunwich” showed a new meaning of symphony. In addition to their female vocal, they had 3 violin players, to give a classical feeling in recorded and live concerts.
In the past couple of years-starting from 2006 till now, many symphonic bands appeared, and most of them made sure to have a female as a vocalist. Some of them are “Inopia”, “Scarlet heart memory”- which is male solo project – “Underverse” and “Whyzdom”.

Symphonic Power Metal:

Symphonic power metal could also be known as epic symphonic metal. It usually doesn’t come with this name only, but it is also associated with other sub genres, as gothic symphonic power metal, melodic symphonic power metal, symphonic progressive power metal and more! What differentiates them from other symphonic metal bands is that they have an extensive usage of keyboards or classical instruments in a melodic way, and very high operatic vocals. Most of the symphonic power metal bands are European.
In almost all the symphonic power metal tracks I heard, the lyrics had a story in beneath. Many lyrical themes, almost too many to list!

Of course, when we name power metal we should recall “Nightwish” the prototypical symphonic power metal band. They started in 1996 from Finland and produced their very first album “Angels fall first”. As per Tim Pigeon, a reviewer from metalreviews.com: “Nightwish play bombastic, symphonic power metal that is distinguished by Tarja’s operatic voice and a heavy reliance on keyboards”. One of the greatest songs by Tarja Turunen that could illustrate the genre well is “Ghost Love Score” from the album “Once”, released in 2004. Later on, Tarja was replaced with Anette Olzen in 2005, and also produced a very beautiful song that would come to be another example of the genre called “The Poet and the Pendulum” from the album “Dark Passion Play” -2007- “These songs follow the epic scope and extended formal characteristic of power metal while making extensive use of orchestral elements”- Wikipedia.

The first Symphonic Power Metal band was in fact Symphonic Progressive Power Metal band, named “Exawatt” formed back in 1991 in Italy. Their first album entitled after their name was released in 1995 which was a demo. Their first full-length album was in 2005 and called “Time Frames” which made a great smash hit in the metal world.

As I searched for symphonic power metal bands, I was surprised to see the Egyptian band “Redeemers” in almost all the search results as they played power metal. “Redeemers” was formed in 2001 having the theme of warriors and fantasies. The vocal has a great operatic voice and they have a great usage of keyboards which gives you a feeling of the old ages. Their songs are sung in a conversational way with the music in the background to travel with your ear back in time!

Later on, in the 2000’s hundreds of bands appeared, especially from Europe, but they didn’t really concentrate on having a female vocal, the music was what mattered. “Ante Mortem” “Beyond the Forest”, “Epica”, “Red Dawn”, “Silver Claw”, “Versailles” and dozens of others who decided to follow the symphonic power metal style!

Black Metal fans, I think you may like the upcoming part. So stay tuned for part 2! To be continued….

– You can find Symphonic Metal – Part Two through here.