Stylistic origins Symphonic metal
black metal Cultural origins Early to mid 1990s, Norway and United Kingdom Typical instruments Electric guitar
bass guitar
drums
keyboard
violin
other acoustic and electronic instruments | ||
Symphonic black metal is a subgenre of black metal that emerged in the mid to late 1990s, and incorporates symphonic and orchestral elements.
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 woodwind, 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, albeit not adhering to forms found in Western music (e.g. sonata, rondo, theme and variations) and following a typical riff-based approach. Many of the characteristics of traditional black metal are retained, such as shrieked vocals, fast tempos, high treble gain and tremolo picked electric guitars.