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Heavy Metal Thunder Neoclassical Power Metal

Genres Heavy Metal Power Metal Neoclassical Shred Neoclassical Power Metal

Neoclassical Power Metal

That same baroque guitar language handed to a full band with a vocalist — harpsichord and classical runs inside proper songs.

Active years
1994 – present
Origin
Finland / Italy / Brazil
Family
Power Metal
Bands here
13

Start here

Three records in order of how easy they are to get into — which is not the same as best first.

  1. The Divine Wings of Tragedy Symphony X, 1997 The landmark

    The most accomplished record in the style. Michael Romeo writes like a composer rather than a shredder, Russell Allen has a proper heavy metal voice, and the title track runs to twenty minutes without sagging.

    Listen to The Divine Wings of Tragedy

  2. Holy Land Angra, 1996

    Brazilian, and the only record in the genre with Amazonian percussion and a Villa-Lobos influence. Andre Matos sings in a register that makes Yngwie's singers sound gruff.

    Listen to Holy Land

  3. Symphony of Enchanted Lands Rhapsody of Fire, 1998

    Released under the name Rhapsody — the band added "of Fire" in 2006. Choirs, a narrator, and Luca Turilli playing Paganini over a double kick drum. Utterly straight-faced.

    Listen to Symphony of Enchanted Lands

What it sounds like

The same baroque vocabulary, handed to a band with a singer. Harpsichord and organ sit alongside the guitar, the classical runs are shared between keyboard and lead rather than hoarded, and the songs have verses, choruses and a story to tell. Speeds stay very high. Where the instrumental strand exists to display a guitarist, this exists to write actual songs around the same technique, which makes it far easier to sit through at album length. It is the most technically demanding thing in the power family and it wears that lightly, which is the trick. Compared with European power metal the harmony is far more chromatic and the playing considerably harder, which is why the bands tend to be smaller and the musicianship better.

  • Heaviness 3 out of 5
  • Speed 5 out of 5
  • Aggression 3 out of 5
  • Technicality 5 out of 5
  • Darkness 2 out of 5
  • Melody 5 out of 5

Where the name came from

The band-shaped descendant of the shred era. Stratovarius under Timo Tolkki and Symphony X under Michael Romeo took neoclassical guitar vocabulary and wrote songs around it rather than solos, and the Italian and Japanese scenes ran with it.

The bands

Hear these first

  • Symphony X USA
  • Angra Brazil
  • Rhapsody of Fire Italy
  • Stratovarius Finland
  • Royal Hunt Denmark

And 8 more

  • Adagio France
  • Artension USA
  • Galneryus Japan
  • Concerto Moon Japan
  • Time Requiem Sweden
  • Luca Turilli's Rhapsody Italy
  • Kamelot USA
  • Alogia Serbia

If you liked this

Closest in sound outside this family, leaning towards the similar or the gentler rather than straight into the deep end.