Neo-classical metal
Encyclopedia
Neo-classical metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music
that is heavily influenced by classical music
. It refers to a very technical performanceExact quote from the french text: "L'arrivée du néoclassique remet au goût du jour la virtuosité et le travail de l'instrument", « Les secrets du metal- Etudes de Style », March 2009, p.14 consisting of elements borrowed from both classical and heavy metal music. Yngwie Malmsteen, the most notable musician in the sub-genre, contributed greatly to the development of the style in the 1980s.Exact quote from the french text: "C'est véritablement en 1984, avec son premier album solo "Rising Force", que le virtuose suédois Yngwie Malmsteen fait découvrir au monde son mélange unique de baroque et de heavy metal", « Les secrets du metal- Etudes de Style », March 2009, p.14 Four others of the most noted players in this genre are Jason Becker
, Tony MacAlpine
and Vinnie Moore
Exact quote from the french text: "Toute un pléiade de guitars heroes va deferler, pour la plupart révélés par le label Shrapel records, parmi lesquels les plus légendaires sont Jason Becker, Tony McAlpine et Vinnie Moore", «Les secrets du metal- Etudes de Style », March 2009, p.14 & Shawn Lane
.
. In this it is a concept distinct from how neoclassicism
is understood within the classical music tradition. Neoclassical music
usually refers to the movement in musical modernism
in which composers gained influence from the Classical period
. This period roughly spans the years from 1750 to 1810 with the best known composers of strictly classical music including Mozart and Haydn and also Beethoven during the early part of his career before he laid the musical foundations of the romantic movement in music
. The classical period was a time in which rigidly structured musical forms such as the sonata
, symphony
and string quartet
were developed. Musical Neoclassicism developed roughly a century after the end of the classical period and peaked during the years in between the two World Wars. It was a reaction against late 19th and early 20th-century romanticism as embodied in the works of composers such as Richard Wagner
and Gustav Mahler
who had stretched both musical language and musical form to produce massive works where the limits of tonality were broken. Neoclassical composers include both Igor Stravinsky
and Paul Hindemith
.
On the other hand, neo-classical-metal music does not restrict itself to a return to classical aesthetic ideals, such as equilibrium and formalism. Its influences include both the Romantic musical period and the Baroque period of the seventeenth and first half of the eighteenth centuries. The music of late Baroque composers such as Vivaldi, Handel
and Bach
was often highly ornate. Neo-classical metal musicians such as Yngwie J. Malmsteen
and Joshua Perahia are inspired by this aspect of Baroque musicExact quote from the french text: "C'est véritablement en 1984, avec son premier album solo "Rising Force", que le virtuose suédois Yngwie Malmsteen fait découvrir au monde son mélange unique de baroque et de heavy metal", « Les secrets du metal- Etudes de Style », March 2009, p.14 and also by later virtuoso composers such as the violinist Niccolò Paganini
in using runs and other decorative and showy techniques in their performances. Indeed several neo-classical-metal musicians have performed their own versions of Paganini's famous 24th caprice.
Neo-classical metal music thus looks to classical music as broadly understood by the general public and not to the more specialist technical definition used within classical circles. Because of its breadth of influence and avoidance of simplicity, neo-classical metal music is not a form of Neoclassicism by its traditional definition.
, Uli Jon Roth and Randy Rhoads
. The styling existed mainly with guitarists but was also present with other instrumentalists, such as Yes
keyboardist Rick Wakeman
.
Heavy metal guitar technique developed rapidly from its late-'60s beginnings to its late-'80s peak, but prior to the 1980s, few metal guitarists displayed the advanced technical proficiency which is a hallmark of the neo-classical metal style. The popularization and growth of neo-classical metal is closely related to the ascension of the guitar "shredding" movement, as many neo-classical metal guitarists such as Joshua Perahia of RCA, Virgin, and Polydor records who took inspiration from virtuoso classical musicians such as Niccolo Paganini
and Frederic Chopin
.
The "golden age" of neo-classical metal in the middle to late 1980s revolved around the sizeable roster of flashy electric-guitar soloists who recorded mostly instrumental albums for Mike Varney
's Shrapnel Records
label. Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, widely regarded as the originatorExact quote from the french text: "Si l'on peut clairement considérer Randy Rhoads, Uli Jon Roth et Ritchie Blackmore, comme les précurseurs, c'est véritablement en 1984, [...] que le virtuose suédois Yngwie Malmsteen fait découvrir au monde son mélange unique de baroque et de heavy metal", « Les secrets du metal- Etudes de Style », March 2009, p.14 and still-reigning king of neo-classical metal, was brought to the United States by Varney to sign with Shrapnel Records in 1982. Malmsteen drew influence from both rock and classical idioms from a young age in developing his hyper-amplified, hyper-fast technique on the electric guitar; Malmsteen's style in turn inspired countless imitators from the moment his earliest Shrapnel recordings appeared.
Many subsequent Shrapnel artistsExact quote from the french text: "Toute une pléiade de guitars heroes va déferler, pour la plupart révélés par le label Shrapnel Records, parmi lesquels les plus légendaires sont Jason Becker, Tony McAlpine et Vinnie Moore", « Les secrets du metal- Etudes de Style », March 2009, p.14, including Tony Macalpine
, Vinnie Moore
, Joey Tafolla
, Paul Gilbert
, David T. Chastain
, Jason Becker
, and Marty Friedman, emerged in the latter '80s as exemplars of the neo-classical style. Virtually all these guitarists adhered in great degree to the stylistic forms pioneered by Malmsteen.
In recent years, appreciation of the neo-classical metal oeuvre has been largely confined to guitarists in more of an underground setting, as the style is not well known beyond the realm of guitarists. Today, there are many more bands that contribute as a whole as opposed to the "solo" musicians in the past. Some of today's notable neo-classical metal performers are Michael Angelo Batio
, Vitalij Kuprij
, Trans-Siberian Orchestra
, Mark Wood
, Joe Stump
, Cacophony
, Symphony X
, Stratovarius
, Rata Blanca
, Narnia
, Rhapsody of Fire
, Time Requiem
, At Vance
, Galneryus
, Mastercastle
, Versailles
, Sound Horizon
, Necrophagist
, Heavenly
, Concerto Moon
, Fleshgod Apocalypse
, Adagio
, Dark Moor
, Warmen
, and Artension
. Even more recently there has been a sudden burst of slight neo-classical influence within mainstream metal acts such as Children of Bodom
, Protest the Hero
and The Human Abstract
. On disc two of her instrumental
album Laced/Unlaced
, violinist Emilie Autumn
performs classical-inspired "shred" solos with heavy distortion on the electric violin, reminiscent of neo-classical metal guitar solos.
A common practice in the genre is to transcribe classical pieces and play them in a rock/metal band format. The Baroque
and Classical
periods have been particularly influential to the genre because of their unique sound and techniques that blend into a rock setting effectively. Some of the techniques used include counterpoint
and pedal point
.
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
that is heavily influenced by classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
. It refers to a very technical performanceExact quote from the french text: "L'arrivée du néoclassique remet au goût du jour la virtuosité et le travail de l'instrument", « Les secrets du metal- Etudes de Style », March 2009, p.14 consisting of elements borrowed from both classical and heavy metal music. Yngwie Malmsteen, the most notable musician in the sub-genre, contributed greatly to the development of the style in the 1980s.Exact quote from the french text: "C'est véritablement en 1984, avec son premier album solo "Rising Force", que le virtuose suédois Yngwie Malmsteen fait découvrir au monde son mélange unique de baroque et de heavy metal", « Les secrets du metal- Etudes de Style », March 2009, p.14 Four others of the most noted players in this genre are Jason Becker
Jason Becker
Jason Eli Becker is an American virtuoso neo-classical metal guitarist and composer. At the age of 16, he became part of the Mike Varney-produced duo Cacophony with his friend Marty Friedman. They released Speed Metal Symphony in 1987 and Go Off! in 1988...
, Tony MacAlpine
Tony MacAlpine
Tony Jeff MacAlpine is an American guitarist and keyboardist. Having released ten studio albums over a career spanning more than two decades, he is best known as an instrumental solo guitarist, although he has worked with many different bands and musicians in the form of guest appearances and...
and Vinnie Moore
Vinnie Moore
Vinnie Moore is a guitarist and a member of the English hard rock band UFO. Along with Yngwie Malmsteen, Tony MacAlpine, and others, Moore is known as one of the most influential guitarists to emerge out of the shredder boom in the mid 1980s.-Biography:Moore was born in New Castle, Delaware...
Exact quote from the french text: "Toute un pléiade de guitars heroes va deferler, pour la plupart révélés par le label Shrapel records, parmi lesquels les plus légendaires sont Jason Becker, Tony McAlpine et Vinnie Moore", «Les secrets du metal- Etudes de Style », March 2009, p.14 & Shawn Lane
Shawn Lane
Shawn Lane was an American musician. Although piano was his first instrument, he quickly became a noted player in underground guitar circles and joined Black Oak Arkansas when he was just fourteen years old....
.
Definition
Neo-classical metal takes its name from a broad conception of classical musicClassical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
. In this it is a concept distinct from how neoclassicism
Neoclassicism (music)
Neoclassicism in music was a twentieth-century trend, particularly current in the period between the two World Wars, in which composers sought to return to aesthetic precepts associated with the broadly defined concept of "classicism", namely order, balance, clarity, economy, and emotional restraint...
is understood within the classical music tradition. Neoclassical music
Neoclassicism (music)
Neoclassicism in music was a twentieth-century trend, particularly current in the period between the two World Wars, in which composers sought to return to aesthetic precepts associated with the broadly defined concept of "classicism", namely order, balance, clarity, economy, and emotional restraint...
usually refers to the movement in musical modernism
Modernism (music)
Modernism in music is characterized by a desire for or belief in progress and science, surrealism, anti-romanticism, political advocacy, general intellectualism, and/or a breaking with the past or common practice.- Defining musical modernism :...
in which composers gained influence from the Classical period
Classical period (music)
The dates of the Classical Period in Western music are generally accepted as being between about 1750 and 1830. However, the term classical music is used colloquially to describe a variety of Western musical styles from the ninth century to the present, and especially from the sixteenth or...
. This period roughly spans the years from 1750 to 1810 with the best known composers of strictly classical music including Mozart and Haydn and also Beethoven during the early part of his career before he laid the musical foundations of the romantic movement in music
Romantic music
Romantic music or music in the Romantic Period is a musicological and artistic term referring to a particular period, theory, compositional practice, and canon in Western music history, from 1810 to 1900....
. The classical period was a time in which rigidly structured musical forms such as the sonata
Sonata
Sonata , in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata , a piece sung. The term, being vague, naturally evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms prior to the Classical era...
, symphony
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
and string quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
were developed. Musical Neoclassicism developed roughly a century after the end of the classical period and peaked during the years in between the two World Wars. It was a reaction against late 19th and early 20th-century romanticism as embodied in the works of composers such as Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
and Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
who had stretched both musical language and musical form to produce massive works where the limits of tonality were broken. Neoclassical composers include both Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
and Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
.
On the other hand, neo-classical-metal music does not restrict itself to a return to classical aesthetic ideals, such as equilibrium and formalism. Its influences include both the Romantic musical period and the Baroque period of the seventeenth and first half of the eighteenth centuries. The music of late Baroque composers such as Vivaldi, Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
and Bach
Bạch
Bạch is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Bai in Chinese and Baek, in Korean.Bach is the anglicized variation of the surname Bạch.-Notable people with the surname Bạch:* Bạch Liêu...
was often highly ornate. Neo-classical metal musicians such as Yngwie J. Malmsteen
Yngwie J. Malmsteen
Yngwie Johann Malmsteen is a Swedish guitarist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and bandleader. Malmsteen became known for his neo-classical playing approach in heavy metal music which became a new musical style in the early 1980s.- Early life :...
and Joshua Perahia are inspired by this aspect of Baroque musicExact quote from the french text: "C'est véritablement en 1984, avec son premier album solo "Rising Force", que le virtuose suédois Yngwie Malmsteen fait découvrir au monde son mélange unique de baroque et de heavy metal", « Les secrets du metal- Etudes de Style », March 2009, p.14 and also by later virtuoso composers such as the violinist Niccolò Paganini
Niccolò Paganini
Niccolò Paganini was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique...
in using runs and other decorative and showy techniques in their performances. Indeed several neo-classical-metal musicians have performed their own versions of Paganini's famous 24th caprice.
Neo-classical metal music thus looks to classical music as broadly understood by the general public and not to the more specialist technical definition used within classical circles. Because of its breadth of influence and avoidance of simplicity, neo-classical metal music is not a form of Neoclassicism by its traditional definition.
History of the genre and influences
The 1980s saw the birth and rise of neo-classical metal as a distinct subgenre, although classical influences could be heard in the compositions and improvisations of prominent musicians from the earliest beginnings of heavy metal throughout its evolution. Early classical influences within hard rock and heavy metal are most notably found in the playing of Ritchie BlackmoreRitchie Blackmore
Richard Hugh "Ritchie" Blackmore is an English guitarist and songwriter, who was known as one of the first guitarists to fuse Classical music elements with rock. He fronted his own band Rainbow after leaving Deep Purple where he was unhappy because his favourite musical style wasn't adequately...
, Uli Jon Roth and Randy Rhoads
Randy Rhoads
Randall William "Randy" Rhoads was an American heavy metal guitarist who played with Ozzy Osbourne and Quiet Riot. A devoted student of classical guitar, Rhoads often combined his classical music influences with his own heavy metal style. While on tour with Ozzy Osbourne, he would seek out...
. The styling existed mainly with guitarists but was also present with other instrumentalists, such as Yes
Yes (band)
Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...
keyboardist Rick Wakeman
Rick Wakeman
Richard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes...
.
Heavy metal guitar technique developed rapidly from its late-'60s beginnings to its late-'80s peak, but prior to the 1980s, few metal guitarists displayed the advanced technical proficiency which is a hallmark of the neo-classical metal style. The popularization and growth of neo-classical metal is closely related to the ascension of the guitar "shredding" movement, as many neo-classical metal guitarists such as Joshua Perahia of RCA, Virgin, and Polydor records who took inspiration from virtuoso classical musicians such as Niccolo Paganini
Niccolò Paganini
Niccolò Paganini was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique...
and Frederic Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
.
The "golden age" of neo-classical metal in the middle to late 1980s revolved around the sizeable roster of flashy electric-guitar soloists who recorded mostly instrumental albums for Mike Varney
Mike Varney
Mike Varney is an American musician, record producer, music publisher and impresario. He is the founder of the Shrapnel Label Group, which includes Shrapnel Records, Tone Center Records and Blues Bureau International. He also has a 50% stake in Magna Carta Records, a New York-based label...
's Shrapnel Records
Shrapnel Records
Shrapnel Records is a guitar-oriented record label started in 1980 by record producer Mike Varney. Guitarist Marty Friedman , one of the label's most successful artists, first appeared on the album Unsung Guitar Heroes II in 1980 with the band Vixen. Vixen would later change their name to Hawaii...
label. Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen, widely regarded as the originatorExact quote from the french text: "Si l'on peut clairement considérer Randy Rhoads, Uli Jon Roth et Ritchie Blackmore, comme les précurseurs, c'est véritablement en 1984, [...] que le virtuose suédois Yngwie Malmsteen fait découvrir au monde son mélange unique de baroque et de heavy metal", « Les secrets du metal- Etudes de Style », March 2009, p.14 and still-reigning king of neo-classical metal, was brought to the United States by Varney to sign with Shrapnel Records in 1982. Malmsteen drew influence from both rock and classical idioms from a young age in developing his hyper-amplified, hyper-fast technique on the electric guitar; Malmsteen's style in turn inspired countless imitators from the moment his earliest Shrapnel recordings appeared.
Many subsequent Shrapnel artistsExact quote from the french text: "Toute une pléiade de guitars heroes va déferler, pour la plupart révélés par le label Shrapnel Records, parmi lesquels les plus légendaires sont Jason Becker, Tony McAlpine et Vinnie Moore", « Les secrets du metal- Etudes de Style », March 2009, p.14, including Tony Macalpine
Tony MacAlpine
Tony Jeff MacAlpine is an American guitarist and keyboardist. Having released ten studio albums over a career spanning more than two decades, he is best known as an instrumental solo guitarist, although he has worked with many different bands and musicians in the form of guest appearances and...
, Vinnie Moore
Vinnie Moore
Vinnie Moore is a guitarist and a member of the English hard rock band UFO. Along with Yngwie Malmsteen, Tony MacAlpine, and others, Moore is known as one of the most influential guitarists to emerge out of the shredder boom in the mid 1980s.-Biography:Moore was born in New Castle, Delaware...
, Joey Tafolla
Joey Tafolla
Joey Tafolla is an American guitarist. Initially a member of the heavy metal band Jag Panzer from 1984 to 1985, he joined Mike Varney's Shrapnel Records label soon after; releasing his debut album Out of the Sun in 1987, alongside the releases of other shred players such as Marty Friedman, Jason...
, Paul Gilbert
Paul Gilbert
Paul Brandon Gilbert is an American guitarist. He is well known for his technical guitar work with Racer X and Mr...
, David T. Chastain
David T. Chastain
David T. Chastain is an American guitarist and owner of and .Chastain is a metal guitarist who emerged in the mid-'80s along with a wave of other neo-classical guitarists. He has released about 50 recordings under multiple names, including David T...
, Jason Becker
Jason Becker
Jason Eli Becker is an American virtuoso neo-classical metal guitarist and composer. At the age of 16, he became part of the Mike Varney-produced duo Cacophony with his friend Marty Friedman. They released Speed Metal Symphony in 1987 and Go Off! in 1988...
, and Marty Friedman, emerged in the latter '80s as exemplars of the neo-classical style. Virtually all these guitarists adhered in great degree to the stylistic forms pioneered by Malmsteen.
In recent years, appreciation of the neo-classical metal oeuvre has been largely confined to guitarists in more of an underground setting, as the style is not well known beyond the realm of guitarists. Today, there are many more bands that contribute as a whole as opposed to the "solo" musicians in the past. Some of today's notable neo-classical metal performers are Michael Angelo Batio
Michael Angelo Batio
Michael Angelo Batio also known as Mike Batio or MAB, is a guitarist and columnist from Chicago, Illinois. His work has encompassed many genres, notably metal and its subgenres. Batio was voted the "No. 1 Shredder of All Time" by Guitar One Magazine in 2003...
, Vitalij Kuprij
Vitalij Kuprij
Vitalij Kuprij is a Ukrainian pianist, composer, music teacher, and keyboardist of the defunct neo-classical progressive metal band Artension. He resides in Reading, Pennsylvania when he is not touring.-Music career:...
, Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Trans-Siberian Orchestra is an American progressive metal band founded in 1993 by producer, composer, and lyricist Paul O'Neill, who brought together Jon Oliva and Al Pitrelli and keyboardist and co-producer Robert Kinkel to form the core of the creative team. Since then, TSO sold nearly 8...
, Mark Wood
Mark Wood (violinist)
Mark Winthrop Wood is an electric violinist, as well as the founder of Wood Violins, a company that makes unique electric violins. He is also an Emmy-winning composer. His music and strings education program has been featured on news programs nationwide....
, Joe Stump
Joe Stump
Joe Stump is an American guitarist and composer. He plays neo-classical metal, in a style similar to that of Yngwie Malmsteen. He has released albums with his band, Reign of Terror, and as a solo artist. He also plays the lead guitar for the symphonic metal band HolyHell...
, Cacophony
Cacophony (band)
Cacophony was an American Speed metal band formed in 1986 by guitarists Marty Friedman and Jason Becker. Cacophony is often recognized for its technically challenging, neo-classical metal and speed metal elements, as well as featuring two shred guitarists...
, Symphony X
Symphony X
Symphony X is an American progressive metal band from Middletown, New Jersey.Founded in 1994 by guitarist Michael Romeo, their albums The Divine Wings of Tragedy and V: The New Mythology Suite have given the band considerable attention within the progressive metal community...
, Stratovarius
Stratovarius
Stratovarius are a Finnish power metal band that formed in 1984. Since their formation they have released 13 studio albums and one live album. Along with Helloween, Blind Guardian, Rhapsody of Fire and Gamma Ray, Stratovarius are considered one of the leading groups of the power metal and symphonic...
, Rata Blanca
Rata Blanca
Rata Blanca is a heavy metal band from Argentina formed in the 1980s.-Biography:The band was founded by Walter Giardino after he left V8. Rata Blanca played together for about two years before their debut on August 15, 1987 in the theater "Luz y Fuerza" in Buenos Aires...
, Narnia
Narnia (band)
Narnia is a Christian neo-classical progressive power metal band founded by guitarist Carl Johan Grimmark and singer Christian Liljegren. The band formed in Sweden in 1996. Their album themes heavily reference The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis....
, Rhapsody of Fire
Rhapsody of Fire
Rhapsody of Fire is an Italian symphonic power metal band led by Alex Staropoli. Since forming in 1993, the band has released eight studio albums, one live album, two EPs, and a live DVD...
, Time Requiem
Time Requiem
Time Requiem is a Swedish neoclassical, melodic power metal band created by Richard Andersson in 2001. Andersson created the band that summer, when he felt that his previous project - Majestic - had come to a dead end.-Biography:...
, At Vance
At Vance
At Vance is a German power metal/Neo-classical metal band. They were formed by vocalist Oliver Hartmann and guitarist Olaf Lenk in 1998.-Biography:...
, Galneryus
Galneryus
Galneryus is a power/neo-classical metal band from Osaka, Japan that formed in 2001.- 2001–2002: Formation and indie days :Galneryus was formed in 2001 by guitarist Syu along with vocalist Masahiro "Yama-B" Yamaguchi...
, Mastercastle
Mastercastle
Mastercastle is a heavy metal band formed in 2008 in Italy by the guitar player Pier Gonella and the singer Giorgia Gueglio-History:Mastercastle were founded in January 2008 by the guitar player Pier Gonella and the singer Giorgia Gueglio. The pair had several music projects in the past and...
, Versailles
Versailles (Japanese band)
Versailles is a Japanese visual kei metal band formed in 2007. Their key characteristics are their rococo-esque costumes, dueling guitars and heavy but melodic arrangements....
, Sound Horizon
Sound Horizon
Sound Horizon, abbreviated by fans as Sanhora , is a Japanese musical group with composer Revo as the leader. They call themselves the "fantasy band" and have released their works that closely resemble suites.-History:...
, Necrophagist
Necrophagist
Necrophagist is a German death metal band, founded and fronted by Muhammed Suiçmez; a German-born, Turkish guitarist and vocalist. The band is known for its rapid and technical compositions....
, Heavenly
Heavenly (French band)
Heavenly, a power metal/neo-classical metal band from Paris, France, was formed in 1994 by vocalist Benjamin Sotto and drummer Max Pilo. They were originally a cover band and played under the name of 'Satan's Lawyer' before evolving into a full-fledged Helloween-influenced power metal outfit, and...
, Concerto Moon
Concerto Moon
is a Japanese neo-classical/power metal band led by guitarist Norifumi Shima.The band's first two albums were reissued by InsideOut Music in 2003.-Members:* Norifumi Shima – guitar * Masayuki Osada – drums...
, Fleshgod Apocalypse
Fleshgod Apocalypse
Fleshgod Apocalypse is an Italian symphonic technical death metal band.-Biography:Fleshgod Apocalypse was formed during 2007 and recorded their first demo the same year. The demo was re-released the following year on a split CD with fellow Italian bands Septycal Gorge, Modus Delicti, and Onirik....
, Adagio
Adagio (band)
Adagio is a French progressive metal band formed in 2001 by guitarist Stephan Forté. Adagio's music is known by its technical precision and dark orchestration. Adagio keeps unqiue complex lead workings which are complimented with a powerful and driving rhythm section...
, Dark Moor
Dark Moor
Dark Moor is a Spanish power metal band from Madrid. Formed in 1993, they produced three full-length albums before undergoing a line-up change in which three members left the band to form their own project, Dreamaker...
, Warmen
Warmen
Warmen is a Finnish metal band assembled by keyboard player Janne Viljami Wirman - also known as Warman. Janne has been playing with Children of Bodom since 1997, and on the year of 2000 created a musical project focused on instrumental work, which would only have guest singers on a few selected...
, and Artension
Artension
Artension was a North American neo-classical progressive metal band, founded in 1993 by keyboardist Vitalij Kuprij.-History:It was sometime in '92/'93, when Vitalij Kuprij, who was studying classical music in Switzerland at that time, met Roger Staffelbach, a Swiss guitarist who was also studying...
. Even more recently there has been a sudden burst of slight neo-classical influence within mainstream metal acts such as Children of Bodom
Children of Bodom
Children of Bodom is a Finnish heavy metal band from Espoo. Formed in 1993, the group currently consists of Alexi Laiho , Roope Latvala , Janne Wirman , Henkka Seppälä , and Jaska Raatikainen...
, Protest the Hero
Protest the Hero
Protest the Hero is a Canadian progressive metal band from Whitby, Ontario. Originally named Happy Go Lucky, the band line-up has remained the same since their formation in 1999. The band changed their name to Protest the Hero shortly before releasing their debut EP, Search for the Truth, in 2002...
and The Human Abstract
The Human Abstract
The Human Abstract is an American progressive metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 2004, the group was originally signed to the independent label Hopeless Records, the band then released the two albums Nocturne and Midheaven before signing to E1 Music and releasing Digital Veil...
. On disc two of her instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
album Laced/Unlaced
Laced/Unlaced
Laced/Unlaced is a two-disc instrumental album. Disc one, Laced, is a re-release of "On a Day...", Emilie's fledgling record. Disc two, Unlaced, contains all electric violin recordings by Emilie Autumn. A limited-edition CD + Book set was released on March 9, 2007 with 2000 copies being printed...
, violinist Emilie Autumn
Emilie Autumn
Emilie Autumn Liddell , better known by her stage name Emilie Autumn, is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and violinist. Autumn draws influence for her music—the style of which she has alternatively labeled as "Victoriandustrial" and glam rock—from plays, novels, and history, particularly the...
performs classical-inspired "shred" solos with heavy distortion on the electric violin, reminiscent of neo-classical metal guitar solos.
A common practice in the genre is to transcribe classical pieces and play them in a rock/metal band format. The Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
and Classical
Classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
periods have been particularly influential to the genre because of their unique sound and techniques that blend into a rock setting effectively. Some of the techniques used include counterpoint
Counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
and pedal point
Pedal point
In tonal music, a pedal point is a sustained tone, typically in the bass, during which at least one foreign, i.e., dissonant harmony is sounded in the other parts. A pedal point sometimes functions as a "non-chord tone", placing it in the categories alongside suspensions, retardations, and passing...
.
See also
- Classical musicClassical musicClassical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
- Cello rockCello rockCello rock and cello metal are subgenres of rock music and heavy metal characterized by the use of cellos as primary instruments, alongside or in place of more traditional rock instruments such as electric guitars, electric bass guitar, and drum set.Cellos, often in groups of three or more, are...
- Power metalPower metalPower metal is a style of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a...
- Symphonic metalSymphonic metalSymphonic metal is a term used to describe heavy metal music that has symphonic elements; that is, elements that are either borrowed from classical music or, as with progressive rock music, create a style reminiscent of it, e.g...
- Progressive metalProgressive metalProgressive metal is a subgenre of heavy metal originating in the United Kingdom and North America in the late 1980s...
- Shred guitarShred guitarShred guitar or shredding is lead electric guitar playing that relies heavily on fast guitar solos. While some critics argue that shred guitar is associated with "... sweep-picked arpeggios, diminished and harmonic minor scales, finger-tapping and ... whammy-bar abuse", several guitar...