Best orchestral metal production?

[Ermz]

Hey guys,

What's the best sounding orchestral metal record you know of?

The best I have in my collection is Nightwish's 'Dark Passion Play'. It's definitely a really cool and airy mix, but I don't gel entirely with the digital sounding guitars and the slammedness of the master. I'm open to expanding the collection.

Thanks!

 

[Toseben]

I personally don't like Dark Passion Play's orchestras. They sound better than synth strings ofc but the arrangement sounds just like every metal keyboard player with string patch.
Septic Flesh - Persepolis is kickass!

 

[domingooo]

mmmmmm
I like Symphony x's V and Epica The phantom Agony.
But i like them because the arregments .. i'm still a noob talking about mixes

 

[superfreak]

My favorites:

Kamelot - Ghost Opera
Within Temptation - The Silent Force

 

[amarshism]

abrahadabra - dimmu borgir - SNEAP

 

[ratsapprentice]

Not an orchestral record by any means, but one that balances different textures and instuments very well and is generally interesting from a production standpoint imo, is Maranatha by Funeral Mist



(Couldn't find a better quality video )

And Abrahadabra of course...

 

[jauernis]

My favorites:

Kamelot - Ghost Opera
Within Temptation - The Silent Force

YUP!

 

[Skinny Viking]

Therion - "Vovin" & "Secret Of The Runes"

 

[The-Zeronaut]

Septic flesh - communion

 

[Artean]

Therion - "Vovin" & "Secret Of The Runes"

/agree on Vovin, but I would suggest Deggial instead of SotR. Neither of these, however, have the modern sound you probably aim for.

 

[PhilTheBeard]

Betraying the martyrs lol

 

[Skinny Viking]

/agree on Vovin, but I would suggest Deggial instead of SotR. Neither of these, however, have the modern sound you probably aim for.

Deggial seemed overly dry and unexciting to me which is why I mentions SotR. 1st time I put that disc in I was just loving the thickness of the sound

Vovin is just stellar all around ... The sound, the songs, the overall vibe .. A perfect symphonic metal disc IMO

Ermin, I'm actually quite surprised to hear you say you dig that Nightwish disc. I listened to it 3 times and haven't been able to listen to it since strictly because of the sound of it but to each their own I guess

I'm sure you've also dug into the last Dimmu disc yes?

 

[Raptor7]

Septic Flesh, the last two albums and the same from Dimmu Borgir. Some Nightwish too, but that's about it..

 

[Fabrice]

The last Turisas or Ensiferum.

 

[MetalMiller]

Two Steps From Hell have done some metal stuff. Well the metal elements are not superior, but the orchestration is beyond awesome. Great as reference.



And here´s the remake i did:

 

[Djentkitty]

probably some dimmu borgir

 

[DigitalMetal]

Check out the new Xerath album,

http://xerath.net/

The low end is awesome when you listen to it on a decent system, i cant get enough of the first track "Unite to Defy" at the moment.

 

[MaellaJohn]

Betraying the martyrs lol

I don't want to wait for it to come out.....

 

[Ensi]

Two Steps From Hell is the shit.

Check out this bitchin' track:



MetalMiller is completely right (nice remake btw), this one is mainly metal, with some choirs chucked ontop.

I don't think this will help you very much in terms of finding good orchestra metal though. The others listed are all great

 

[Ermz]

Check out the new Xerath album,

http://xerath.net/

Thanks for that - listening now. It's more like a psy-metal CD with fake orchestration thrown on top rather than music built around a real orchestra, but it's still a good thing to have on hand. The tuning explains the low-end somewhat. Wish it wasn't so brickwalled.

Will try to get around to checking the others soon.

I've already got Abrahadabra and the Septic Flesh record. They aren't really what I'm after.