Baroque metal
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Baroque metal is a style metal music largely practiced in Italy and Scandinavia. The first baroque metal song is the 1986 song "Born Under the Sign of Highness" by the band Juste.
Baroque metal was developed in the mid-1990s primarily by the Italian band Rhapsody of Fire, who were influenced by composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach and Arcangelo Corelli, and by sounds from Hollywood fantasy soundtracks and folklore music from all over the world. Power metal totally differs from 1970s metal styles, since it adds important elements of depth, classical arrangements, complex scores and intrincated melodies. Whereas most genres of metal focus largely on personal experience, historical incidents, social commentary, or other aspects of "real life", baroque metal always treats fantasy, aristocratic, castles, battles and kings themes.
Baroque metal vocals are always clean (as opposed to the antisthetic vocals that characterize many of the other metal styles) and delivered by a trained vocalist; singing baroque metal involves more than a few high notes. Often baroque metal vocals have multi-layer vocals similar to Queen.
Typical baroque metal bands consist of a vocalist, one to three keyboardists, a guitarist, a bassist, and a drummer. Many bands also play and record with more symphonic elements, such as violins, flutes and harps.
[edit] Key artists
- Alucard
- Alex Masi
- Royal Hunt
- Labyrinth
- Luca Turilli
- Kamelot
- Rhapsody of Fire
- Make Up
- Vision Divine