I’ve always been passionate about music. It uplifts, it calms, it makes me think. I was exposed to music very early in my life, as my parents were always playing it. Because of that, I grew up listening to all kinds of music. When I was a teenager, I discovered heavy metal, and have more or less stayed within that genre since then. (I am also a diehard fan of classic rock – stuff like Led Zeppelin, Foreigner, Bob Seger, Rod Stewart, The Who, Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Styx, Steve Miller Band…the list goes on and on!). I have also been a huge fan of the band Queensryche since I discovered them in the 1990s (high school). They were, at the time, more progressive, and their songs always made me think. It was deep stuff when most bands were singing about sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But sometimes, I need a bit more 🙂 (They’ve gone through some changes since then, including going a bit lighter and then changing singers and then exploding into metal again. While I respect the former lead singer, Geoff Tate, I have to give the new singer, Todd La Torre, credit for revitalizing the band and their brand. But overall, their music has literally changed my life.)
Soooo about 5-6 years ago, a good friend of mine turned me on to symphonic metal, which is heavy metal with symphonic and sometimes fantastical influences. A good portion of symphonic metal bands have female lead singers, which is awesome, as there aren’t many out there in metal. And, most of them are not American, which makes it even more interesting.
Most people know Nightwish. They’re Finnish, and they were like, the biggest symphonic band around. Then came others. And there are an amazing amount of them out there now. I almost can’t keep up. Now my music collection is about 70% symphonic or femme metal (metal fronted by women) and about 30% everything else.
I still love metal and classic rock — and 80s hair bands and pop bands and all that (I was an 80s child). But…I think the thing that brings me back again and again to symphonic metal is how different the sound is. If you’ve never heard it, I’m not sure I can explain this well, but I’ll try. There’s just…more to it. More musical elements. Beautiful arrangements and equally beautiful voices. The lyrics are cool, too. Some deal with fantasy type stuff. And most trend toward dark, which again, is totally me. 😉 So I enjoy them. I also enjoy going on mad hunts for new bands. Most of the bands I’ve found are from hunts. (Pandora radio and Spotify are my friends in this. Nowadays you can sample stuff before you buy, which I strongly suggest. Because this is so different, you want to know before you buy if you even like it!)
Recently I saw an ad for a symphonic metal/Celtic singer Leah and decided to get a free download of three songs. I think I found a new one! I really, really like her music. She’s got a great voice, there’s some symphonic in it, and some Celtic (another favorite)! I’ve spent all afternoon sampling her music and am itching to purchase something. I didn’t really know what to expect from an ad — never have done that before. But I figured I couldn’t go wrong with free. From like, the first few bars of the first song, I was hooked.
So, if you think you may enjoy her music, or are just curious, check it out. I believe you can get it on her website http://www.leahmusic.net. (The ad was on Facebook if that helps). Her newsletter’s pretty cool, too. In the last one, she had pictures of herself wearing homemade chain mail. Yeah! Pretty neat!
So that’s my recommendation for today. Hope you enjoy. 🙂
Weaver of Words 