Metalhead Series: 4 Symphonic Metal Bands from Ireland

Orchestra mixed with Metal? That doesn’t seem to fit at first glance. But if you ever listened to Symphonic Metal bands like Nightwish or Within Temptation you know that they can fit very well together. The mix of epic orchestra music and the guitar music and screams of metal make Symphonic Metal one of my favorite genres. So, I found 4 Symphonic Metal bands from Ireland for you that I found particularly interesting.

Selene

Selene is a female-fronted Symphonic/Gothic Metal band who evolved from a previous project called Gate XIII. The band formed in 2013 in Northern Ireland and bring together a mix of opera vocals, thrilling hooks and hard hitting metal. With that, they create a signature Symphonic Metal sound without losing the metal edge. This style of music is sure to satisfy fans such as Nightwish, Sonata Arctica and Kamelot.

Recommended Album:

The Forgotten (2015)

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Sonus Mortis

Sonus Mortis is a one-man Symphonic Death metal project with Black/Doom Metal influences from Dublin. Kevin Bryne, former bassist of Irish Melodic Death Metal band Valediction formed it in 2013. Currently, Sonus Mortis has self-released one demo and three full albums on Bandcamp. A fourth album is expected to release in 2020. All releases were well received in Europe, the USA and Russia.

Recommended Album:

Propaganda Dream Sequence (2014)

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Lady Maggot

Martyna “Moyra Noise” Hałas and Piotr “Niemiec” Niemczewski from Poland formed the Metal band Lady Maggot in 2010 in Dublin. They incorporate over a decade of music writing and a variety of influences and musical experiences from their past projects. Piotr’s music writing and his guitar technique were perfected throughout the years in differen Death Metal bands. Martyna’s experimental vocals are a result of participating in stylistically different projects and bands: ranging from Experimental Metal, through Pop and Electronic music to a Rock project.

Recommended Album:

Human Reflection (2015)

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Otheria

This band certainly is the youngest member of my list since they only formed this year. But that doesn’t mean that they are not worth a mention. Born out of a mutual love and appreciation for the Metal genre, Ryan Belshaw and Jordan Mackin made the decision to form their own female-fronted project, welcoming drummer Michal Bugajski onto it a short while later. They released two singles already, which are a beautiful mix of male and female vocals, coupled with riveting orchestration and peppered with some Celtic elements.

Recommended Album:

The Phoenix Rising (Single, 2019)

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There is one last band that deserves a honorable mention. Ravenlight would have been part of this list as well, but I already mentioned them in Power Metal Bands from Ireland before.