CommanderEVE, I'm not a huge fan of death metal, but I'll give them a listen.
"Earthshine" wrote:I LOVE Nightwish. I have not listened to their stuff in a long time though, I really ought to now though. I cannot recall how many albums they may have made since I stopped really listening to them (not because I stopped liking them, but just because I stopped keeping up with them).
I've admittedly stopped keeping up with them too, though I do search them once in a blue moon to see what they're up to. It's not that I dislike them now, but since the departure of their lead singer, they don't entice me as much as they used to. Plus, their music has changed a little since 2005, which may be another factor.
As of now, they have released 8 albums. The first five albums have their original singer (and in my opinion, their best one), Tarja Turunen. My favorite Nightwish album is Oceanborn (their second album), followed shortly by Wishmaster (their third album).
Their second singer is my least favorite, and most other people's least favorite as well: Anette Olzon. She was the lead vocalist on the sixth and seventh albums. Her vocals are too poppy for my liking. The only song I like from the Olzon era is "Amaranth".
Their third and current singer is Floor Jansen. She's VERY good, and definitely the best fit for Nightwish at this point in time. Check out some live performances of her with Nightwish to see what I mean. She does vocals on their eighth and newest album.
Another band that is similar is Kamelot, though they focus more on the heavy metal portion of their music than the symphonic element, but they not as intense as Dragonforce.
I've listened to Kamelot a little bit. They aren't my cup of tea, but they seem like a pretty good band. I do like their current singer though (Tommy Karevik).
I used to be a pretty big DragonForce fan back in the day. I've moved on from them too, but like Nightwish, I still look them up occasionally to see what they're up to.