Yes, I suck.
Just to redeem myself, what about the massive awesome Conan soundtrack? It’s not “dark rock”, but it’s dark something with some extremely cool choral overlay.
Skip to 3:00: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onGWF8mz1Zw
H.
I agree with all the Therion recommending, but I’d put Theli at the top of the list.
Don’t Get Lost In Heaven and Demon Days (the one segues into the other). Not particularly dark, though.
Is “Ah, Leah” by Donnie Iris an example of what you’re looking for?
“Light of Day, Day of Darkness” by Green Carnation. >1 hour long.
so any reports? what did you like and didn’t? that way we can refine recommendations
Try Morgenstern, by Rammstein. During the intro obviously, but the choruses have choral parts as well, although it’s in addition to Till Lindemann’s baritone.
So far the Rammstein, Nightwish and Therion are the closest hits to what I’m looking for. I like the harder/darker rock sounds.
Of all the music I have been sorting through, I’m still not hearing exactly what I’d like to hear which leads me to believe that perhaps it doesn’t exist the way I’d like it to.
I’d like a song that cuts out most of the solo vocalist stuff and bring the choir up front and center. Instead of the slower “ahh ahha ahhhhh” type background voclas commonly given to choirs in songs like these I’d like them to have more dynamic, rapidly changing and abrupt vocal arrangements, with lyrics that do more than mirror or touch on what a lead singer is spouting off about.
The best way I can explain it is to take songs like these and imagine no particular lead singer, but instead a cast of 6-30 people harmonizing and delivering a fuller ensemble type sound:
Fear Factory: Scumgrief
If I could find a choir to mimic the dead/brainwashed/catatonic harmonies of a lot of the songs off this particular album I’d be very happy. So many of the rock choir stuff sounds too upbeat and happy because of how higher registers stand out more.
I don’t much care for the a capella arrangements like this: eek.
This is the closest thing I’ve found, but there are only two vocalists here, layered over one another a couple times each – not the fuller sound I’m after, but still good. Only part of the song prominently features the choir sound (some of the best of it is around 2:50-3:15ish and near the end too), but it’s a great song:
Iced Earth: A Question of Heaven
Another Iced Earth song that significantly features a choir is the song When the Eagle Cries, but the only videos I can find of the song are all sappy semi-acoustic versions which stripped out the choir. The album version I own is much more in line with the sound I like, but this isn’t exactly it:
Iced Earth: When the Eagle Cries
This is also close, I just wish they would remove all the lead vocalist (blech) stuff:
Lordi
Also this song is great, even though it wasn’t what I was looking for exactly at first I bought an album:
The Polyphonic Spree
EDIT: Hehe, Ministry is always cool too.
I seem to recall Blind Guardian’s “Nightfall in Middle Earth” album has some nice layered vocals, almost choral at times. Good, old-fashioned power metal, that, with lyrics inspired by the Silmarillion.
Great band, if you’ve never heard their stuff it definitely deserves a listen.
Two Steps from Hell also has some nice choral music, though you’ll need to torrent their stuff or rip it from Youtube because they don’t actually sell albums - they just license it.
Yea, it’s one of the songs I mention in the first post somewhat close to what I like.
really? I mean, it may be something else wrong, but this wounds exactly like you describe:
No, that sounds very very close to what I want. I am just doing a poor job of describing it.
The problem is that I have a very specific mental image of what I want, and although that song is great (It really is, I totally dig it), my brain is splitting hairs and recognizing the nuances that set it apart from what it is my mental image had conjured up before my quest started.
Don’t take the following as a complaint about the music, just a discernment:
That particular song might sound dark and heavy to some, to me it sounds like the power metally Dragonforce type of stuff (compared to darker/aggressive stuff like some Danzig or Fear Factory).
Therion isn’t dark so much as it is almost inspiring, it isn’t heavy so much as it is chunky/crunchy. It seems poppy and intentionally ‘epicly goth’ sounding to me. But the over all feeling is one of head-bopping goodness, compared to the gloom or rage I get from some stuff that doesn’t seem so upbeat. And a minor issue is that I wouldn’t mind alot of the vocals to be less classical and more shouting.
I’m really surprised by how much good stuff has been posted, so don’t take my assessments as complaints, but I can be picky. The best I can do is say “take this song here, and imagine an angry shouting choir instead of a singer”.
So yea, I’m getting closer, but I’m starting to think I’m being a little unreasonable and doing something like trying to find a band that sounds “precisely the same as Metallica on A.J.F.A.”, the best I can do is find a few that simply sound close enough for satisfaction.
Okay yea, I’m digging this music. I like this song too.
In that case …
Port O’Brien - I Woke Up Today
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw3Y84zXLwg
I was holding out because I got the impression the tone was going a bit harder.
No, this is really good, and the focus on group vocals is much more in line with anything I’ve seen so far – even if it isn’t set to metal a soundtrack hehe.
Just because I’ve been searching for a particular sound doesn’t mean I’m being exclusive overall, it just means I’m hearing more stuff I need to buy while I keep looking.