Okay... has anyone even heard about the genre of Symphonic Metal?

I saw Nightwish with Tarja still singing in 2005. Incredible. I like within temptation too but the others all kinda sound the same to me. I also like the symphonic element in bands like dimmu borgir, even though by black metal standards they're kinda poseurs

 

She's awesome. Wish she was still in the band. Didn't disappoint live

 

If you like female vocals, I have a weird recommendation, but I don't know if you'll like it since I don't know what other sub genres you like. Fear of god, the album "within the veil". Incredible obscure album that always flew under the radar. The next one, "toxic voodoo" was garbage, but within the veil is so good. It's an acquired taste, might take a few listens to grow on you. I really can't pinpoint a single style, and the range in her vocals is crazy, from melodic parts to growling, the same way you can hear a crazy range from king diamond. Check out a few songs on YouTube, "drift", "betrayed" , & "all that remains" are good to start with. I saw fear of god in front of a tiny crowd in 93 (yeah I'm a geezer, lol) and dawn Crosby, the singer sadly died in 96. May or may not be your cup of tea, but a rare gem worth checking into

 

Symphonic metal certainly has its place amongst the thronging masses and I have no reason to pour nastiness on it, but I don't find any of these bands to stand out from each other except, perhaps, Ad Infinitum, and that might partly be because I have a thing for the vocalist. (She's megahot.) Otherwise I find them all to be more or less the same. With certain exceptions, I'm not a big fan of heavy keyboard use in metal, but that's just me.