I made this thread in order to post bands with obscure keyboards. For example, I find those trumpet-like keyboards of Bal-Sagoth quite rare (and amazing of course) (:
Septic Flesh have a nice set of keyboards too ^^ the song Sunlight Moonlight for example.
Luca Turilli's Dreamquest have this electronic/techno sound. Quite good i would say.


and as for a small recommendation for me :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSlTJ9YHdr0

Just listen to the intro of this song. Is there any band having this sound on keyboards? Or something that looks like it? I don't really care about the genre.. It can be Black Metal,Power Metal, Folk Metal, Melodic Death Metal or whatever..

Ive recently got into Abigail Williams who has a huge use of keyboards and other atmospheric sounds. Believe it or not this is a band who fuses deathcore and black metal. Now, before you jump and say 'fuck that' read all the reviews MA has given them. They are an excellent band. Emporer is another band Ive been getting into. I dont know enough about them to say they go crazy with keyboards but they do lots of symphonic stuff. Im not even really a black metal fan.. at all... but these bands have lead me to check out other BM bands. I dont know of anyone who uses that exact keyboard sound though. Both Acid Witch and Vacant Grave are 2 other bands who have an obscure use of keyboards and synthesizers.

Limbonic Art.

well Abigail Williams were pretty good. Emperor is a band which i know and admire a lot.
Limbonic Art on the other hand... What can I say? They are magnificent...
I always knew them, but i never listened to them before. Which album do you recommend Diamhea?

Hidden "Alexxistar Morphelite" (SP?) has some amazing keyboard work done by Mirai of Sigh. The whole album is space/alien/ufo themed, and the shit he comes up with for the keyboard parts truly sounds like an alien being playing on some other-worldly synthesizer.

Derek Sherinian is a keyboard player whos worked with many different bands in through out his career. With his solo project he calaborates with many different artists. Its more of a straight up heavy metal sound. You'l hear dueling keyboard and guitar solos and shit like that.

Try Tartarus for a surprise.

In Abhorrence Dementia.

Also check out Vesania for a heapin' helping of black metal keys.

the greek or the hungarian band?

Phantasmagory on Anamorphosis of dreams album has some quite obscure keys.
But Solefald with superb grand hammond keyboards on In harmonia universali rules! That album is brilliant.

Abigail Williams is amazing.
That's the "gateway" band that got me into more serious BM, like Bathory and Frost Like Ashes.
Legend EP is still on the top of my playlist.

Sorry about that, it's Tartaros.

I agree with the Abigail Williams recommendation 100%. And trust me; their new CD isn't deathcore-ish. It's Emperor worship.
Another band with good keyboards... Turisas, Fairyland... yah.

If you listen closely, there's a lot of keyboard work going on in Ceremonial Castings' Salem 1692. I'd say the amount of detail is equivalent to that of early Limbonic Art albums, but the problem is they're sometimes buried underneath all the music.

Their other albums have a substantial amount of keyboards too, but most of those are what you'd expect a symphonic bm band to use.

Children of Bodum's keybourd on the song living dead beat is pretty awesome.

Fuck no. They're horribly boring and over-loaded. Total shit.

Try some Rainbow if you haven't. "Tarot Wooommmmaaaaaaannnn!"

I love Necrophagia's use of keyboards in Harvest Ritual Vol. 1, particularly the song Cadavera X. Very sinister and creepy.

Yeah, Turisas is fun for about 5 minutes. Some of the fanfares are layered nicely, but it all grows stale quickly, as does their charade.

Russia's Kauan were the first to mind. They have awesome keyboard based music. Anton Belov is a fantastic musician. Multi-dimensional beauty, but the keyboards are immense, adding a symphonic layering which isn't too over-the-top but instead rather subtle.

As one reviewer wrote: "Piano Ballads Backed With Black Metal?!" Which is almost exactly what it is, bar the fact that Kauan insert a lot of folk inspired elements into their music (also with an apparent doom influence too).

I'm not sure what you mean by obscure. If you mean keyboard parts that don't resemble power metal, I would recommend Opeth. The keyboard sections are very tasteful and really help set the atmosphere for songs.

same here, I just got the Legend EP a few days ago and it's good.

I would definitely recommend Arathorn's 1997 release.

EDIT: Typo on year.

My favorite Metal band with heavy use of Keyboard has to be Nocturnus.

99.9% of keyboards used in bands I do not like. If they absolutely have to be in there, I prefer them for subtle enhancements. Bands like Abigail Williams and Winds Of Plague just overkill that shit.

Vehemence's God Was Created uses keyboards. They're not overused like in Winds of Plague. The keyboards appear in the more "emotional" parts. They really helped in making me feel all emotional while listening to them.

http://www.myspace.com/vehemence

Listen to She Never Noticed Me. Oh, so beautiful.

Where's the love for Emperor, Samael, Rotting Christ and Faith No More? They cannot go unmentioned in this thread!

Lunar Aurora, of course!!
Darzamat is good as well.
Uh... Limbonic, of course.
How about Arcturus?

Nazgul!!


Lord of the Rings worship at its finest =D

My Infinite Kingdom had some keys on their only album that sound like something off of a Stereolab record.

Bishop of Hexen too.

Definitely agree with Kauan, especially the title song Lumikuuro (snow"storm" in finnish) in their debut full lenght has amazing keyboards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxJAnVeFGDg&fmt=18

Other one that comes to mind is Arthemesia. Theird new album has some very intresting synth sounds in some songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTMjRiyevIY&fmt=18
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFvH2RYbu7U&fmt=18

Gehenna when Nina / Sarcana was still around.
Fully awesome!

keyboards are gay but morbid angel has some great keyboard fills

There's nothing inherently gay about keyboards to me, only the effect.

I happen to listen to loads of metal bands which happen to use keyboards. I like bands that add an extra melodic or atmospheric/ambient element to good effect, not use them obligatorily out of being some kind of shitty goth metal band or something. Anyway, a list of keyboard-employing bands I love and would recommend (including obvious ones). Not all of them necessarily fall under the "symphonic" banner:

Bal-Sagoth
Borknagar
Devin Townsend
Emperor
Sigh
Loits
Fjoergyn (well, it's actually virtual orchestra from a laptop when live)
Arcturus
Kroda
Dub Buk
Neglected Fields
Negura Bunget
Turisas' 2nd album (pushing it here, they piss me off but Varangian Way does have a special place with me)
Nokturnal Mortum
Theory in Practice (careful if you're averse to funny time signature stuff)
Kataxu
Wodensthrone

OMIGI they are great!!! the keyboards are almost like those i was looking for if only the music was more melodic and less agressive :S

by obscure i definetely don't mean non-power metal.. i mean, rare and fucking amazing keyboards.. Royal Hunt would be an example of fucking amazing, yet obscure power metal keyboards...

Told ya you would be surprised. Glad you liked Tartaros.

well, my friend, you just hit the spot with Arcturus.. Amazing

I'd say with Lunar Aurora too. They have a particularly mystic and majestic keyboard based music which is key to the overall sound. Makes a lot of their mid-era stuff sound overly worldly to my ears, which is unique to them.

If you love symphonic black metal then you MUST check this band out! I find their second album more symphonic than their first but both albums are very well done IMO.

well, it's not that i don't like Kataxu, but I really can't find something mindblowing about it. The synths are amazing at a first listen, but they become quite boring after a couple of minutes.. same goes for the blastbeats... The guitar work is mediocre too..as for the lyrical themes... :@