The (not so) magical world of symphonic gothic metal

Symphonic gothic metal has always been a love of mine, to the point where I would be obsessed with it and know pretty much every band in and around the genre. With age came less spare time and more need for variety and nowadays I regularly listen only to a select few, but I still throw an eye on the rest of them from time to time. And since Epica and Xandria battled for attention on the 2^nd of May and Macbeth decided to come out of whatever hole they were hiding in, I guess it’s time to pay close attention to this genre once more.