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I did not see any topics about said genre of music, so here goes.

I do believe that symphonic metal is one of the greater genres because it's making an attempt to bring back certain aspects of music, older instruments, vocal limits, and composition. Also, its great to headbang to.
Epica and Within Temptation are my current favorites, among others; I try to keep an open mind about artists and their art. Anyway, back on topic, symp. metal has its merits, it's more original in my opinion, because I had actually never heard of anything like it before I started listening to it.

So go look up some good bands, like stated previously, Epica and WT, and also Lacuna Coil. Not saying they're the only ones, but they're among my favorites.

Epica:
Never Enough
Solitary Ground
Quietus

Within Temptation:
What Have You Done
The Howling
Angels

Just to sample, enjoy. smile

LAHV symphonic metal. I'm a huge fan of Kamelot, Sonata Arctica, and Savatage. (yeah, I know, they're more progressive than symphonic, but there are more subcategories of metal nowadays than there are metal bands, so I spend little time on labels like genre.)