The Danish band Royal Hunt, led by keyboardist and guitarist André Andersen, are devoted to melodic and symphonic heavy metal on the album Land Of Broken Hearts (Royal, 1993), strengthened by Henrik Brockmann’s romantically desperate vocal register and symphonic arrangements that could rival not only Rush but also ELP.

The keyboards generally take precedence over the guitars. Their frantic runs are even “Bachian” in the two most catchy and driving songs, "Running Wild" and "Flight." The solemn and martial melodies of these tracks arise from a unique fusion of Slavic folk motifs and baroque music pieces. Accentuated by majestic instrumental fugues and Brockmann’s full-throttle shouts (even imitating Bon Jovi in "Easy Rider" and "One By One," or the grand melodrama of Jim Steinman productions, as in "Age Gone Wild"), and sometimes (as in "Heart Of The City") hurled into frenzied rhythms following the Helloween model, they are practically foolproof.

The essential element, however, remains the arrangement. These choruses achieve maximum effect because they soar amid a triumph of flutes and harpsichords. The most exciting parts of "Kingdom Dark" and the title track are indeed the instrumental fugues. The instrumental "Martial Arts" extracts the utmost sensationalism from this “classic metal”: breathtaking organ attack, speed-metal guitar fugue, unison-played chorus, a pause for the string section, and a breakneck finale.

After another complex work full of progressive-rock and classical-music influences, Clown in the Mirror (1995), featuring new guitarist Jacob Kjaer, the band opted for a more commercial sound on Moving Target (1996) and Paradox (Magna Carta, 1997). With new vocalist John West, the band slowly returned to the ambitious neoclassical architectures of their beginnings on Fear (Rondel, 1999), The Mission (Century Media, 2001), Watchers (Century Media, 2002) and Eye Witness (Frontiers, 2003).