The Gathering - Leaves

Creative, classy and highly refined "symphonic metal" outfit from Holland. First album (Always, 1993) was a fairly straightforward death metal album, although heavy use of keyboards made it stand out a bit from other such albums at the time. Followed by Almost A Dance (1994), an album which saw the departure of "growling" vocalist Bart Smits  [...] the result was the addition of the incomparable Anneke van Giersbergen, an incredible singer capable of stretching miles of emotion out of each and every syllable. (font: www.allmusic.com)