At The Lake

At The Lake is a Polish Symphonic Metal band. They feature a female singer, guitars, bass, drum, keyboards, and violin. But what's interesting about them is their violinist Milena Gaworek is also the leader and composer of the band! Their music is a combination of symphonic and folk metal, and very melodic and beautiful.

A song from their new album Live Again just blew me away. Listen to the full song "Like A Northern Wind" HERE, it's amazing!!!

Milena plays an electric violin, a 5-string Zeta Jazz Fusion. The Jazz Fusion has amazing tone, which makes At The Lake have the best electric violin tone I've ever heard in metal! Milena is a very skilled player, as can be heard in her fast arpeggios and runs in "Arrow of Oblivion." The violin parts are very interesting and sophisticated, probably due to the fact that their violinist writes them herself.

At The Lake is still a fairly new band, so I look forward to what they will come out with next!

Official Website: http://www.atthelake.info/

Recommended songs: "Like A Northern Wind," "Arrow of Oblivion," "Silvae"

Arrow of Oblivion:

Eluveitie

Eluveitie is a folk metal band from Switzerland, whose most outstanding feature is its sheer number of instruments. Aside from a violin, they've also used hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes, and flutes in their music, all played by members of their band. Their style also contains death metal influences, such as grunt vocals and fast and heavy guitar riffs. They will sometimes use traditional folk melodies as the basis for their music, and their lyrics are generally about celtic folklore and history. Very interesting band to see live!
They have 4 albums out and one on the way: Ven, Spirit, Slania, and Evocation I: The Arcane Dominion (acoustic). Everything Remains (As It Never Was) is due to be released on February 19, 2010.

The violinist in this band is Meri Tadic. Meri uses an acoustic violin in the studio (a Harry Caraballo) and an electric in live settings (Yamaha SV 130). There were also 2 former violinists in the band, Linda Suter, who played on Spirit, and Mattu Ackerman, who played on Ven. Meri has been on all of the albums. The violin parts are mostly of the folk music/celtic fiddle style, they are sometimes used to double on parts with other instruments, and are often mixed very low in the mix, due to the presence of many different instruments in the band. I have recommended some songs below with prominent violin parts in them, for your convenience.
Spirit and Slania are probably their best albums, I tend to like Spirit better, but Slania has better sound quality since that is the first album they released after signing on to a major label (Nuclear Blast).

Official Website: http://www.eluveitie.ch/

Songs with prominent violin parts: Tegernako, The Endless Knot, Samon, Inis Mona, Elembivos (solo near end)

A song with a nice violin lead (listen @480p):

I Am Ghost

I Am Ghost is a post-hardcore rock band from Long Beach, California. They have some punk influences as well, and feature screamo vocals.
The lyrical subject matter revolves around gothic themes, such as vampires, death, and coffins, but can be interpreted to be Christian-themed as well.

They had a violinist for their first 2 releases: an EP, We Are Always Searching, and their first album, Lover's Requiem. The violinist was Kerith Telestai, who also provided the female vocals on those first two releases. She recorded using both electric and acoustic violins, and played live using her electric, which I believe is a Zeta Strados Modern. She said in an interview that her playing was influenced by bands such as Jars of Clay and Dave Matthews Band. Her violin parts are fast moving and provide mostly texture and accompaniement. She does have some solos, as on the song "Beyond the Hourglass," but for the most part the violins are mixed rather low in their songs.

Kerith, sadly, left the band in 2007, along with her husband, the former bassist Brian Telestai. Kerith really gave I Am Ghost a unique sound, that set them apart from the rest of the bands in their genre. They have since continued to use female vocals, but have not continued to use any more violins.

Recommended songs: "We Are Always Searching," "Beyond the Hourglass," "The Denoument," "Our Friend Lazarus Sleeps"

This is the song that got me into I Am Ghost:


And here is a video of Kerith in the studio recording for Lover's Requiem: