My favorite one is called Therion. For the recording of their last cd they used 170 guest musicians: An orchestra,a full choir... they even recorded some parts with a real church organ.
Well you should try them. You can get some mp3 on their websites.
Therion The band I just talked about.
Rhapsody Another great band. Their lyrics are about a story based on the Tolkien universe. For their last album they had as guest narrator Christopher Lee (yup, the actor)
Haggard Another very interesting band. The band itself are 18 (!) musicians. And they all go on tours. That includes a small orchestra and some lyrical singers.
Lacrimosa Ok. You HAVE to check this band. Too bad they don't have any sound samples on their website, but you can try getting a song from a p2p program. Try their last 2 albums (Echoes and Fassade)
Ayreon This is not a band, but a project. You ever heard of Pink Floyd's The wall?. Well, that's a rock opera. This one, is a metal opera, and many people have compared it with Pink Floyd's in quality. You really have to check this one out.
I guess those are the more "listenable" =) bands. Also you could try Symphony X Another great band but a little less "listenable".
Ok, I guess that's it.
Check them out and post your opinions please, I'm really interested in what normal people (non metalheads:) ) think about them.
See ya.
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. So I'm realy going to check out the other bands. Thanks for the info 
