Van Canto fuses a cappella with heavy/power metal, creating what they call "a capella hero metal". While only two of the five singers perform the lead vocals, the other three will instead use their voices to imitate the guitars and the bass, using amplifiers to sound closer to the original instruments.
Current members:
- Hagen "Hagel" Hirschmann – male lead vocals (2017–present)
- Inga Scharf – higher lead vocals (2006–present)
- Stefan Schmidt – lower rakkatakka vocals, wahwah solo guitar vocals (2006–present)
- Ross Thompson – higher rakkatakka vocals (2006–present)
- Jan Moritz – bass vocals (2015–present)
- Ingo Sterzinger (Ike) – lowest dandan vocals (full time member: 2006–2015, studio and selected concerts: 2017-present)
- Bastian Emig – drums (2007–present)
Former members:
- Dennis Schunke (Sly) – lead vocals (2006-2017)
- Dennis Strillinger - drums (2006–2007)
They provide examples of:
- A Storm Is Coming: The title of their first album is A Storm to Come.
- And their 4th album, "Break the Silence", had a bonus track by the same name.
- Cover Version: Including "The Bard's Song" by Blind Guardian, "Stormbringer" by Deep Purple, "Rebellion" by Grave Digger, "Fear of the Dark" by Iron Maiden, "Kings of Metal" by Manowar, "Battery" and "Master of Puppets" by Metallica, "Primo Victoria" by Sabaton, "Wishmaster" by Nightwish, "The Final Countdown" by Europe, and "Holding Out for a Hero" by Bonnie Tyler.
- Also, they have an Interview where they did a shortened version of The Trooper by Iron Maiden.
- An example that might also qualify under
Covered Up: "Black Wings Of Hate" is a song that was originally by Fading Starlight, a band Inga was part of before joining Van Canto. The original version was only released on Fading Starlight's final (and self-released) demo, so most people are completely unaware of the fact that it's not an original track by Van Canto.
- An example that might also qualify under
- Also, they have an Interview where they did a shortened version of The Trooper by Iron Maiden.
- Crossover: Sabaton vocalist Joakim Brodén took part in the cover of "Primo Victoria".
- Funny Background Event:
- In the news segment in the video for "Badaboom", the news ticker reads "A Storm To Come from dusk till Dawn Of The Brave", referencing two of the band's albums.
- In Sabaton's practice room in the same video, a van Canto poster can be seen on the wall.
- Genre Mashup: Power Metal+A Cappella (Played on rakkatakkas.)
- Heavy Mithril: Some of their music comes closer to this genre such as "Frodo's Dream".
- Heavy Meta: To Sing a Metal Song is about how what their band does is basically what metal fans do when singing along to any other band.. They also covered Kings of Metal (which is specifically about how awesome Manowar is).
- Instrumentals: Inverted. Normally they have drums playing during their songs, but a few of their tracks have no drums at all, Last Night of the Kings
for example. - Letters 2 Numbers: One to Ten features this in the lyrics
- Power Metal
- Serial Escalation: well, they can't possibly cover anything surp- They covered Master of Puppets!?
- Shirtless Scene: Bastian.
- The Smurfette Principle/Ms. Fanservice: Inga Scharf, lone female, and has joined the countless other ranks of beautiful and talented female metal singers.
- Song Style Shift: While not as long as some other entries in the category, their song A Storm to Come fits the bill, as it varies in intensity before closing to a fast-paced beat, clocking in at 9 minutes.
- Soprano and Gravel: Dennis and Inga.
