The part about the sonic cannon cannot be stressed enough. People were literally standing still in silence and our psychopathic overlord hit the crowded streets with a sonic cannon which could’ve very very easily created a stampede that would have led to thousdands of injuries and possibly even deaths. Honestly we were lucky that enough people managed to calm down and stop running after a few seconds.

I’d add Adrienne Cowan from Seven Spires and Melissa Bonny from Ad Infinitum to that list. But, as you said, in symphonic metal you’d be hard pressed to find a band without an amazing female vocalist.