cerealkeller

Thanks for the replies.  That covers a heck of a lot of ground, and it's far more in depth than I anticipated  

Kalmah eh?  I do have access to one of their albums, well two I guess.  Swamp Lord/They Will Return.  Since it's a two fer one, I'm guessing that must be some of their earlier stuff.

Ensiferium, I have access to their Self Titled, One Man Army and Victory Songs.

For Insomnium I can get Above the Weeping World, Across the Dark, In the Halls of Waiting and Since The Day All Came Down.

Well, I can get some of the songs on those albums anyway, for free with Amazon Prime. So I'll start there.

As for Cradle of Filth, I used to love their music.  I even had my Jesus Is A Cunt T-shirt.  Ha ha.  But their music doesn't really appeal to me anymore.  At The Gates I do like two of their albums, Slaughter of the Soul and most of Terminal Spirit Disease.  I have listened to Dimmu Borgir before but it's been so long I can't recall what I thought of them.  Testament has some good stuff, but I don't really know any of it well.  I seem to remember that I liked some of Arch Enemy's earlier stuff. But as for Amon Amarth and In Flames, I've seen them in concert, which was pretty good.  Especially Amon Amarth.  But I really couldn't get in to their studio albums.  I think I saw them when I went to see Vital Remains in Cleveland after Dechristianize came out.  I went to so many concerts when I was younger that they're all a jumble in my head now.

If someone wants to move this thread, then go ahead.  I posted in Death Metal because it had the most activity and therefore would give me the best chance of getting some good info.

I have a dilemma, I only really enjoy a small niche of music. I haven't added many albums to my collection in the past decade because of that.  I have started a quest to try and track down music that fits my personal preference.  So, I'm asking the community.  My favorite albums are:

Children of Bodom:  Follow The Reaper

Megadeth:  Rust In Peace

Wintersun:  Wintersun

Dark Tranquility:  Gallery

The Crown:  Crowned In Terror

What I am looking for is more music that is similar to these albums.  A type of melodic, symphonic type of metal. But not diverging from this type.  I also like The Black Dahlia Murder and At The Gates is ok.  I don't know if they really belong on this list.  I recently looked at a website that listed the top melodic death metal bands, I made it to 17 and listened to every one, except the few I already knew and hated them all.  I'm very picky about the type of music I listen to. Certain types of vocals irritate me, I demand that the band be genuinely talented.  I play guitar myself, if the guitarist isn't better than me then I find the music boring.

It's sad to say, but it almost seems to me that this type of music just isn't being created anymore.  I don't have anyone to discuss this with personally.  In my home town, if you listen to anything other than country or rap then you're a freak.  So I would appreciate any replies on this subject, and will follow up with all of them.  Thanks.