Your favorite death metal bands?

[BlutAusNerd]

Yes Dark Tranquility I really like.

Not that they've had anything to do with death metal for the last 20 years... Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[mindy6158]

Oh god here we go................Perhaps I like their more "death metal" sound from 20 years ago.

[FatherAlabaster]

Oh god here we go................Perhaps I like their more "death metal" sound from 20 years ago.

 Good, because it's been nearly that long since they did anything worth listening to.

[BlutAusNerd]

Oh god here we go................Perhaps I like their more "death metal" sound from 20 years ago.

I still own and enjoy most of their albums. There's no reason to get upset about it, they were a death metal band for a short time, and now they're not. Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[mindy6158]

I still own and enjoy most of their albums. There's no reason to get upset about it, they were a death metal band for a short time, and now they're not. Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

Is ok really I am not upset=)

[MacabreEternal]

Never heard any Dark Tranquillity. True story me! Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[GratuitousTK]

Well they may not be a Death Metal band anymore, but they're still the best metal band to come out of that scene.  The refusal to add the moniker of "death" to the particular style the band plays may come from a more purist standpoint? 

And I disagree about them not releasing anything worth listening to in the last twenty years. 

Damage Done, Character and Fiction are all really good albums.

It sounds like the dislike comes from a point of view of taste, and not necessarily a point of view of quality.  And that's fine. 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2015 by GratuitousTK

[FatherAlabaster]

Well they may not be a Death Metal band anymore, but they're still the best metal band to come out of that scene.  The refusal to add the moniker of "death" to the particular style the band plays may come from a more purist standpoint? 

And I disagree about them not releasing anything worth listening to in the last twenty years. 

Damage Done, Character and Fiction are all really good albums.

It sounds like the dislike comes from a point of view of taste, and not necessarily a point of view of quality.  And that's fine. 

 

 

You're right, it's a taste issue for me. It's juvenile, too - DT were a huge part of my metal experience in high school and shortly thereafter. At the time, their shit was nearly impossible to find. I had to special order The Gallery and wait something like two months for it to finally show up. The way I felt bringing that CD home may be the most excited I've ever been about a CD in my life. 

When Projector came out, I was really let down. They got really popular in my town right around then and I had the typical knee-jerk reaction: fuck those guys! Everything I've heard since then hasn't appealed to me. 

Edited July 28, 2015 by FatherAlabaster
sp

[GratuitousTK]

You're right, it's a taste issue for me. It's juvenile, too - DT were a huge part of my metal experience in high school and shortly thereafter. At the time, their shit was nearly impossible to find. I had to special order The Gallery and wait something like two months for it to finally show up. The way I felt bringing that CD home may be the most excited I've ever been about a CD in my life. 

When Projector came out, I was really let down. They got really popular in my town right around them and I had the typical knee-jerk reaction: fuck those guys! Everything I've heard since then hasn't appealed to me. 

Were you from a town of 100?

DT is still a rather obscure band in terms of mass appeal anyway.  As with most metal in general.

 

 

[FatherAlabaster]

Were you from a town of 100?

DT is still a rather obscure band in terms of mass appeal anyway.  As with most metal in general.

 

 

I was living in Raleigh, NC. It seemed like half the metal people in town magically discovered DT in 1999, the same year everyone found out about Opeth. I credit that to international marketing deals, and probably the growing popularity of the melodic metalcore bands that the Swedish melodeath scene influenced. Thankfully Opeth didn't shit the bed for a few albums afterwards, although I went through several years of not listening to them either. 

[BlutAusNerd]

Were you from a town of 100?

DT is still a rather obscure band in terms of mass appeal anyway.  As with most metal in general.

 

 

Dark Tranquillity's early releases were on Osmose Records out of France, who had minimal US distribution, so them not being easily accessible to American audiences can likely be chalked up to that. I think around '99 is when they signed with Century Media and started gaining wider appeal in America due to their greater presence here, same goes for Opeth moving over to Peaceville in '99 from Candlelight Records, and then onto Koch/Music For Nations and eventually Roadrunner. Distribution makes a huge difference, as promotion tends to follow, and why promote something that you have limited access to selling? Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[RelentlessOblivion]

I really liked Damage Done when I first snared it. At the time I was just getting back into death metal so the melodies and poppish approach of that record made it easy to digest. My enjoyment of that record has radically diminished over time and I should probably explore Dark Tranquillity's earlier works at some point - perhaps when spring rolls around.

[GratuitousTK]

I really liked Damage Done when I first snared it. At the time I was just getting back into death metal so the melodies and poppish approach of that record made it easy to digest. My enjoyment of that record has radically diminished over time and I should probably explore Dark Tranquillity's earlier works at some point - perhaps when spring rolls around.

The Gallery is a very good album, but it kind of loses the plot when it turns into a Rush album late.  It is true that DT did over time move away from a Death Metal song and rhythm structure, but they kept producing good melodic heavy metal.  Often mixing in electronica and sometimes gothic influences. 

It probably turns off some people, but those people were probably never into the sound that was coming out of Gothenburg at that time anyway.

 

And as far as favorite death metal bands right now, I've been hitting that Immolation hard lately. 

Edited August 8, 2015 by GratuitousTK

[FatherAlabaster]

Immolation rules. I still need to grab their latest. Regarding DT, there are certainly elements of The Gallery that bother me, like the overwrought female vox, but it came at the right time for me. I'll always consider it a classic from that scene. 

[HellKell]

Immolation's new albums is good, can't go wrong with them. Kinda want to listen to the new Hate Eternal also. As far as DT, they are a hit or miss with me. Then again not a huge fan of melodic death metal.

[FatherAlabaster]

I can't listen to modern melodeath, even the originators aren't putting out music I like. I love early DT, At The Gates, Amorphis, A Canorous Quintet, and I like some stuff by others from the scene, but they started to lose me by the late 90s. Then again, there are plenty of DM bands outside of that subgenre that have lots of melody. My favorite albums lately are dissonant/atmospheric records from Gorguts, Ulcerate, Ad Nauseam, but I'm also frequently listening to early Atheist, later Death, tech stuff like Anata and Necrophagist, blackened DM like Belphegor, and I love Opeth - all of that has a strong melodic component to my ears. 

[Midi]

I can't listen to modern melodeath, even the originators aren't putting out music I like. I love early DT, At The Gates, Amorphis, A Canorous Quintet, and I like some stuff by others from the scene, but they started to lose me by the late 90s. Then again, there are plenty of DM bands outside of that subgenre that have lots of melody. My favorite albums lately are dissonant/atmospheric records from Gorguts, Ulcerate, Ad Nauseam, but I'm also frequently listening to early Atheist, later Death, tech stuff like Anata and Necrophagist, blackened DM like Belphegor, and I love Opeth - all of that has a strong melodic component to my ears. 

Ever tried Intestine Baalism, Auroch (especially Taman Shud), etc.?

Edited August 27, 2015 by Midi

[FatherAlabaster]

Nope, haven't listened to either of those. 

[Midi]

 

 

Ever tried Intestine Baalism, Auroch, etc.?

I suspect you'd enjoy Taman Shud more than anything Intestine Baalism has done, but it's hard for me to describe the influences on that album. Intestine Baalism is a Japanese band which makes quite melodic death metal with varying list of influences (at least on Banquet...), but in an original, non-cheesy way.

Edited August 27, 2015 by Midi

[FatherAlabaster]

I just listened to "Taman Shud", really liked some of the riffs. Overall it was an odd balance between innovative and dead boring, on my first listen, there was something that didn't appeal to me about it. But I'll give it another chance. 

[TheDumbOne]

I love Insomnium, they have this depressed and apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic vibe in to their songs that I really dig. Another is In Flames with the Clayman album, I always need to grit my teeth when I'm listening to it for the reason that I don't want to bang my head in public. I have been listening to Kataklysm - Of Ghosts and Gods recently and I think the band would be one of my favorite if I go through their discography(hope Of Ghosts and Gods is not their best so I can expect more).

[FatherAlabaster]

I grit my teeth when I hear anything from Clayman, but that's because I can't wait for the song to end.  A few people here would probably recommend that you try old Kataklysm, with their original vocalist. 

[TheDumbOne]

LOL, I was actually expecting a harsher feedback on that In Flames thingy.  How about you? won't you recommend the old Kataklysm?

[RelentlessOblivion]

First 2 Kataklysm albums are ok I guess. Honestly not a band that really clicked for me and these days they just sound like every other generic DM band out there. In Flames are much the same tbh.

[FatherAlabaster]

I thought the old Kataklysm was better than their newer stuff, but still not exciting to me. If you want to listen to In Flames and Insomnium, well, that's tragic, but it's your choice and nobody here can stop you...