Jump to content

melodic death metal


916kaden

Recommended Posts

Amon Amarth are good at what they do. They aren't particularly original in any way, and they seem to continually release the same album over and over again, and never really take many artistic risks. But they are very good. I guess you could call them the Soundgarden or Alice in Chains of Swedish Melodeath. Though I agree its seems like they are more of a power metal band with harsh vocals. The two best Melodeath albums I've ever heard though are Opeths My Arms Your Hearse, and Dark Tranquility's The Gallery. Great stuff. The Swedes pretty much perfected the genre.
I disagree, Amon Amarth were fairly original when they began, despite becoming somewhat stagnant after many years.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

I just heard these guys thanks to my drummer. They were part of the burgeoning late 90s metalcore scene here in the USA, but I hear little difference between this and the mid 90s Gothenburg sound. The vocals are a bit screamo, but not that far off. It's like a moodier, less intense Dark Tranquillity with a bit of Sacramentum vibe from the keyboards. Cool stuff. 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 9 months later...

Hello, recently I've been really into melodic death, I LOVE at the gates, black dahlia, amon amarth, carcass, etc. However, when I looked up some more melodic death bands to try I was really disappointed. I heard dark tranquility and soilwork and it was almost like pop metal. I just want more stuff like slaughter of the soul and nocturnal and heartwork. Any suggestions?

_____

merged with existing thread 03/17 - FA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FWIW "Slaughter Of The Soul", "Heartwork", and everything I hear from TBDM sound like pop metal to me. I share your feeling about later Dark Tranquillity, but their early albums are gold, some of my favorites in the genre. Same with At The Gates, I feel like they just got less interesting as they went along.

Check out Dark Tranquillity's "Skydancer", "Of Chaos And Eternal Night", "The Gallery" (my personal fave), and "The Mind's I" (very SOTS vibe on that album). I love older ATG, don't know how well you'd get on with it but "The Red In The Sky Is Ours" is still my favorite, and you should definitely hear "Terminal Spirit Disease", the EP that came out right before "SOTS". I bet you'd also really dig The Crown's "Death Race King".

Also check out Edge Of Sanity's "Crimson", early progressive DM with some great melodies; A Canorous Quintet, maybe the most underappreciated band from the Swedish melodeath scene - "Silence Of The World Beyond" fucking rules; Eucharist, especially "Mirrorworlds"; Unanimated's "Ancient God Of Evil"; maybe some stuff by Ablaze My Sorrow; farther afield, if you enjoy the older and more raw sound, listen to Dead Blue Sky's "Symptoms Of An Unwanted Emotion", they're an American group that kind of cloned the melodic Gothenburg sound. You may like Obsequiae, they're a recent black metal group but their melodies and songwriting are reminiscent of older melodeath to me.

You really ought to check through the recommendation threads for all of these requests. The melodeath thread is a bit thin, but still has some good stuff. (Note - moved to appropriate thread) There are a bunch of bands I can't fucking stand that will probably appeal to you, like Kalmah and Darkane, and maybe Garden Of Shadows, Enforsaken, and Vehemence. Happy hunting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here:

At The Gates - Neverwhere

At The Gates - The Beautiful Wound

Dark Tranquillity - The Dividing Line

Dark Tranquillity - Zodijackyl Light

The Crown - Rebel Angel

A Canorous Quintet - Silence Of The World Beyond

Unanimated - Oceans Of Time

Ablaze My Sorrow - As I Face The Eternity

Eucharist - With The Sun

Dead Blue Sky - To Live In Dreams (this is from an American album released on a Belgian hardcore label, but hey...)

And not on the Gothenburg tip...

Edge Of Sanity - Crimson

Opeth - Black Rose Immortal (this one is looooong but totally worth the listen IMO)

 

Obsequiae - Suspended In The Brume Of Eos (not melodeath but you can hear the similarities)

Note - moved 03/17, sorry for any duplicate recommendations

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, DukeThylacine said: Kalmah, Valtari, Wolfheart, Varg (is metalcore-ish in guitars)

Btw did you check out Arch Enemy?

Haven't yet, what arch enemy album should I listen to? Also again, thank you everyone for the sick suggestions

Black Earth, Stigmata, and maybe Burning Bridges. They're worthless beyond that point though.

Sent from my HTC6535LVW using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
On 20/05/2015 at 7:31 AM, Laihoard said:

I completely agree. Amon Amarth is really good they just don't experiment very much. Twilight of the Thunder God is an incredible album.

I agree with what most people have said regarding Amon Amarth. 'Twilight of the Thunder God' is my favourite album of theirs. It just seems to have an extra dash of emotion flowing through some of those riffs somehow. I own every AA album, although I'm wondering whether that run might have come to an end as 'Jomsviking' left me pretty flat. They really need to do something different now - it's just madness how generic they've become.

The fans seem to lap it up though and they are a huge band, so I don't think they're about to mess around with that formula. I've never understood how people can be so obsessed with them (says the guy who bought all their albums...). 

Melodic death metal is definitely more my cup of tea compared with the more straight ahead bands. I've long worshipped at the altars of Dark Tranquillity, At the Gates and albums like Dissection's 'Reinkaos' which is one of my favourite albums. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...

Hello and good wishes to anyone reading this post!

This is my first post so please move the thread if this is not the right place for this topic

So, I used to love various metal (or heavy) music in my younger years, but had a rather lenghty absence from it after I got more interested in Drum and Bass and other EDM-styled music. Recently i've been feeling nostalgic and curious about the metal genre again, and I was hoping you guys could help me with some reccomendations. I have a couple of songs that I truly love, but I have no idea where to find similar, or even good metal songs. I will post my top 5. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated!

 

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXrTOqzXjD8

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9PL4Xy4wrk

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boV6PdHk8DU

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhChjGd2qKc

5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FsvI1kG4dY

 

It doesn't have to sound exactly like this, just an indication of my taste. I enjoy all kinds of music so just post whatever you think I might like! Thanks for all help!

______

Moved to most relevant section 03/17 - FA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Any of those bands' back catalogues would be a good place for you to start. You'd probably like later Sentenced, and if you're in a softer mood you may enjoy Katatonia. A lot of this falls into the "melodeath" category, so you might also like some other modern melodeath bands. I have to admit that I actively dislike this particular sound, so I may not have much to offer here, but you may also get something out of older melodic death metal - early albums by At The Gates, Dark Tranquillity, A Canorous Quintet, Gardenian, Eucharist, Gates Of Ishtar. Maybe try Edge Of Sanity's "Crimson" and some mid-period Opeth, and since you seem to favor clean, modern production, you might get something out of the last few Septic Flesh albums. Happy hunting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Taking inspiration from our friend @True Belief's melodeath run in the "What Are You Listening To?" thread, I felt it would be a good time to add to this often neglected section of our fair forum.

 

Infinitum Obscure - The Luminous Black:

Infinitum Obscure is a band I posted about in the death metal suggestions thread some time ago, but they certainly merit a mention here. Their sound is kind of like a mid-point between The Chasm (not surprisingly, since some members here served some time in that death metal juggernaut's lineup) and Dissection, showcasing a much more melodic side of the introspective death metal formula pioneered by The Chasm. This is the kind of band that I would recommend to fans of melodic black metal that were looking to get into death metal, and one that fans of melodic death metal that's more than just Slaughter of the Soul regurgitation should dig this too.

Malignant Inception - Paths to Repression:

Here's one that I doubt anyone here will have heard of. Malignant Inception was one of the first death metal bands from Utah, and one that never really made it anywhere, with their biggest claim to fame being that Mike Kimball from one of their earlier lineups would go on to join Dying Fetus. However, the band does have some connection to this forum, as our very own @NTNR was once the bass player in this band. Anyway, the music here on their second album is a big step up from their Suffocation/Malevolent Creation styled debut, with a fairly ambitious and progressive take on blackened melodic death metal. I think this could have taken them places if more people had heard it, but not much escapes the grip of Utah it seems. Anyway, hopefully fans of the style here will enjoy it. 

Orphaned Land - El Norra Alila:

Most people know Orphaned Land for their more recent progressive folk metal albums, which I also quite enjoy, and will admit that they're probably the pinnacle of the band's sound. However, while their older work features many of those same tendencies in less developed ways, it's much more rooted in melodic death metal. They were great with this formula too, so the Orphaned Land album I reach for really depends on what kind of mood I'm in. Anyway, if you don't mind some middle-eastern folk or Paradise Lost styled gothicisms in your melodic death metal, give this a listen, it's good stuff.

Sacrilege - Lost in the Beauty you Slay:

Sacrilege was one of the shining stars of the melodic death metal scene in Sweden, with incredible melodies and a sound that was both heavy and accessible, but they split with Daniel Svensson decided to join the more commercially viable In Flames. Sacrilege does bear some resemblance to the best In Flames releases (Subterranean and Jester Race), but they were always more menacing sounding despite also having stronger melodies. This is a name that deserves to be remembered from the fruitful Swedish melodeath scene, and one that every melodeath fan should enjoy.

Sacriphyx - The Western Front:

Sacriphyx is a more recent Australian band with what I feel is a fairly refreshing take on melodic death metal. While they combine mid-paced, triumphant sounding death metal with classic heavy metal melodies in a way that's somewhat reminiscent of Arghoslent, their melodic tendencies also tend to have a lot in common with those found in the classic Greek black metal scene. This has led to many labeling the band as black metal, but I don't really feel that's accurate. Not that it really matters, this is excellent music that fans of both melodic black metal and melodic death metal should enjoy, and is one that may be a good entry point into the sound for those who don't tend to enjoy the more melodic side of death metal with its more raw production and brutal low vocals.

Soilwork - The Chainheart Machine:

Yes, much like In Flames, Arch Enemy, and other big names in melodic death metal, there was a time when Soilwork didn't suck. This does occupy similar sonic territory to the dreaded Slaughter of the Soul, but as with Darkane's early work, I find the melodies and thrashy riffs a lot more compelling here. I'm not sure if it's because it doesn't sound like the band dumbing down their sounding like At the Gates did so the songwriting feels more natural and less forced, or if they're just better at writing this kind of stuff, but it just works. It's by no means the best melodeath from Sweden or anywhere else, but it's certainly worth a listen.

Stormrider - First Battle Won:

Stormrider is a pretty obscure Swedish band with a somewhat blackened and heavier than usual take on melodic death metal, but even though it wasn't really the popular thing to do at the time, I quite enjoy their sound. This must have contributed to their obscurity, as this was the only YouTube video I could even find for the band. Their sound is fairly relentless, but still manages to incorporate awesome melodies that balance out the heaviness. For those who have enjoyed some of the more crushing offerings that I posted previously from bands like Dawn of Relic and Demonoid, this will be right up your alley.

Suidakra - Crógacht:

Suidakra is a long running German folk/melodic death metal act that despite a career of consistently excellent albums, still seem to be fairly obscure. The folk elements are of the Celtic variety, and are tightly woven enough into their sound that they could also fit comfortably into the folk metal category, as they are well ingrained into the vocals, songwriting, and melodic composition. However, I tend to think of them more in a melodic death metal context due to the guitar heavy approach, with excellent punchy riffs and running tremolo sections beset by blast beats and harsh vocals. Whichever context they fit best in your mind, they kick a lot of ass, so drop what you're doing and push play on this link.

Anata - The Infernal Depths of Hatred:

Anata gets a hefty amount of praise here and among many death metal circles due to their incredible and original tech-death formula, which is an endorsement I can wholeheartedly support. So what are they doing here? Well, their debut album is every bit as top shelf as their later technical offerings, but it's a melodic death metal album in the vein of early At the Gates and Crown of Thorns. Seriously, I don't know why this album isn't worshiped by every melodeath fan, it's that fucking good. I don't care if you skip past every other recommendation here, if you ignore this, we are no longer friends. 

Evocation - Apocalyptic:

The recent resurgence in popularity in death metal (particularly the Swedish variety) has brought about many reunions from older bands who called it quits in the heyday of the genre. Evocation are one such band, but they're not the typical one that you read about, because they didn't do much of anything the first time around. Upon reuniting though, they've had quite the fruitful career, releasing several albums in the vein of classic melodic death meta bands from around the time of their demise. While some tracks are closer to standard Swedish death metal, they still have a strong melodic showing, not unlike what you would hear on earlier Dismember albums. However, a lot of their songs are also more akin to Unanimated, Crown of Thorns, mid-period Hypocrisy, and the like. Anyway, it's pretty good stuff, check it out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good stuff [mention=5429]BlutAusNerd[/mention]. I'm just getting into melodeath and I appreciate the list of shit to start with!
@FatherAlabaster, myself, and a few others have contributed videos and lists earlier in the thread as well. Don't stop at this point, there's lots more to explore here.

Sent from my HTCD160LVW using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


  • Join Metal Forum

    joinus-home.jpg

  • Our picks

    • Whichever tier of thrash metal you consigned Sacred Reich back in the 80's/90's they still had their moments.  "Ignorance" & "Surf Nicaragura" did a great job of establishing the band, whereas "The American Way" just got a little to comfortable and accessible (the title track grates nowadays) for my ears.  A couple more records better left forgotten about and then nothing for twenty three years.  2019 alone has now seen three releases from Phil Rind and co.  A live EP, a split EP with Iron Reagan and now a full length.

      Notable addition to the ranks for the current throng of releases is former Machine Head sticksman, Dave McClean.  Love or hate Machine Head, McClean is a more than capable drummer and his presence here is felt from the off with the opening and title track kicking things off with some real gusto.  'Divide & Conquer' and 'Salvation' muddle along nicely, never quite reaching any quality that would make my balls tingle but comfortable enough.  The looming build to 'Manifest Reality' delivers a real punch when the song starts proper.  Frenzied riffs and drums with shots of lead work to hold the interest.


      There's a problem already though (I know, I am such a fucking mood hoover).  I don't like Phil's vocals.  I never had if I am being honest.  The aggression to them seems a little forced even when they are at their best on tracks like 'Manifest Reality'.  When he tries to sing it just feels weak though ('Salvation') and tracks lose real punch.  Give him a riffy number such as 'Killing Machine' and he is fine with the Reich engine (probably a poor choice of phrase) up in sixth gear.  For every thrashy riff there's a fair share of rock edged, local bar act rhythm aplenty too.

      Let's not poo-poo proceedings though, because overall I actually enjoy "Awakening".  It is stacked full of catchy riffs that are sticky on the old ears.  Whilst not as raw as perhaps the - brilliant - artwork suggests with its black and white, tattoo flash sheet style design it is enjoyable enough.  Yes, 'Death Valley' & 'Something to Believe' have no place here, saved only by Arnett and Radziwill's lead work but 'Revolution' is a fucking 80's thrash heyday throwback to the extent that if you turn the TV on during it you might catch a new episode of Cheers!

      3/5
      • Reputation Points

      • 10 replies
    • I
      • Reputation Points

      • 2 replies
    • https://www.metalforum.com/blogs/entry/52-vltimas-something-wicked-marches-in/
      • Reputation Points

      • 3 replies

    • https://www.metalforum.com/blogs/entry/48-candlemass-the-door-to-doom/
      • Reputation Points

      • 2 replies
    • Full length number 19 from overkill certainly makes a splash in the energy stakes, I mean there's some modern thrash bands that are a good two decades younger than Overkill who can only hope to achieve the levels of spunk that New Jersey's finest produce here.  That in itself is an achievement, for a band of Overkill's stature and reputation to be able to still sound relevant four decades into their career is no mean feat.  Even in the albums weaker moments it never gets redundant and the energy levels remain high.  There's a real sense of a band in a state of some renewed vigour, helped in no small part by the addition of Jason Bittner on drums.  The former Flotsam & Jetsam skinsman is nothing short of superb throughout "The Wings of War" and seems to have squeezed a little extra out of the rest of his peers.

      The album kicks of with a great build to opening track "Last Man Standing" and for the first 4 tracks of the album the Overkill crew stomp, bash and groove their way to a solid level of consistency.  The lead work is of particular note and Blitz sounds as sneery and scathing as ever.  The album is well produced and mixed too with all parts of the thrash machine audible as the five piece hammer away at your skull with the usual blend of chugging riffs and infectious anthems.  


      There are weak moments as mentioned but they are more a victim of how good the strong tracks are.  In it's own right "Distortion" is a solid enough - if not slightly varied a journey from the last offering - but it just doesn't stand up well against a "Bat Shit Crazy" or a "Head of a Pin".  As the album draws to a close you get the increasing impression that the last few tracks are rescued really by some great solos and stomping skin work which is a shame because trimming of a couple of tracks may have made this less obvious. 

      4/5
      • Reputation Points

      • 4 replies
×
×
  • Create New...