Melodic Death Metal

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 1:48 pm

Recently i discovered melodic death metal - the greatest music ever to grace my ears. I've already spoken to many of you here at shmups on metal music in general but i thought maybe i should start a new thread devoted specifically to this genre of music. This always helps me to find new bands...

So far i have discovered Children of Bodom, Kalmah, Arch Enemy, Ensiferum, Suidakra, Wintersun, and Skyfire - along with some other bands that where all right like the old In Flames stuff.

Children of Bodom's new album comes out on the 21st over here...

...anyone have any other suggestions as to what i should check out?

Acid King · Post by **Acid King** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 3:22 pm

Decrepit Birth

just kidding...

russ · Post by **russ** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 4:23 pm

Hmm...

Check out Norther, Divercia, Shadow, and Kiuas. Don't know if they've been recommended to you yet, but it's some good stuff. It's good to know that we've got some melodic death fans right here on the shmups forum

On a side note, Children of Bodom, Trivium, and Amon Amarth are going on tour here in North America later this year. They'll be in Dallas Dec. 02, expect me to be there

barmskii · Post by **barmskii** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 6:14 pm

At The Gates

You need to have Slaughter of the Soul and Terminal Spirit Disease in your collection (the latter is more melodic). Greatest death band ever, and the guitarists are proper badasses too.

Shame they split up and formed the haunted who are pretty crappy imo

adam76 · Post by **adam76** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 6:38 pm

barmskii wrote:At The Gates

You need to have Slaughter of the Soul and Terminal Spirit Disease in your collection (the latter is more melodic). Greatest death band ever, and the guitarists are proper badasses too.

Shame they split up and formed the haunted who are pretty crappy imo

This man speaks sense, 'Terminal Spirit Disease' is one of the best death metal LPs ever. Check out Death('human' 1991) and Pestilence('spheres' 1993) for two more exponents of 'melodic death metal', if that is'nt a contradiction in terms!

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 6:42 pm

Don't know if it's really death metal, but there's a Finnish band called Sentenced who have some melodic stuff... Might be too wussy for you guys.

Post by **Ghegs** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 7:05 pm

iatneH wrote:Don't know if it's really death metal, but there's a Finnish band called Sentenced who have some melodic stuff... Might be too wussy for you guys.

They're disbanded now, though. Pretty cool stuff, but definately in the calmer end of the melodic death metal pool. There are sound clips up for download at their official site, http://www.sentenced.org.

"On my skin the razorblade is shining bright, the veins shows clearly through, my blood is running wild, the deep red flowing within longing to be free, a little pressure's all it takes...to make me bleed!"

Didn't bother to check if the lyrics are correct, but I seem to remember that one pretty well. It's nice to know we Finns are good at something, even if it's only at being depressed so we can sing about killing ourselves.

Children of Bodom, Kalmah, Ensiferum and Wintersun are all Finnish bands, btw.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 9:03 pm

adam76 wrote:Check out Death('human' 1991) and Pestilence('spheres' 1993) for two more exponents of 'melodic death metal', if that is'nt a contradiction in terms!

The Sound of Perseverance or Symbolic ("Crystal Mountain" especially) would be better bets than Human, since it is really rough sounding (I'd take it over In Flames any day, but let's face it, the "melodies" can barely be heard above the sludge). I prefer Florida metal bands, so there's also Cynic's Focus and Atheist's Unquestionable Presence ("Mother Man" has this section at the end of the song that sounds out of Metroid/Brinstar). As said in the other thread, there's Carcass since you like Arch Enemy. Amott (Arch Enemy) was in the group for Necroticism ("Corporal Jigsore Quandary") and Heartwork, and these albums are seen as an important part of the groundwork for similar bands (and sound a hell of a lot better IMO!!). Nocturnus' The Key also has some great moments.

Dandy J · Post by **Dandy J** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 10:19 pm

Well in addition to what I posted in the other thread, I'd recommend Arsis - A Celebration of Guilt and Edge of Sanity - Crimson II above anything else right now.

shadowstar · Post by **shadowstar** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 5:29 am

Opeth, Dark Tranquillity.

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 1:01 pm

Dark Tranquillity i checked out and didn't get into them. Of course, i've only listened to the album Charachter. I found it to be... clunky and over-dramatic. The lead singer is mostly what turned me off. He just seems to belch out the lyrics in a way that doesn't sit well with me.

Arsis on the other hand is awesome - wish they had more material out there so far.

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 5:18 pm

circuitface wrote:Dark Tranquillity i checked out and didn't get into them. Of course, i've only listened to the album Charachter. I found it to be... clunky and over-dramatic. The lead singer is mostly what turned me off. He just seems to belch out the lyrics in a way that doesn't sit well with me.

You might want to try their "Projector" album. You may or may not be pleasently surprised. Projector leans more into the "melodic" direction (as opposed to the "death metal" one) than any of their other albums. There's even actual singing involved.

If you like what you hear, check out "Haven", then "Damage Done" (a great piece of music). "The Mind's I" and "The Gallery" are also worth checking out, but they are definitely harder to get into than their other stuff.

"Character" is one of their "rougher" efforts and needs more getting-used-to than any of the aforementioned records, so it might not be the best album to give a first impression of DT.

RealBout c.f. · Post by **RealBout c.f.** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 9:04 pm

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 4:00 am

Dimmu Borgir/Cradle of Filth have some decent melodic tracks.

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 2:13 pm

Lords of Decadence!!! These guys rock!

jpolz · Post by **jpolz** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 3:00 pm

Soilwork (earlier material)
Arch Enemy
In Flames
Opeth

Other melodic non-death bands:
Arcturus (La Masquerade Infernale)
Borknagar (Quintessence)
Covenant (Nexus Polaris)

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 3:39 pm

"Character" is one of their "rougher" efforts and needs more getting-used-to than any of the aforementioned records, so it might not be the best album to give a first impression of DT.

That's good to know... i couldn't imagine why they had so many fans after listening to that album a few times. It wasn't horrible... it just wasn't great. Though i will admit that even after a couple months of not listening to it i still wake up with a couple of the tracks looping around in my head.

I give the earlier albums a go and pray that if theyre good then the next album will match up to that.

Maybe they got cold feet on 'Charachter' or something.

I shudder to think that this new CoB album thats coming out this month might end up the same way - please god no!

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 3:51 pm

Check out Norther, Divercia, Shadow, and Kiuas. Don't know if they've been recommended to you yet, but it's some good stuff. It's good to know that we've got some melodic death fans right here on the shmups forum

Even though Kiuas has clean vocals for the most part - i think i really like them... this is gonna be one of those secret bands i listen to i don't tell my wife about. She'll make fun of me, lol!

FRO · Post by **FRO** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 6:45 pm

Their stuff is a tad hard to find since they only had one album & have broken up, but check out a band called Ethereal Scourge. Awesome band.

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 8:07 pm

Norther = the shit. I had no idea. How do these bands escape me?

russ · Post by **russ** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 9:27 pm

circuitface wrote:Norther = the shit. I had no idea. How do these bands escape me?

Heh, I don't know man. About every week I go drinking with some of my metal-head friends back in my hometown, and I always end up finding out about some new obscure-yet-badass European metal bands.

Oh I forgot to mention one band: Sabaton. They're not exactly typical melodic death, they're more like... well, indescribable. Check them out if you can, you'll see what I mean.

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 1:21 am

Definitely In Flames. I don't even particularly like death metal, but I like this.

tiktak · Post by **tiktak** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 11:54 am

Wintersun!!!
Dark Tranquility, In Flames, At the Gates, Omnium Gatherum, Dimension Zero, Children of Bodom, Amon Amarth
HAIL

Dandy J · Post by **Dandy J** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 3:19 pm

Also Ensiferum and Nightrage <--the definition of European Melodic Death. Nightrage is like a melodic death supergroup

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 3:48 pm

Wintersun, Ensiferum, and Nightrage i've already checked out. WS and En are awesome... not so sure about Nightrage yet.

TWITCHDOCTOR · Post by **TWITCHDOCTOR** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 11:51 pm

CMoon wrote:Definitely In Flames. I don't even particularly like death metal, but I like this.

I like thier older stuff.

BTW:
Has anybody mentioned the band Gardinian? I think the album I liked was "SoulBurner".

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 3:50 am

Ugh! Divercia is gross! Sorry, Russ but i don't like these guys to much. They sound like a cross between HIM and Dark Tranquility. Bleh.

Norther is still the shit though!

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 10:02 pm

Just dl'd an Insomnium album...

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 9:13 pm

Finally! I got my cd's in the mail. Took a whole frickin' month! That's what i get for shopping with Ebay... anyway here they are as follows

Ensiferum - selftitled
Ensiferum - Iron
Wintersun - selftitled
Suidakra - Emprise to Avalon
Suidakra - Command to Charge
Skyfire - Spectral

Yay!

russ · Post by **russ** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 3:39 pm

I second Wintersun and Skyfire; they indeed rock. Though I'm still listening to Kiuas, who kicks unbelievable amounts of ass.