Hi I'm a big fan of the early melodic death metal bands such as Unanimated, The Moaning, Eucharist, Excretion, A Canorous Quintet, Sacrilege etc... but one thing that has always confused me: where is the DEATH in these bands? I thought melodic death metal is death metal with melody (o'rly!?), but when I listen to them I Hear a big influence from black metal and Iron Maiden rather than death metal. One band that definitly fits the melodic death description is Intestine Baalism.

So my question is where is the death metal element in these bands? Please don't mention In Flames, Scar Symmetry, CoB etc..

thanks

well, at first your comment didnt make anysense to me, but as I continued reading I got your point, and its true. I did notice it too, the "typical" guitar technique in the gothemburg sound has more to do with black metal than death metal. I take Amon Amarth's guitarwork as example, that kind of technique was used by bands like At the Gates, (old) Dark Tranquillity, (old) In Flames: except because they had more Maiden influence. Anyway, sounds like a mix of Maiden/Black metal guitarwork, instead of deathmetal. But perhaps because of the drumming/vocals they wouldnt be classified as blackmetal.

The vocals have been the only thing I have ever been able to figure out. To me that's not enough. Correct me if I'm wrong.

some ARE death metal imo, just not as extreme as say Morbid Angel obviously

just to make my comment easier to understand:

check the right hand of these guitarists in this "Amon Amarth" song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQiRCpdMMP0 That kind of riff has been used billion times in the gothenburg sound since the beginning, like right here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPnyY1A9gjI

and then the same way of playing the guitar is found in black metal bands like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV8LpUEdpBI or this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGeuf0X_9No

I know that all these is debatable but, at least in that part, some blackmetal and some melodic death have something in common.

Life Demise: Perhaps this is not what you meant when you opened the thread, sorry if I took the conversation to another direction.

CoB is pretty far away from death metal (well, the stuff I've heard....I think people that don't really listen to the music are fooled by the vocals into thinking Bodom's some sort of death metal band or black metal or something).

Yes, a lot of so called "melodic death metal" bands only really have one element that might lead people to believe they're death metal ("harsh" vocals). However, I think it's been said before that the vocals in these bands probably wouldn't even fit well into most death metal.

What you need is some Anata. Start with Under a Stone With No Inscription, and then move on to the others.

Also, get Artillery's By Inheritance. Progressive/technical thrash with a good dose of melody and Egyptian/middle-eastern flavored leads.

Arghoslent are another good one too. Incorrigible Bigotry is their magnum opus, but their other albums are more melodic, so you may want to start with them if you're looking for more melody.

you clearly did not even glance at the original post.

But none the less, By Inheritance rules!

Back to the post, I would say Amon Amarth are a melo death band that incorporate their death metal influences with melody quite effectively, making them one of the frontrunners of the modern melodic death metal scene. Although they do use some black metal techniques, their sound has too much of that death metal low end power for me to think of them as black metal in any way.

This subject has puzzled me for a long time. I think it's just the slight vocal similarities.

Yes, most of those old school melodic death bands don't have that nice fat sound. Here are some death metal bands (which are melodic) which do:

Mykorrhiza: http://www.myspace.com/mykorrhizainfo
Theriomorphic: http://www.myspace.com/theriomorphic
Negation: http://www.myspace.com/negationband
Crocell: http://www.myspace.com/crocelldk

Perhaps to solve this quandry we'd need to approach it from the opposite angle and first define what death metal is. There's only a little of the death metal sound in most melodeath bands, but they derive a large part of their influence from the genre. If you consider that Heartwork is thought of as a pioneering melodeath album and Michael Amott was in Carnage, it all becomes less of a stretch.

Back to the post, I would say Amon Amarth are a melo death band that incorporate their death metal influences with melody quite effectively, making them one of the frontrunners of the modern melodic death metal scene. Although they do use some black metal techniques, their sound has too much of that death metal low end power for me to think of them as black metal in any way.[/quote]

Very true mate, the blend the 2 elements of melodic and death metal perfectly. They have those tremelo parts which are very melodic, but also incorporate really heavy and fast riffs, such as 'No Fear For The Setting Sun'.

To the OP: To be honest, Scar Symmetry (at least in their second album) and Amon Amarth both fit the Melodic Death description...You're right about CoB though, and In Flames, you might like Ablaze My Sorrow's last album, except the vocals are more reminiscent of Black Metal than Death, but that's where the Black influence ends. Oh, and you should definitely check out Miseration, cause they kick serious amounts of ass.

I think the "death" in most Melodeath bands, comes from the vocals similarities

Coming from black metal and then listening to Kataklysm's Sorcery and At the Gates' TRITSIO I felt the same. I think they use some black riffage to create melody but because of the present death riffs and song structures they're labeled as death.

Totally Agreed

detonation, casketgarden, the abscence, kalmah

there are my favorite for now

good job.


I think that people call it death metal because it's "intense" like death metal; as opposed to some black metal bands that have some lighter parts (not to say that black metal isn't heavy, but what we call melodic black metal is much less intense).

Kataklysm isn't Melodic Death..lol

Wow didn't expect to get many replies at all :O



No need to be sorry; you're giving good links of the sort of similarity I was thinking.



Which ones? the ones that I have mentioned in my post?

Thanks to everyone else for posting. Will look at links of bands mentioned when I next wake up.

I've certainly seen the Iron Maiden similarity for a very long time, as I'm sure anyone who has dabbled in the genre in the slightest has (Don't Amon Amarth use the Prowler melody somewhere on some song), but the black metal link is a little tenuous. There's a similarity in the style, but I'm almost sure that there's no deliberate influence.

As for the lack of death in melodic death metal, I think that's why a lot of us tend to treat melodic death metal and melodeth as two different styles, rather than just an abbreviation. The first being death metal which is melodic and the later which is the far more popular Iron Maiden harmony based thing, with screaming.

Edit: Cry of the Blackbirds, that's the one, exact same melody as Iron Maidens Prowler.