I'm interested in newer releases/bands from the last two-three years that play in the old-school Gothenburg style of Melodic death metal, i.e. primarily Swedish releases between 1994-1998. I recently stumbled upon December Flower, who released an album in 2011 that sounds exactly like what I described. Recommendations?

Edit: Crap, can a mod please move this to Recommendations? I derped.

I just checked my music library for 2012-210 albums and came away with these:

Arcanum Sanctum: Their 2012 release reminds me of Gates of Ishtar and early Dark Tranquillity, with a few more keyboards. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQkat6wvJ1M
Evocation: They are an older band, but their modern sound comes straight from the pre-2000 swedish scene. Think of them as Amon Amarth and At the Gates's offspring. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwhmpeTY4vc
Nonexist: This project which features none other than mister Johan Liiva on vocals unceremoniously released their sophomore album digitally last year, and though it went unnoticed by many and it features one of the laziest cover art I've seen, the music is well worth checking if you are into early Arch Enemy as me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoYMt388tn4
Supera Vitae: Their 2012 EP is pretty much a reinterpretation of The Jester Race. Very nice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqU7UEkI5iw
Nightrage: I'm sure you are already aware of them, but I'll mention them just in case. I feel that their debut continued straight from where In Flames left off with Colony, and they haven't altered their sound too much through the years. Their latest album, Insidious, is very recommended. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn97fUVf0NY
Zero Degree: This band gets a lots of comparisons with In Flames, and its not hard to see why. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrYBgemHInI
The Absence: Thrashy melodeath with the usual influences from In Flames and At the Gates, and they are one of the best at it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6s2kndQFW4
Seducer's Embrace: This russian outfit sounds a lot like At the Gates/Eucharist, yet more upbeat. It is worth mentioning that the cover art for their latest album is somewhat bizarre and colourful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSkmQ6v4U_4

the first arsis album comes to mind, as well as sorathian dawn

Thanks FantomLord, I'll be sure to check all of those out and get back to this thread. I actually own The Absence's first two albums, so I was already familiar with them. The rest are new though.

Though I do enjoy Arsis (have all of their albums + I pre-ordered Unwelcome), I really wouldn't say any of their releases sound like "old-school" melodic death metal, though the influence is certainly there on their first release. I'll give Sorathian Dawn a spin.

I've got two for you though they're not new.

Gardenian - they usually go unnoticed even by fans of the genre and they just reunited so that's a bonus. They play(ed) a bit of a different style of swedeath but I think you'll like them if you've never heard of them before.

Freedom - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgq7esETBlA
Two Feet Stand - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Yq12xvZq80

Eucharist - These guys I know you'll like if you've never heard of them before, I just bought their second release Mirrorworld the other day and it threw me straight back to early-mid era At The Gates and early Soilwork.

Mirrorworld - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8C9Ci-qS8s
Dissolving - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb_cBf_7UMs

Thanks for reminding me about Gardenian, I've known about them for a while but I have been forgetting to listen to "Two Feet Stand." It was awesome, some parts actually sounded upbeat/happy and not depressing.

I am very familiar with Eucharist. In fact, I always preferred "Mirrorworlds" until last night, when I finally took the time to sit down and listen to "A Velvet Creation." I didn't have superb earphones when I first listened to it, so I just dismissed because it sounded too much like "The Red in the Sky is Ours" by At the Gates. I still think it sounds like that, but the production doesn't suck nearly as much (guitar sounds thicker), and it's just a bit more melodic/straight-forward.

Evocation was just okay. You're right, they do sound like Amon Amarth with a little bit of At the Gates, but they didn't do either style as well as the originators.

edit: I'm in the process of listening to the rest.

Burial Vault played extremely solid old-school Swedish-style melodic death on their first two EP's. The albums aren't nearly as good so I would stick with the EP's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCwlV9QGI84

Eternal Storm released their first ep last month, and I think you will like it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EYXbKDX9PQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3Ia1w9biU4

http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Ete ... iscography

I'm seconding almost everything in this thread, especially Zero Degree.

Wow, thanks guys, a lot of stuff for me to check out! I'll give them all some feedback later tonight. I have a programming project to complete, which means that I'll be able to go through a few albums in the meantime .

Also, I did hear Eternal Storm's release. I actually had talked to one of their guitarists on last.fm about two weeks ago. It was pretty good.

Escutcheon from the netherlands