Melodic death metal = lame version of death metal.

And don't sully the name of Children of Bodom by calling them that.

Not sure COB have a name to sully; the only album really worth listening to is Follow the Reaper. Everything else either sucks or is pretty good but you can get it better on FTR.

Haven't read a ton of the replies here, but props to OP fella fer mentioning brother von doom. Such a great album all around.
If you're into Black Dahlia's Nocturnal-era stuff you might wanna check out a band from Argentina called Dead Warrior and a French band called Right to the Void (I'm on my phone, otherwise I'd post bandcamp links)

Pretty much this, but every album has at least two or three fun songs (more on the older albums, naturally).

I don't find myself listening to melodic death metal (or death metal in general, I guess) very often these days. Like most of us I'm sure, the genre was an instrumental steppingstone going from softer metal/hard rock to pure death metal and black metal. But it was just that, a steppingstone, one I've since left behind. There are a couple album and bands that I still listen to, but on the whole I've kind of outgrown it. I prefer either lighter music (traditional/speed/power) or heavier stuff like black and death. Middle of the road genres like thrash and melodic death metal just don't seem to do it for me these days. That said, Arghoslent and Amon Amarth are never going to get old.

Obligatory Garden of Shadows mention. Check them out, you won't regret it. There really isn't anything else other there that sounds like them apart from Septicflesh's debut, Depresy's "A Grand Magnificence," and maybe Be'lakor's "The Frail Tide." People on this site have compared them to Vehemence, but the similarities are mostly superficial (melodic death metal w/ brutal death metal vocals). They are incredibly melodic/catchy, yet still definitely death metal.

1. Most of it is not death metal

2. Children of Bodom is definetly melodeath

The album has some good riffs but I always felt like they made the songs too long for their own good. Eventually the songs kind of run out of good or interesting parts and just drag on and feel boring. It's still pretty good and catchy though, I guess. I guess it's also worth mentioning that a friend of mine played bass in Garden of Shadows at one point, but I don't think he was on any albums.

I also like The Black Dahlia Murder. I never liked them before, but their vocalist is a fan of my band (he ordered our most recent CD and shared us on their official page), so for some reason this made me feel bad for never giving them an honest chance and I bought their last album, "Everblack" and ended up being surprised with how good it was. I'm still more of an "OSDM" guy but I still put it on from time to time, it's fun stuff.

I think their latest album is definitely worth a listen. However, unlike you, I did in fact like Across the Dark. Similarly to you though, I wasn't a huge fan of One for Sorrow. Check the new one out I guess. The first 3 tracks (the first being a long intro track) really set the pace (they're some of the faster songs on the album).



Dead Warrior: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y58TnxmLnU
Right to the Void: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEcZNWy3iwA

I am both a Brother Von Doom fan and a The Black Dahlia Murder fan and both of these recs are awesome. Both have a harmonic minor melodicism to them and both have modern production. I'm surprised I've heard of neither.

1. My point exactly.

2. No.

At first I was going to get mad at what Emperyal said, but it was really more of a negative spin on my thoughts on COB anyway, i.e. Follow The Reaper being their best album.

Intestine Baalism is a great melodic death band, and one of the few who makes sure the "death" part is really in their music.

I used to really be into the genre but just found there are so many bands with a similar formula...some do it better than others but I can grow tired of even bands I like if I listen to much.

I think my favourite bands of the genre have more "death metal" elements in them...

I.e., mid era Hypocrisy llike Abducted....probably their first melodeath record but still plenty of aggressiveness to it.


also, more famous for being prog death metal but i'd say Purgatory afterglow is melodeath...some great melodic riffs on that album


I also did really like the Nebucadnezzer EP but thats all they ended up releasing and are now a folk metal band (lords of the Mountain)

1. That doesn't make it lame, in the slightest.

2. No, you are wrong.

I can't not read this band's name as Intestine Ball-ism (i.e. Testicle-ism)

best 2 melodic death metal bands right now are

Shade Empire
and Mors Principum Est

each of their last albums were phenominal

It says they are power metal too and neither of those descriptions are accurate (although that second one is closer).

I forgot to mention that back in the day I was really into Forlorn Legacy, a local band which released the only full length Paths of Insanity after a string of demos in the 90s. It still holds nicely as a pretty rough take on the melodeath formula, with interesting and creative drum patterns and pretty technical mid tempo riffs. I'd recommend the album especially to people who'd like to hear some more ballsy and aggressive melodic death (clean vocals are also present, but they're rather sombre and definitely not whiny, effective in some places and lacking in others).

I think CoB was listed as something completely else in the past, on MA. Like, something close to "neoclassical speed metal with harsh vocals" or something like that. Not entirely sure. It's been years, but they were under that classification for a long time back in the days when I first started lurking on MA. Just saying, not taking part in that convo of yours otherwise.

As far as MDM itself goes, I've never been a fan of the stuff people mostly think of when mentiong melodic death metal (ie. Gothenburg-y stuff), but I do like the Unanimated-esque stuff and stuff like Intestine Baalism, as well as the more high-flying material like early CoB and Kalmah. I kind of second what Empyreal said, actually. (Pertaining his general views on the Gothenburg stuff and it being mostly vapid, as well as mentioning Dismember's later output being great etc.). Though I do have a few spots for the well-crafted stuff.

That being said, there is this Japanese band melodeath band called Another Dimension whose first (and only) album I acquired lately and I digg it. It has Kenji Nonaka of Intestine Baalism on the guitars, so naturally that explains some things (albeit that guy is not a songwriter for IB). The band sounds kind of a more straight up melodeath version of them though, in an oldschool and organic way.

Just found today that December Flower split up a week ago. I had so many hopes on them...


Sounds like Dismember. I like it, thanks.

Melodic death metal was the genre that really pushed me into loving the genre as a whole (well, probably tied with prog). My beginnings with the genre had your typical metalcore/groove metal stuff and bigger names like Slayer and Nile, but Soilwork were one of the first metal bands that hit me hard and Dark Tranquillity and Insomnium did the same not long after.

It quickly grew stale, though. Part of it was just me expanding into new things (OSDM and trad/stoner doom were big ones in this regard), part of it was the genre quickly being overrun with generic clones.

I basically didn't hear a new melodeath band I enjoyed from 2010 to this year (Cormorant, maybe, but they didn't stay in the genre long). Dethlehem were the band that broke the streak; the RPG theme and shamelessly juvenile humor during the interludes is understandably going to turn some people off, but the riffs are awesome and the proggy bent to the songwriting almost gives me Back to Times of Splendor vibes - and that's NOT a comparison I throw around lightly. (Plus, it's free!)

I've been digging Armageddon's new album too. Arch Enemy never did anything for me, and this won't make many year-end lists, but Chris Amott has got some good ideas going here.

Also, there's a new Vehemence album coming this year! And the stuff I've heard so far seems promising.

Kalmah has never really sounded anything like Children of Bodom, and aren't exactly what I would call "high-flying," at least in the microcosm if melodeath. The same four bands constantly get compared and grouped together for some reason (Bodom, Skyfire, Norther, Kalmah) but there really aren't many similarities between them except to those unfamiliar with the genre, who ironically usually loathe excessive keyboards.

I also heard about December Flower; shame.

If it seemed like I was saying they did sound the same - well, that's not really what I meant to say. I do think there's a lot of cross-appeal of course, but you're right, they don't sound the same, whether early or later stuff, and Kalmah especially developed into a more riffy and thrashy territory later on (I never checked out their latest album though, but have heard up to 12 Gauge).

What I meant was that that I liked the two bands and other bands closer to them in sound when describing my melodeath tastes, rather than liking the Gothenburg-esque sound which is what some people associate the genre of melodic death with, as you mention it to someone. In that specific context and in comparison to bands like, say, early In Flames, I find Kalmah/CoB more high-flying than some other bands who get tagged as melodic death metal. Perhaps not the best choice of words, but the generally faster stuff with a lot of keys and (to me) just more of a passionate feel to it even if at times silly and over the top. That's what I meant I guess - a lot of melodic death just always sounded so stale to me.

On a sidenote, with you having brought up those four bands, I never got into Norther at all, despite liking CoB and Kalmah.

Norther pretty much sucks ass, I can't believe I liked them at one point. Mirror of Madness is kinda cool, but the band has always been plagued by some of the worst lyrics of all time. Death Unlimited has some cool moments as well, mainly from the keyboardist; I always liked his style.

Shadow became my favorite melo-death band after In Flames went to crap. It's a pity Shadow didn't release more music or become more popular.

There's another band in Japan, this one all-girl, called Galmet (but the A is upside down). I kinda have a hard time taking them seriously when they look like a pop band. But the music is there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0shORxbJIV8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnvrOLeRt-I

Obligatory Garden of Shadows mention:



For those of you bitching about the standard melodeath croak, this should satisfy you. I'm not even sure if I'd call the vocals a growl; they're more of a roar. It sound like a combination of Greek Atmospheric death stuff like Horrified and Septicflesh mixed with early Dark Tranquillity/In Flames. Be'lakor's debut doesn't sound too far removed from this.

Not true. Hatebreeder is equally fantastic. And honestly, I think their latest record, Halo of Blood, is just as good as those first few albums.

Hatebreeder is good, yeah, but nothing you can't find done better on FTR. The new one isn't unlistenable I guess but there's got to be some point when you aren't really excited for new Bodom material anymore. I mean you really just don't need that much of their shit...not really a band with enough layers or complexities to remain interesting year after year.

Well maybe that's the case for you. But that's like saying "I've heard one Cannibal Corpse album, I"ve heard 'em all." Only listen to The Bleeding or Tomb of the Mutilated. I think Children of Bodom are doing fine. I really enjoyed the last record, but that doesn't necessarily mean I have to keep up with every album they do.

Holy shit, another one I forgot to mention. If I had to pick out the greatest album in the genre, BtToS would be first choice definitely (probably also in my top metal albums ever, which speaks of my infatuation with this one). Such an all round amazing album.

EDIT: And it just might be awesome that I was reminded of Disillusion as it turns out that the band is performing the entire BttToS in Vienna, May 29th!

I totally forgot about Empyrean Sky when talking earlier! Criminally unknown band. I'm still not sure about their second album, but the first is an awesome piece of progressive melodic death metal. The drum machine sounds a bit shit, but the guitar tone is the crunchiest thing in the world sometimes and the riffs are awesome. I also really dig the kinda operatic cleans that pop up occasionally.

Disillusion has been teasing new material on-and-off for years now. I'm hoping an upcoming performance means they'll actually follow through, because it's time for Vurtox to shit or get off the pot IMO.

Speaking of which, this inspired me to revisit Gloria. Surprise, it still sucks.

Any thoughts on Nailed to Obscurity?



Recommended for fans of Insomnium, Dark Tranquillity, Rapture, October Tide...
https://nailedtoobscurity.bandcamp.com/album/opaque

The vocals are the same but they manage to mix it up good. I mean, you cannot deny these guys have chops.

Ive been enjoying In Mourning a lot, very talented band.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOcfzKV6Wos

Still waiting for a memo death band more consistent then mors principum est

Oh boy, those drums. They sound so utterly weak and powerless. I don't like being a hater, but I simply could not listen to that... Totally ruins the music and makes it unlistenable.

edit: guitar tone was as crunchy as you described. THere's that I suppose....

No, of course. Cannibal Corpse is one of those bands that is commonly cited by some people as releasing the same album over and over. I was just using them as an example. I don't feel that way about them at all. I should have put my sentence "Only listen..." in quotes as well. I was responding to the idea that COB weren't all that interesting of a band or that they didn't have enough complexities to warrant keeping them on radar, which to me felt like an excuse for getting out of saying that he really just wasn't a fan of them anymore. Which is fair. I guess my main point is that no matter how complex or layered the songwriting of a band may be, I still think you could find interest in following and maintaining interest in a band wherever they lie on that scale. But sometimes you just need a break from some bands, or even with bands you really, really like you might find yourself not necessarily anticipating each subsequent release.

Well, I'm not a fan of them anymore, you're right. But they also make largely immature and shallow music that doesn't hold up to repeated listens and that I don't think you really need to keep hearing new albums of. Clearly you disagree, so that's fine for you.

Someone already mentioned Noumena but they're worth bringing up again. The first track on their most recent album is easily in my top 10 melodeath tracks of all time. The combination of super deep male and high female vocals is brilliant and the whole thing is just unbelievably catchy.

https://noumena.bandcamp.com/track/handful-of-dust

Every CoB album boasts at least two or three good songs, but Follow the Reaper is probably their most consistent outing.