Honestly, the classic European bands like In Flames and Emperor are better than 99% of the shit coming out of the US today.
I'm not saying there aren't good American bands but the stuff that matters just fucking sucks compared to In Flames and Katatonia, omg.
In Flames was never very good...
Now, yes, earlier, hells no. Early Katatonia and In Flames were good to great but so were Incantation, Morbid Angel, etc.