Actually yeah, I dug the beta too.
And yeah, I know DF are generic, that's why I compared them to Amon Amarth. The only thing AA really have going for them is an amusing gimmick and better vocals than most melodeath, as far as I can tell. I'm not saying I don't like some of their songs- like I said, I enjoy DF occasionally, too. I just wouldn't want to listen to more than a few songs by either group in one sitting, as they are very similar (says the guy with the Skinless sig).
Anyway, WTF555666, most of *any* genre is rather bland. Boring DM abuses your ears a lot more than boring rock, but in the end I'd say the ratio of suck to rock is pretty similar.
Death metal is also a fairly broad genre- beyond the (relatively) similar vocal style, there is a lot of variation to be had. You should try a bunch of different out to see what vein you like. Some suggestions (not all of them conform to your requests, so avoid any that sound unpromising):
For the progressive side, obviously Opeth, and perhaps Orphaned Land (I never got into them but I know a lot of people who really like them) or Therion, who are hardly death at all, really... these guys all use clean vocals and avoid the typical sonic frenzy in favor of a more atmospheric -or, in the case of Therion, symphonic- approach to things. Death has also released several albums that are more prog than death, such as Symbolic, Human (both genre classics) Individual Thought Patterns and The Sound of Perseverance.
Technical death such as Nile, Suffocation, Necrophagist, Decapitated, and Cryptopsy is a genre that I found some appeal in for a while. Out of those ^ Nile is my favorite because they mix up the frenetic speediness with slower-tempo stuff and cool Egyptian sounding interludes; too much intensity just gets tiresome after a while. I personally feel that most of those other four are rather boring, but a lot of people would disagree with me, see what you think. All of those bands have harsh vocals; however, I find that they can be easier to get into because the focus in most cases is on the instrumental craziness, and you aren't really paying as much attention to growling as you would be with, say, Morbid Angel.
Doom/death is a genre I don't know a hell of a lot about, to be honest. From what I've listened to, it seems that the vocals frequently alternate here, and the slower pace makes it a bit less punishing than standard death. Check out Swallow the Sun for a new band that tends towards the growly side, or Draconian for a band that incorporates much lighter stuff, including clean female vocals. Early Katatonia and Paradise Lost also falls into this genre, and Mike from Opeth actually does the vocals on Katatonia's "Brave Murder Day." Believe that a previous rec, Daylight Days, would also be considered doom/death, although I don't listen to them (actually they might be melodeath...? No fucking clue). Morbid Angel play a lot of their stuff at a very doomy pace, too, although I'd still consider them just a plain ol' death band in the final analysis.
I'm fairly confident that you won't be interested in brutal death metal.
Melodeath is a genre that a lot of new death metal fans get into as a sort of intro, and people have already been recommending a lot of stuff that falls under that heading, like Amon Amarth and Insomnium. Dark Tranquillity, Scar Symmetry, At the Gates, and old In Flames are fairly standard bands that fall under this heading as well.
Last, but not least, there's just vanilla DEATH METAL that can't really find a subgrouping. Dismember and Entombed are names that come to mind. I've been listening a lot of Skinless lately, which is another example of typical DM fare. This is all more or less hit or miss, and it might be the kind of thing you ease into out of melodeath or prog-death.
Hope that sort of helped
oh and if it's "emotion" you want, check out pig destroyer, that shit's fucking creepy