melodic death metal enthusiast's thread

[einride]

i was inspired by the in flames thread to post this because i love this music now, then and forever. swedish melodic death metal come back, all is forgiven

i'm going to post some lesser known things for y'all






^^^ this is a must, SO underrated ^^^





[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka0BDxdf1qQ&feature=related[/ame]

let's just talk about and recommend old melodic dm

 

[ChaosLee]

I really like Ablaze My Sorrow

 

[einride]

their first album was super cool, i hated it when i first heard it because it seems really random until you get into it, a lot of the riffs and structures are pretty wild and crazy. once it clicks, it's pretty epic and inventive though. reminds me of sentenced "north from here" a LOT too



a song i really wanted to post here but that isn't available on youtube (!!!) is everdawn "autumn sombre autumn" from the album "poems - burn the past", a KILLER song with some of the fastest, tightest rhythm guitar playing i've ever heard



this song isn't nearly as good but i want to post something by this band

 

[skyrefuge]

I've posted my melodic-death-metal dissertation here before, but that was 4 years ago, so let's give it another go.

================================================
To me, the main characteristic of MDM (besides it being "metal" and the dominant vocal being growled) is a constant lead guitar melody laid over the top and winding and weaving throughout an entire song.

So I disagree with those who say that removing the growls would make MDM just "metal". In most normal metal, any lead guitar present usually drops out when the vocal comes in, allowing the vocal to provide the main hook of the song. In MDM, it's the guitar that has the sole responsibility of providing the hooks, and it usually supports the vocal, even giving the illusion that the growls contain melody of their own.

By this definition, In Flames's "Subterranean" is almost a perfect example of MDM, while "Slaughter of the Soul" barely qualifies at all.

In Flames is a good case study. Even by "The Jester Race", the MDM can be seen to fade a bit. Take the verses of "Graveland" and the title track, for example. The flowing lead guitar has been sacrificed in favor of the chunky riff. The riffs themselves *do* still have a lead guitar component riding on the top, but it's played staccato to highlight the jerky rhythm, in a very "Dark Tranquillity" kind of way. It becomes even more pronounced when we get to "Food For the Gods" and "Morphing Into Primal" on "Whoracle" (contrast them with "Jotun"), and by the time "Reroute to Remain" comes along, they don't even bother to include the staccato lead in the riffs anymore, apparently preferring to reserve all the sonic space for the bass-heavy chunk.

So really, some of the purest examples of MDM come from some of the lesser-known bands, such as Without Grief and Sacrilege. WG's "Deflower" is pure lead-guitar heaven, and I think the main reason that the follow-up album isn't as good is because the lead-guitar aspect was reduced. Even a relatively new band from the wrong country, like Searing Meadow, can make a purer (and really good) MDM album with "Corroding From the Inside".

And then there are the classic albums from bands that haven't traditionally been called MDM in the narrow sense, but they do the lead-guitar thing better than almost anyone from Gothenburg: Amorphis "Tales From the Thousand Lakes", Orphaned Land "Sahara" (and even "El Norra Alila"), and Edge of Sanity "Crimson".

My favorite Withering Surface album is "Walking on Phantom Ice", but now I realize that it's not an MDM album at all, despite the fact that the band's two previous albums clearly are. The melody comes mostly from the vocals and keyboards rather than any guitar lines. This is the same reason new Soilwork doesn't qualify under the MDM definition, and old Soilwork is disqualified for the same reason as Arch Enemy: the lead guitar parts are too compartmentalized and separated from the "thrash" parts, either in dedicated "solos", or too-obvious hooks.
================================================


(crappy YouTube upload that doesn't let you hear the awesome sound of this record)

 

[skyrefuge]

So with that in mind, my comments.

Ablaze My Sorrow: have had their album 'The Plague' since back in the day, but never went back to 'If Emotions Still Burn'. Sounds like I should have, because it's more wild and romantic and traditional MDM than 'The Plague'. Strange thing is, they came out with another album, 'Anger, Hate and Fury' in 2002, and even though it's much more in the Arch Enemy melodic-thrash vein, I really love it.

Sacrilege: Always qualified very strongly for my strict-MDM definition, and I have that album, but it's kinda harsh for my sensitive ears, and damn that snare drum!

Ebony Tears: Great band, but the incredible and crazy-creative 'Tortura Insomniae' was the closest they came to strict-MDM. 'Handful of Nothing' is excellent in its own right, but is really more kick-in-the-gut melodic thrash.

Eternal Lies: Had never heard of this band, and it sounds good. Great find!

In Thy Dreams: Even back in the day I kept these guys off my list just because there was too much other MDM I was overdosing on, and they didn't seem better than any of it.

Cromlech: Another good one I was unaware of, though I think I'd put Eternal Lies above this.

Sentenced: Even though I love 'North From Here', and it technically qualifies for my MDM definition, the riffing is really too "prog" to fit in with everything else. It's utterly ridiculous how the same 4 guys created 'Shadows of the Past', 'North From Here', and 'Amok' back-to-back-to-back, each in totally different sub-genres of metal.

The Everdawn: Never heard of them, and it sounds a little closer to 'Whoracle'-era In Flames on the MDM-continuum, but pretty good nonetheless.

Neil

 

[Ellestin]

I love this thread and it has approximately all the bands I would have posted myself (Ablaze my Sorrow, The Everdawn, Ebony Tears...), with maybe the exception of A Canorous Quintet, so here they are

 

[Tranquillian]

\m/

There is never enough love for Eucharist or Sacrilege.



The section of this song from around 1:20 to 1:50 is awesome.

 

[E-bortion]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3_mZZ9SWus&feature=related[/ame]


I've been jamming this album for years.

 

[Dick Sirloin]

Other than Eucharist and Sentenced, I haven't heard a goddamn one of these. Tomorrow this shall be rectumfied.

And yeah, I always thought "North From Here" was a bit underrated. For some reason it reminds me of ATG - "The Red in the Sky..." Like, the riffs and time signatures or something. I've also come to the conclusion that "Amok" sort of sucks (listened to it the other day for the first time in years). ugh...

 

[Vittra]

Amok sort of sucks? You shut your god damn mouth. I'll have to check some of these bands out

For now I leave you with:

 

[Dick Sirloin]

Amok sort of sucks? You shut your god damn mouth.

I didn't say a word

 

[einride]

I've posted my melodic-death-metal dissertation here before, but that was 4 years ago, so let's give it another go.

================================================
To me, the main characteristic of MDM (besides it being "metal" and the dominant vocal being growled) is a constant lead guitar melody laid over the top and winding and weaving throughout an entire song.

So I disagree with those who say that removing the growls would make MDM just "metal". In most normal metal, any lead guitar present usually drops out when the vocal comes in, allowing the vocal to provide the main hook of the song. In MDM, it's the guitar that has the sole responsibility of providing the hooks, and it usually supports the vocal, even giving the illusion that the growls contain melody of their own.

By this definition, In Flames's "Subterranean" is almost a perfect example of MDM, while "Slaughter of the Soul" barely qualifies at all.

In Flames is a good case study. Even by "The Jester Race", the MDM can be seen to fade a bit. Take the verses of "Graveland" and the title track, for example. The flowing lead guitar has been sacrificed in favor of the chunky riff. The riffs themselves *do* still have a lead guitar component riding on the top, but it's played staccato to highlight the jerky rhythm, in a very "Dark Tranquillity" kind of way. It becomes even more pronounced when we get to "Food For the Gods" and "Morphing Into Primal" on "Whoracle" (contrast them with "Jotun"), and by the time "Reroute to Remain" comes along, they don't even bother to include the staccato lead in the riffs anymore, apparently preferring to reserve all the sonic space for the bass-heavy chunk.

So really, some of the purest examples of MDM come from some of the lesser-known bands, such as Without Grief and Sacrilege. WG's "Deflower" is pure lead-guitar heaven, and I think the main reason that the follow-up album isn't as good is because the lead-guitar aspect was reduced. Even a relatively new band from the wrong country, like Searing Meadow, can make a purer (and really good) MDM album with "Corroding From the Inside".

And then there are the classic albums from bands that haven't traditionally been called MDM in the narrow sense, but they do the lead-guitar thing better than almost anyone from Gothenburg: Amorphis "Tales From the Thousand Lakes", Orphaned Land "Sahara" (and even "El Norra Alila"), and Edge of Sanity "Crimson".

My favorite Withering Surface album is "Walking on Phantom Ice", but now I realize that it's not an MDM album at all, despite the fact that the band's two previous albums clearly are. The melody comes mostly from the vocals and keyboards rather than any guitar lines. This is the same reason new Soilwork doesn't qualify under the MDM definition, and old Soilwork is disqualified for the same reason as Arch Enemy: the lead guitar parts are too compartmentalized and separated from the "thrash" parts, either in dedicated "solos", or too-obvious hooks.
================================================
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCNPFVJGiMc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whu2_5O51lw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJSNfZNJD-g (crappy YouTube upload that doesn't let you hear the awesome sound of this record)

what is very apparent to me in the last two songs is the finnish melodicism. i am not knowledgeable enough in music theory to explain it in absolute terms, but i'm not kidding when i say that it's usually immediately apparent to me when a band is finnish. there's something in the melodies which i can only assume is folk music derived, and very different from swedish/norwegian metal. sentenced, amorphis, throes of dawn, children of bodom (ugggh), both of the bands above, there's an endless amounts of bands with typically finnish melodies.

(even disregarding the fact that the first nocturnal winds riff above is a TOTAL sentenced ripoff, sounding first like "noose" off of down then with a bunch of amok-style leads)

also re: your analysis of the genre: it's apt and perceptive but a bit too strict, considering what we're dealing with here, which is exactly what it sounds like: melodic death metal. under your definition, we would be excluding a lot of bands that are hard to describe in other terms than "melodic death metal" while not strictly falling within the boundaries of style you're outlining (although i agree that what you are describing is a valid sub-sub-subgenre of metal)

what we're really talking about is a particular style of gothenburg metal which was basically defined (to me) by "skydancer" but if that's the only style that can be called mdm then what are we left with to describe an album like dismember "death metal" for instance? that one is CLEARLY death metal, and it's also CLEARLY very melodic.



describing the music above, i would have to say melodic death metal, since it is death metal, and the main thing which separates it from classic death metal is the melody. so if there was to be a term to define the kind of music you're talking about, it should not be "melodic death metal" as it is too broad. then again, "gothenburg metal" sounds really cheesy, so i don't know. labels are stupid anyway, but i know what you are talking about and i love the style

oh and by the way, here is another very overlooked band:

 

[einride]

And yeah, I always thought "North From Here" was a bit underrated. For some reason it reminds me of ATG - "The Red in the Sky..." Like, the riffs and time signatures or something.

that's exactly right, it's all the fucking around with a million riffs and time signatures that does it. the difference is sentenced is more traditionally melodic, more showy and flamboyant, different in atmosphere (to be real pretentious it's more like a frozen winter landscape than gritty post-apocalypse, which is the feel i get from tritsio)

more colourful, less hopeless

more swords and dragons, fewer nuclear weapons

 

[Ellestin]

Yay for Taetre. Seen thee guys live in Denmark in 2001. Male bald pattern + long greasy hair = talent.