Old School melodic death/black metal

waif

waif

Member
Sep 7, 2007
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I'm looking for stuff that's raw and dark but also melodic and memorable. Stuff along the lines of the following:

In Flames - Lunar Strain, Subterranean, The Jester Race
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYZkH0bl6K0&feature=related[/ame]



Dark Tranquility - Skydancer, Of Chaos And Eternal Night


At The Gates - With Fear I Kiss The Burning Darkness


Ebony Tears - Tortura Insomniae


Dissection - Storm of the Light's Bane


Amon Amarth - Sorrow Throughout The Nine Worlds


and some parts of Lord Belial - The Unholy Crusade
(everything up till they start blasting)

These albums tend to walk the line between death and black metal; stuff that goes further in either direction is fine. Whatever it is, the guitars must be the principle source of melody. I'm also looking for rawer stuff, but whatever you got is fine. Obscure demos by now-defunct Swedish garage bands aren't gonna help me much, though (I already know about Septic Broiler, thank you). Posting youtube videos and such is helpful but I understand if you can't find it on there.
I may update this post with video examples of the sound I'm looking for.

EDIT: I suppose I should mention that I would prefer stuff with relatively little blasting. Fast beats are fine but I find that blasts tend to kill melodies.
 
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Cardinal Sin - Spiteful Intents (the best melodic black/death metal from Sweden no one knows about)



Unanimated - Ancient God of Evil (absolutely mandatory for fans of the style)



Dawn - Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy)



Embracing - I Bear the Burden of Time (this isn't the best song from the album - in fact, it's probably the least good - but it's all I could find on youtube)



Sacrilege - Lost in the Beauty You Slay (members of In Flames and shit, but much better than anything they recorded as far as I'm concerned)

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVqkwmXAwd4&feature=PlayList&p=52C52506F667A891&index=3[/ame]

There were a hell of a lot more Swedish bands playing in this style in the mid 90s. A lot of it is pretty worthless and completely derivative of early Dark Tranquillity/In Flames/At the Gates/Dissection (like Sacrilege for example, I'm not a huge fan but you'll probably love it), but there's some really good stuff amongst the shit. If you want a few more examples I'll see what I can find.
 
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I forgot about Embracing. I actually own two copies of I Bear... and Winterburn is a fucking fantastic song that I should have listed.

Anyhow:

Cardinal Sin: AWESOME. Will acquire if possible (couldn't find on eBay or amazon)

Unanimated: Also sounds awesome. And easily found on Amazon for <$6. Will acquire. Possibly in the next 10 minutes; we'll see how my ability to resist buying shit holds up against the combined forces of my immense desire to but things I don't need and the anticipated awesomeness of this album.

Dawn: This sounds really good. I was hoping for something more in the black metal vein after the last two and I got it. There's a copy of this on Amazon for $181...$37.50 on eBay but that's still too much. I'll watch for it, though.

Sacrilege: This is just the current drummer of IF (not on their classic stuff). He's a good drummer but his style is completely different here. Anyhow, this sounds good. Like you say, derivative, but still, to me worth having.

Thanks a ton for these recs, some quality stuff here. If you've got more, by all means post 'em.
 
Yeah, I forgot to mention that some of this stuff is OOP and will be a pain to track down. The Cardinal Sin disc is fairly rare, but not particularly sought after. I picked it up on eBay a few years back for around $18.

Here's a few more:

Vinterland - Welcome My Last Chapter (this is one of my favourite albums ever, it's rare and very much sought after, but I hear there's a reissue in the works, so wait for that. Brilliant stuff)

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zBsep7Pc30&feature=PlayList&p=63F61890CD1B6BC3&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=39[/ame]

A Canorous Quintet - Silence of the World Beyond (more fairly derivative stuff, but cool nonetheless. The last minute or so in particular is awesome)



Sacramentum - Far Away from the Sun (considered by many to be the apex of the style and one of black metal's best albums. It's probably the least accessible thing I've posted though, so give it time if it doesn't click immediately - it'll ultimately be one of the most rewarding)

 
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The Vinterland sounds awesome, I dig the acoustic touches. Very atmospheric with the spacey trem-picking. Sounds somewhere between ITNE and SotLB...I will be awaiting reissue.

A Canorous Quintet sounds pretty damn good to me. I actually like the thin production, as it sorta enhances the darkness and melody, which are the aspects I'm interested in, and minimizes the brutality, which isn't what I'm looking for. That said, what the fuck happened to those drums?

Sacramentum - Sounds fairly accessible to me. And also quite awesome. For some reason it brings Emperor to mind. If they hadn't been allowed to use keyboards or play really fast when writing ITNE, it might have sounded a lot like this.

More good recs. Awesome. I shall seek all of these.
Ebaying...GODDAMN. Who the fuck pays $100 for an album they can pirate free? I mean, I totally get wanting to own this stuff but FUCK ME. And why don't they reissue this stuff, seeing as it's so awesome as to have people willing to pay that kind of money? Anyhow.
 
Perhaps Hypocrisy - The Fourth Dimension?

Here's the title track.

 
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This might be a dumb suggestion because you're probably already familiar with them; but if you haven't heard some of Suidakra's older material I'd recommend that, especially The Arcanum and Signs For the Fallen.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMu7JV2bDyM&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWKqMpO2Ppg&feature=related[/ame]

 
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Decameron



Desultory

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XPb_35ruAI&feature=related[/ame]

Necrophobic, not too obscure obviously, but this particular EP kicks ass like a brutal mofo and isn't as well known as their later stuff, get it!



Ophthalamia, for any fan of Orchid and Morningrise. Just like with those albums the melodies aren't as predictable as in much other stuff.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efSYEupoLIs&feature=related[/ame]
 
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there are many many more but those mentioned by song are the best.

These are perhaps woth picking up:

The Crown
Centinex
Gardenian
Guidance of Sin
Infernal Gates (Definitely worth picking up but couldn't find them on Youtube...)
Night in Gales
Sins of Omission
Taetre
Dead Silent Slumber
Eternal Tears of Sorrow
Mortum

And what about the obvious? I guess you have it all...

Arch Enemy (old)
Hypocrisy (mid-era)
Edge of Sanity
Dissection
Naglfar (old)
Soilwork
Mörk Gryning
 
Brimstone(love this album)


Gates of Ishtar


Moonstruck


Withered Surface


Shadow
 
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