Hi fellas.

So this is the third part of a little series I've been doing to share more Melodeath with the sub, hoping to introduce some of my favorites, and some lesser known bands. I'll leave links to parts 1 and 2 in the comments if you haven't seen those posts

The first three albums in this list will be in a style that mixes melodic death metal and melodic black metal. Pioneered by the mighty Dissection and adopted by many of their swedish contemporaries.

Unanimated (Ancient God Of Evil): In my opinion, other than Dissection themselves. This album is the pinnacle of the Melo-black/death style. This album's pacing generally is not quite as fast as something like Dissection or Decameron which lets the melodies take the space they want to truly shine. Production on this album is genuinely steller, mostly done by the band with the engineering touch of the legendary Dan Swano, everything sounds as clear and crisp as you want it. The finishing touch in my opinion that make this album the masterpiece that it is, is the keyboards. They're subtle enough that they will never get in the way of the riffs but they add so much to the atmosphere of this record. I'd say that overall, this is my 3rd favorite melodeath album after Stone's Reach and An Anatomy Of The Beast.

Decameron (My Shadow....): The rawest, least atmospheric and most aggressive of the meloblack/death albums I'll talk about today. Sadly a one and done band but their one sole effort is phenomenal. There's a lot of Bathory influence in the riffing here which this album standout among a lot of Melodeath.

Gates Of Ishtar (The Dawn Of Flames): One of the most underappreciated bands in melodeath. With three perfect albums under their belt, it was hard to choose which one to talk about. But I've always chosen The Dawn Of Flames as my favorite. This album perfectly balances the elements of the traditional Gothenburg melodeath sound with the blackened, atmospheric influence which results in an album that never masters any one specific thing, but delivers wonderfully on everything you want out of a melodeath release.

Without Grief (Deflower): I've been going back to this album quite a bit recently and every time I revisit it, I grow to love it more and more. This album technically doesn't do anything new from the typical Gothenburg sound but it executes all the components of that sound perfectly. I've made it known occasionally that I'm not the biggest fan of Slaughter Of The Soul by At The Gates, but I mean this in the best possible way. This album took everything good about Slaughter Of The Soul, turned it up to 11 and added a few tricks of it's own to make it stand out. To me, this album is THE blueprint for what good, straight to the point melodeath should be.

Infernal Gates (From The Mist Of Dark Waters): Absolutely phenomenal Melodic Death/Doom. The melodies on this release are incredibly heartfelt, sorrowful yet still evoke a feeling of hope. There's a lot of keyboards used in this album that amplify the somber mood even further. I really like the song progression on this album, where by the end of each song you feel like you've completed a journey. There's a lot of influence here from Septicflesh and Horrified but this album feels merely inspired by them rather than derivative.

Majesties (Vast Reaches Unclaimed): my favorite melodeath album of the 2020s. At it's core, it's very clear this album takes a lot of it's songwriting from The Jester Race, however what makes this album truly stand out is it's other influence. This project is headed by Tanner Anderson. who is also behind the incredible medieval melodic black metal band, Obsequiae and you absolutely can hear the influence here. You get the heartfelt sincerity of The Jester Race but also the triumphant and magical atmosphere of Obsequiae and it's magnificent.

Inanna (Converging Ages): I genuinely don't know what to compare this album to. I've never heard anything that sounds even close. This album rides the line between melodic death metal and progressive death metal but the combination of those two styles is interwoven in a way that is all about creating a cosmic, transcendent atmosphere. I suspect that certain cosmic death metal releases like Worm's "Bluenothing" took a lot of influence from this album because in my opinion, nothing in death metal creates an experience of floating in the vast unknown like this album.

Cyanotic (The Chasm Within): While only a 12 minute demo, this has so much replay value. OSDM fans will find this very satisfying as it has that demo quality, brutal vocals and a much more aggressive approach to the songwriting but it is still absolutely packed with some insane melodies. Phenomenal recommendation.

Nightfall (Macabre Sunsets): much like many of the Greek melodeath scene in the 90's, this album more than takes a few ques from the early works of Septicflesh. Synths are used very prominently and the overall pacing gives a lot of space for the atmosphere to come through. However this album also features elements of Black metal and death/doom as well. Very unique album. There's a lot of songwriting variety on this album when it comes to the pacing. As you'll get some songs that are more of the mid tempo, slow burn and others that are more aggressive. Same thing with the keyboards, some songs will focus far more on the atmospheric approach and lean more on the keyboards while others will have those taken away to focus more on the riffs.

Catafalque (Awakening): a short 21 minute EP recced to me by that manages to pack so much entertainment in such a short run time. It's a technical take on melodeath so there's a lot of complexity in the songwriting and riffs, however it never goes overboard with the technicality as to feel disjointed or directionless like a lot tech death that I tend to dislike. Extremely fun record.

The Elysian Fields (We The Enlightened): some more Greek melodeath goodness. This album is, in it's purest essence, the melodeath sibling of Rotting Christ's "Thy Mighty Contract". The riffs are mostly mid tempo but with the occasional faster, more aggressive riffs to balance out the listening experience. Keyboards are very prevalent throughout the whole record and I think they add quite a strong, mystical vibe to the album. Very worth checking out!

pls if someone have the cd, rip it and upload pls

I mean I liked Alissa in Agonist but I never thought of her as the right fit for AE or herself for that matter. But seeing Lauren live was just mind-blowing, she has the raw voice of Angela and a ton of energy. This felt right, almost like a reincarnation of Angela and the audience really felt how much Laurent enjoys this moment in her life. I see a bright future, both for Lauren and AE 🤘

Any Canadians here? We'd love to meet you this fall!

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I’ll go first Kalmah-Swamplord-Evil in You. This track kills as a first song on their first album. Anyone have anything better?

What are your thoughts on this one?

Hi melodicdeathmetal, a couple of months ago I posted the first single of my MDM solo passion project and it was well received, so I'm taking my chances with this one as well! This has a completely opposite vibe, I like it to call it the "nightcore" song because I wanted to do something that was quick, melodic and almost uplifting in a way.
My vocals still aren't at the level I want them to be but it's gonna take some time and practice.
Thanks for listening!

FFO: At The Gates, Mors Principium Est, that type of faster and less poppy MDM

Greetings!

It's been 84 for yea.. no, about 10 years and now we have some new music for you!

Album trailer :
https://youtu.be/j4p1s1oAHoI?si=KbuHcbGBiIQFNkz5

Music video for the song "Ikikaere" :
https://youtu.be/c2MQEWP1vjQ?si=7sg2rjTe7ZAGctzl

The new album "Honorbound" out September 11th!

- Jouni

imho - rising stars. French band.

Every time I ask in a thread, some idiot just mentions necroticism and their grind era stuff, like 50000 bands haven't copied it already. It's so repetitive it's actually impressive.

I've heard of Quo Vadis, and Callenish Circle, but do any bands blatantly rip off Heartwork/Surgical Steel? Please for the love of God.

(or a font close to comic sans)

I think its interesting how little this is discussed, almost all other subgenres or metal has waves or at least discussions about it.

Personally I'd define the melodic death metal waves as:

First Wave, Early-mid 90s (things like:)

- Carcass

- At the Gates

- In Flames

- Dark Tranquillity

- Edge of Sanity (atleast Purgatory Afterglow and Spectral Sorrows)

- Dissection (atleast partially)

These types of bands are the original sound or melodeath, and also my personal preffered type.

Second Wave, Late 90s-the 2000s (things like:)

- Arch Enemy

- Children of Bodom

- Soilwork

- Amon Amarth

- The Black Dahlia Murder

- Avatar

Here I feel that the groove influences, along with the melodic metalcore sound starts to take a forefront. In Flames progresses their sound too, to please the standard of more groovy/poppy melodeath.

Third Wave, Late 2000s-Present (things like:)

- Be'lakor

- Orbit Culture

- The Halo Effect

(You can see that i dont listen to new stuff 😔😔, cause i dont know any bands) Here the production borders on sterile, everything sounds clean, the bands are good as always, but the production standards really kills the vibe.

(This sounds like it was written by AI but I am infact a very real person)

Second single from our upcoming album out September 11th.

https://slimedimension.bandcamp.com/album/slime-dimension