Honestly: who still likes Swedish Melo-Death?!

[In Vermis Veritas]

After much ripping off, watering down, selling out, hijacking by shitty metalcore bands, Ozzfest latching onto what they thought was "the next big thing, it's now almost sickening to think About what got deemed the "Gothenburg sound." It took some effort to remember this, but I STILL endorse all the melodic metal bands that I enjoyed. Thankfully IMO I love the following:

AT THE GATES - One of the originators and I think were always great, and preserved the legacy by calling it a day. "The Red In the Sky Is Ours" and "With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness" are great but "Slaughter of the Soul" is the bollox.

DISSECTION - Yes Jon is out of his fucking mind, but this was a great band. "The Somberlain" is timeless. Let's see what happens...

(OLD) IN FLAMES - I really enjoyed these felchers when they played to their strengths. "The Jester Race" goes great with some Maiden. Well those happy times are dead, sodomised and buried.

THE HAUNTED - Now hear me out. I hear why they are perpetually tagged with the "sons of Slayer" tag. They wear their Slayer-style thrash blatantly on their sleeves... BUT to me they still contain enough of a trace of ATG melodic death. I enjoy all the albums, but "The Haunted Made Me Do It" will always be a special record for me.
I also think "rEVOLVEr" is a fantastic record. It's as if they knew Lamb of God, Black Dahlia Murder and countless others had ripped their sound, and decided to throw their fans a brooding curveball. The foot came off the accelerator for a majority of the tracks, but this didn't detract from a fine piece of music.

Phew, there you have it. Now you know that if you ever meet me, I'll be wearing a "SOTS" t-shirt. :)

Please give me your current thoughts on Melodic death metal. If you liked these bands in the first place, can one still do so? Which bands deserve cred to you? Or is it all a load of old cobblers?

Have at you!

[Cloaca]

Can't say I ever enjoyed this style, and I can't see myself enjoying it in the future.

[Johnny-Skinless]

I only like the true old-school melodic death metal stuff. The stuff that uses melodic leads only to enhace the creativity and complexity of the music without taking away anything from the aggression and brutality of the music. The bands that RELY on melody fucking suck. Bottom line is "using melodic leads" vs. "relying on melody". Here are some of the greatest albums ever:

At The Gates - "Slaughter of the Soul"
Dark Tranquility - "Skydancer"
Dark Tranquility - "The Gallery"
In Flames - "The Jester Race"
In Flames - "Whoracle"
Soilwork - "The Chainheart Machine"

..and there are a few, by all means a few other great melodic death album but everything i posted is top notch musicianship and aggression alltoghether.

On a second note..The new In Flames and Soilwork fucking suck. They have lost it. Everything these bands release lately relies on melody and bullshit commercial hooks. As for metalcore. FUCK METALCORE!!!!!!!!! Combining stoled swedish leads [taken out of context] with bullshit medicore hardcrapcore riffs and whiny vocals was the worst idea ever. I said before and i say it again: Don't worry fellow metalheads..the whole melodic metalmallcore-goth-emo-gay bullshit is just a TREND which is gonna fade away soon. The time aproaches. Fuck trends!! \m/

[The Stillborn One]

i liked at the gates a lot in the past. but most of the melodeath stuff bores me after a few listenings...

[emperadorXXIV]

You mean these?

http://www.metal1.info/images/cover/733.jpg http://image.com.com/mp3/images/cover/200/drf800/f858/f85874js8yd.jpg

I don't really listen to any other Melo-death. (Schwede metal)

[EXHUMEtheDEAD]

Gothenburb is shit...

Old In Flames is overrated, Old Soilwork>Old In Flames

Evergrey is pretty pimp and At the Gates is amazing, Arch Enemy is good

I blame Carcass

[humancorpse]

Can't say I ever enjoyed this style, and I can't see myself enjoying it in the future.
.

[BreedingtheSpawn]

At the Gates- Slaughter of the Soul this album is fucking good. I remember the first time I heard the cd I was amazed.

[cagedbychrist]

i still listen to in flames, and i dont give a fuck, its good shit. whoracle is awesome.

[cagedbychrist]

dude are you fucking kidding me? melodic death is so fucking gay and boring!

nah, i still listen to some in flames, dark tranquility, at the gates.

[In Vermis Veritas]

I think it's hard to admit you may have liked some of these bands when you think how much horse cock they vaccum now.

Emperador, IMO Entombed's rocking "Wolverine Blues" wouldn't belong in the melo-death scene. I think Carcass boosted it with "Heartwork."
Entombed were one of the true originators of Swedish DM, with their festering, grimy "Stockholm sound." There was melody but not so Iron Maiden indebted: you could hear DM, grind, punk, SubPop-style alternative (fact!) in the mix. Other Stockholm originators to me would be Dismember and Grave.

It was with WB perfected their classic Death N Roll style, perhaps the only metal hybrid that wasn't just a bullshit label. Many "true" metalheads accused them of selling out, but they stayed true to themselves and what they wanted to do: maximum respect. And the album crunches like a motherfucker!

Much love to Entombed and Dismember!! :emot-wors

[Iced_Deth]

Dark Tranquillity are still tearing shit up.

Hypocrisy's new album is great, it's not the Gothenburg sound per se, but it's still awesome Swedish melodeath.

I loved the new Bloodbath, that definitely still ranks highly IMO.

Enforsaken is making awesome Swedish melodeath here in America, I'm really looking forward to their new album.

Omnium Gatherum has some kick ass albums, although they are Finnish.

Mors Principium Est is doing some good melodic death these days.

Arsis is one of the best right now, they are gonna take the torch and be genre leaders in this category when their next album comes out, I'm sure of it.

Soilwork has always sucked to me, and the new In Flames is alright, but I don't think I'm gonna buy it. That's my take on it.

[InvoluntarySlaughter]

i still listen to in flames, and i dont give a fuck, its good shit. whoracle is awesome.

Agreed completely. I wish they still had that lineup.

[In Vermis Veritas]

Yeah Iced I'm not gonna be a Nazi on what niche Swedish metal bands are in. Even though Hypocrisy and Edge of Sanity emerged at the same time in the early 90s with the Stockholm bands, they did their own thing, Deicide-style DM and Prog DM respectively.

Yeah I love BloodBath!! "Resurrection Through Carnage" is truly ravenous old-skool Swedish DM! :martyr: :chainsaw: I still haven't "Nightmares Made Flesh" but really have to. If you like good bands revisiting the Stockholm sound, Check out RIBSPREADER and CHAOSBREED!