Melodic death metal
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| Melodic death metal | |
| Stylistic origins | Death metal Heavy metal Thrash Metal |
|---|---|
| Cultural origins | Early 1990s, Gothenburg, Sweden |
| Typical instruments | Electric guitar – Bass guitar – Drums – Keyboard – Vocals |
| Mainstream popularity | Underground in early–mid 1990s Increased popularity in early–late 2000s |
| Derivative forms | Melodic metalcore |
| Regional scenes | |
| Northern Europe | |
| Other topics | |
| Death growl – Clean vocals – Bands | |
Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal which combines the melody of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) with the intensity of death metal. The genre is also known as Gothenburg metal, a reference to the city in Sweden where it originated. Originally the genre combined the harmony style and groove melodies of heavy metal with the harsh thrashing sound and vocals of death metal. Later the genre evolved due to many different influences, a notable evolution in the genre being the addition of keyboards. Melodic death metal contains more melodic guitar riffs, melodic solos, and acoustic guitar work than traditional death metal. It also contains more comprehensible lyrics with traditional death growl vocal input.[citation needed]
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[edit] Background
The creation of melodic death metal has been credited to three bands from Gothenburg, Sweden, who at the time, were all associated with one another: In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, and At the Gates.[citation needed]
Some melodic death metal bands from the Scandinavian region combine the genre with other metal genres such as progressive metal, power metal (e.g. Children of Bodom), gothic metal (e.g. Before the Dawn), viking metal (e.g. Amon Amarth), symphonic metal (e.g. Eternal Tears of Sorrow), thrash metal (e.g. Arch Enemy), groove metal (e.g. The Haunted), doom metal (e.g. Swallow the Sun) and folk metal (e.g. Falchion).
In the late 1990s, many melodic death metal bands changed their style of playing by adding more melodic elements; more melodic choruses and riffs and making more prominent use of keyboards. Also many melodic death metal bands moved away from the lyrical themes of death, gore, and murder common in other death metal groups.[1]
[edit] Gothenburg sound
One notable contribution to melodic death metal is the Gothenburg style, named after the city from which it originated. It is not certain what band originally started the Gothenburg sound, however, it is widely accepted that Dark Tranquillity, At the Gates, and In Flames are three major pioneers of the style.[citation needed] They are also some of the only widely known bands to practice it, with newer bands such as Arch Enemy and The Haunted being offshoots of Carcass and At the Gates respectively. Some other notable bands in the Gothenburg sound are Soilwork, Nightrage, Gardenian and Dissection in their last album Reinkaos.[citation needed]
[edit] Regional scenes
Most melodic death metal bands are from the Scandinavian and Northern European regions, especially from Sweden and Finland. Coming out of Finland in the past decade have been few uprising bands in the melodic death metal genre, Insomnium, Kalmah, Mors Principium Est, Norther, and Children of Bodom. In recent years, the genre has gained somewhat of a popularity boost, acquiring an increasing following in North America, especially among North American fans of the Scandinavian bands which still pioneer the genre to this day; modern metalcore and later deathcore takes influence of melodic death metal with bands including The Black Dahlia Murder and Himsa. Melodic death metal has also spread to Australia with notable bands from the scene including Switchblade, Daysend, Infernal Method. There are other minor scenes elsewhere including bands; Disarmonia Mundi (Italy), Blood Stain Child (Japan), and Death Scythe (Mexico)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Metal Hammer February 2008: "Lyrically we were different too...People were surprised that we were a death metal band that wasn't singing about blood, gore and horror movies"
[edit] Bibliography
- Ekeroth, Daniel (2008). Swedish Death Metal. Bazillion Points Books. ISBN 978-0-9796163-1-0
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