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Melodic Death Metal is such a wonderful genre of music, I enjoy the fact that it tends to evoke a bit more musical and emotional variety than traditional death metal.
For sure DT, At the Gates, Inflames, Arch Enemy should be the big 4. Arch Enemy first 3 albums are very influential. Buring Bridges is an essential album for melodic deathmetal
Taking in the whole discography, my only S-Tier Bands are Dark Tranquillity, Insomnium, Be'Lakor, and Mors Principium Est - So consistently good. Would be curious what a three album run ranking would look like as I think In Flames, Arch Enemy and Children of Bodom would be right there at the top of S-Tier. Gonna go listen to some Kalmah and you should check out In Mourning if you haven't already.
Sorry to hear that. Sadly, I haven't seen any of these bands live but Insomnium and Dark Tranquillity appear to have the goods from shows I've watched here on yt. Would have loved to have seen MPE with Andy Gillion @Sergey-wg7ne
@@MetalTrenches you should check out Ulthima, a Mexican-Finnish symphonic melodeath band, album from last year was pretty solid ("symphony of the night" is a good first track) I also really enjoyed Aephanemers album.
I’ve only heard The Gallery but gonna dive into DT pretty soon. Currently listening to Enslaved’s discography and I’m consistently getting blown away haha. Also congrats on 10,000 subscribers here’s to many more 😎❤️
I happen to be a big melodic death metal fan. It was pretty much my gateway to the entire death metal genre. I've always liked the combination of death metal brutality with Iron Maiden like melodies when it comes to this subgenre. Here would be my tier-list for these bands and I haven't listened to Serenity in Murder or Nightrage so I'm not including them. S - Dark Tranquillity, At the Gates, Carcass, Be'lakor, The Black Dahlia Murder, Insomnium A - The Haunted, Amorphis, Omnium Gatherum, Scar Symmetry, Hypocrisy, Amon Amarth, Mors Principium Est, Kalmah B+ - Soilwork, Children of Bodom B- - In Flames, Arch Enemy C - none
Been following you for a while, love your communication style and analysis. Very happy you included the Finish bands from the melodeath scene which are my favorites. Thanks for breaking the mold of the biased Gothenburg sound. You putting Kalmah at S tier really shows you know your stuff, you are my new favorite source for metal reviews
I don't see In Flames' newer albums as terrible, it's just that they're no longer melodic death metal but evolved into something else entirely. I mean yeah if you judge them based on being melodic death metal albums than yes they absolutely suck, but that's not what they are. In fact this is the exact problem with many bands that evolve 'too much' to the point where they're no longer the same band they used to be. They gain new fans along the way but also lose many of their older fans for basically being a different band. I appreciate the fact that artists wish to grow and experiment with new things and all, and it's absolutely every artist's right to write and play whatever music s/he chooses, we the fans don't have a say in what direction any of our favorite artists take their music into. Sometimes we like the new directions our favorite artists venture into, sometimes we don't. Neither is necessarily right or wrong, it's just that the name recognition of the band is typically associated with a specific type of music, and once you stray too far from your core you naturally begin to alienate people who loved your previous works for what they were and don't like the new direction you're headed into. In Flames fell into this trap very hard, of basically being a completely new band at this point, same deal with Opeth and many others. I'm surprised you ranked Arch Enemy this low. I get your point that their discography is inconsistent, they did change their lead vocals twice after all. With that said, I actually think that it's mostly the Angela Gussow era that's inconsistent but there are some massive highs in there, along with some lows of course. Their initial albums had a very similar and high quality to them and thus far the 'new' albums with Alissa White-Gluz are pretty consistent too. It took her a bit of time, naturally, to find her groove in her new band but she did start very strong in 2014 with War Eternal and has progressed pretty consistently since than. I genuinely believe that all of the Alissa White-Gluz albums are incredibly underrated by old school melodic death metal fans because Alissa herself brings something very different to the scene and people simply aren't used to it, and many simply don't care to give her and the entire band a chance.
Hello metal trenches and fellow metal heads! I'm a patron supporter and would love to see 3 bands from my childhood and many others I assume added. Norther, in mourning, and Diablo. Gonna really spice things up. Shout out to metal trenches for the absolute best reviews in metal period!
I am re-watching this video and I think a few years down the line this will be one of the all time classics for the channel. That ending where Insomnium being one of the largest bumps for a band on the channel and closing a very well put tier list is very satisfying
My own list: *S:* Edge Of Sanity, Carcass, Insomnium, Dismember, Dark Tranquillity, Eternal Tears Of Sorrow, In Mourning, Daylight Dies *A:* Amorphis, Be'lakor, At The Gates, Hypocrisy, The Crown, Scar Symmetry, The Black Dahlia Murder, Soilwork, Mors Principium Est, Sylosis, Disarmonia Mundi, Intestine Baalism *B:* Kalmah, Wintersun, Dawn Of Disease, Amon Amarth, Omnium Gatherum, Words Of Farewell, Bloodred Hourglass, The Absence, Kataklysm, Night In Gales, Nightrage *C:* In Flames, Ensiferum, Children Of Bodom, Northlane, This Ending, The Agonist *D:* The Haunted, Arch Enemy Great updated list! Glad that Insomnium grew up on you from last time. Seeing them at C tier definitely rustled my jimmies but, anyways, opinions are opinions.
You are probably aware of those bands, but if not, I'd really recommend checking out Callenish Circle, Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Edge of Sanity, Wintersun, Mercenary, Norther, Before the Dawn, Wolfheart, Aephanemer and Solution.45 :) some of them you could argue about if they belong here since they have many other influences aswell, but they all atleast have a melo death core. eitherway really worth checking out :)
Nice ranking. My ranking changes drastically depending on my mood. The one that stays top of the list for me and keeps getting higher is Soilwork. They've now become my all-time favorite band. Insomnium is high too, especially because of Winter's Gate. Carcass bores me. In Flames has grown on me. I now enjoy every album quite a bit and I personally would have them higher than At the Gates. Dark Tranquillity is always S for me. So much good stuff in Melodic Death Metal. My Favorite!
What a great list . . . . I listen to 12 of these bands regularly with Amon Amarth and Insomnium as two of my favorites. I'm going to have to dive into some of these that I am less familiar with. . . . also all due respect to Alissa but I'd have the Angela Gossow Arch Enemy a lot higher on the list. Random thing you may already be aware of but you mentioned OG having similar riffs to Insomnium . . . Insomnium's lead guitarist Markus Vanhala is in both bands and writes a lot of the songs. They tour together sometimes.
I've never heard of Kalmah gonna have to check them out. Great rankings, my main disagreement is on Hypocrisy being so low Also, not sure if you mentioned this and sorry if it was but Tomas Lindberg did vocals on the first two Nightrage albums . Cheers 🤘
Soilwork- Stabbing the Drama is my favorite. But The Living Infinite DOUBLE ALBUM is a masterpiece dude!! Give it another go, especially the first disc.
Man I love Insomnium! Glad you came around to them. Late era In Flames is a guilty pleasure of mine though I would never call it good music haha. As far as the "big four" I think Carcass deserves that 4th spot!!
I mean Heartwork is definitely in that pantheon of most important melodeath albums but considering they have more non-melodeath albums than melodeath albums it’s hard for me to give them the slot. Fantastic band either way.
@@MetalTrenches Totally understandable. Heartwork its my favorite melodeath album, shit maybe even death metal or metal in general so I'd give them the spot just based on that. But of the bands you mentioned I'd definitely go Soilwork
Hello, know this video might be old but another band you should take a look at is Gates of Ishtar, they were a band formed by Mikael Sandorf (who is currently the guitarist/vocalist for The Duskfall) Their debut album (A Bloodred Path) and even their second album (Dawn of Flames) are pretty strong, solid albums in my opinion, admittedly the second album can get a little repetitive and the third and final album's mixing is a disaster, (At Dusk and Forever) Either way, it's a really neat project and I think you should give them a listen. I personally recommend their debut album A Bloodred Path and their second album Dawn of Flames (although the original album covers for the second and third albums are quite ugly, I'd recommend the remasters for that).
Melodeath is definitely one of my favorite sub genres of the whole Metal scene still. There’s some bad but when I find really good Melodeath my mind explodes. S+: Carcass, Swallow the Sun, Edge of Sanity, Intestine Baalism S: Insomnium, Dark Tranquility, Dissection, In Mourning, Amorphis, Mors Principium Est, Hypocrisy A: Children of Bodom, Gates of Ishtar, The Chasm, Black Dahlia Murder, Followbane, Arghoslent, Daylight Dies B: At the Gates, Omnium Gatherum, Sylosis, Kalmah, Dungeon Serpent, Ares Kingdom, Be’Lakor, The Crown, Disarmonia Mundi C: Dismember, In Flames, Amon Amarth, Ensiferum, Kataklysm, Dawn of Disease D: Arch Enemy, Soilwork, The Haunted, Scar Symmetry F: The Agonist, Wintersun
Intestine Baalism was one of the first melodeath bands I got into back when TH-cam was in its early stages. Chinese melodeath is great. Too bad it was so hard to come across back then. Frosty Eve and Moss were some that I recall coming across.
It is interesting to see Americans speaking about so many European bands :D Nice video anyway, and sometimes I'm surprised Hypocrisy is not really known on your part of the ocean. For us, Europeans is an At the Gates tier band, but that is mainly due to the frontman, Peter Tagtgren being one of the leading guys of the Scandinavian scene, producer of many great albums and videos :) And on the other hand, we, Europeans have no real idea about the metalcore/deathcore/groove, USA alternative scenes :))
Serpent and Veiled in Scarlet, while a bit more neo classical are criminally underrated (or may just unknown). But man, when Japanese metal is good, its godly.
Nice list, DT are definitely S tier. I'd have to disagree with you on Amon Amarth, I think the last two albums were quite good, though not up to the standard of the ones before them. I'd also bump Omnium Gatherum a bit higher, maybe B+. Btw have you listened to a band called Orbit Culture? If not, I highly recommend them. They're like this fusion of melodeath and groove metal, and the vocalist sounds so much like James Hetfield, it's really cool.
I would add Children of Bodom amongst the big four/five - out with Soilwork. And I also would not call The Black Dahlia Murder melodic death, perhaps modern death or something? And Arch Enemy is a B+ tier for my part, excited for the new album. Insomnium is my fav. melo-death band =) Correction , @Metal Trenches , Be'lakor's debut album is called: The Frail Tide ;) Not heard that one?
@@MetalTrenches Check it out, might like it. Of course it is a debut full length, so take it for what it is worth... And for newer bands, check out Parasite Inc.
Id have to put Be'Lakor and Insomnium at the top of my list as far as whole discography no dissappointments. With that said early Dark Tranquility, early In Flames and early At the Gates is almost untouchable. Amon Amarth is fun to see(saw them live 3 times)I would put With Oden on our Side and Twilight of the Thunder God as top tier albums. Amorphis grew on me with their newer stuff, but the older albums are classic as well
I’m interested in hearing your take on Deadlock. I found their first 2 albums almost flawless, and Melo death but maybe you haven’t listened to them much.?
Carcass, Inflames (1994-2000 era), Amorphis and Insomnium. Thats the Big 4 Imo. Also, i would add "Garden of Shadows" and "Scum (Finnish Band)" "Intestine Baalism" and "Desultory" to the list. Those are heavily underrated.
Insomnium is unfortunately too small and came a bit later. Carcass, In Flames, At The Gates, and Dark Tranquillity set the foundation. You could also argue either Arch Enemy or Soilwork in there. Big 4 isn’t about who is BEST, it’s about who is the biggest and most influential
Always appreciate your MPE fanservice lol. Seven was a great album, but Dawn of the 5th Era is their magnum opus and funnily enough what put them on my radar was the album cover of 'And Death Said Live' (best album art from them imo). I'm a huge CoB fan too, I love hearing the thrash influence in their work especially the early albums. Follow the Reaper is the best but HCDR, Hatebreeder, and Are You Dead Yet are all fantastic. And I agree that after that I have songs I really like even if I don't love entire albums. I'm biased to them admittedly but I'd probably place them at B+ or maybe A-...probably B+. Serenity in Murder is fantastic but I wish they were easier to get ahold of like you said.
You missed the fact that on Nightrages Sweet Vengeance and Descent into Chaos it was Lindberg on vocals ;) Additionally, Omnium Gathrums guitars sound like Insomnium because their guitarist IS Markus from IInsomnium.
With Bodom, I do remember being disappointed when Are You Dead Yet dropped. With hindsight, that album had a lot of really good and memorable songs. It was the change of direction to a more rhythm based album that was a bit jarring. That and most of what came after was kinda forgettable. I thought their last album was the closest they got to the early days. Hatecrew was a 10/10 for me.
I think Character is the defining album of the genre. It is simply the best MDM album I have ever heard. And before I heard Character, I heard Damage Done and thought the same thing about that one XD
My first introduction to melodeath was probably IF with Jester Race. I got into Amorphis with Tuonela (bit of a weird point in their discography) and CoB with Follow the Reaper/Hatebreeder shortly after (2000ish). I'm super nostalgic about In Flames as I basically made it through grad school on Whoracle / Clayman / Colony / Come Clarity / R2R, but they've kinda moved on from what I really like in melodeath. I think I got pretty into a bunch of the other bands on the list. My current favorites are DT, Insomnium, Omnium Gatherum, Kalmah, Be'lakor and Amorphis. I don't listen to MPE enough, but they're incredibly consistent. I'd add Allegaeon to your list. Very solid band, but also pretty technical. For what it's worth, there are other tech death bands that I would consider pretty close to melodeath due to the tasty melodic riffs like Inferi (insanely cool band).
Kalmah at S-Tier is absolutely correct, that band is so good it's unreal. Criminally underrated. The intro to For The Revolution is one of my favourites in metal, period. Speaking personally I'd bump Amon Amarth to S as even their weaker albums tend to be pretty damn killer compared to those of most other bands. Also think Scar Symmetry deserves a bump up from C for consistency and experimentation, but hey it's your list. I do think it's interesting just how many of these bands fall into the category of like "If you started with the early stuff then you almost certainly don't like the later stuff." Like speaking personally I think In Flames' Reroute to Remain is a metal classic and truly don't get the hate, but I also didn't start with Jester Race or Clayman so that probably informs my opinion somewhat.
As much as their newer stuff weighs down their discography, I challenge anyone to find bands who had a string of albums as strong and influential as Lunar Strain through A Sense of Purpose. 9 albums in 15 years plus a bunch of EPs. Perhaps I’m biased, but that’s definitely a rare sight to behold
Dark Tranquility is one of my favorite bands ever. Kalmah is awesome, as well as Insomnium. In Flames is eh, never really cared for them. But awesome reaction and rankings, your giving me whole new bands to listen to
Glad to see someone talking about Mors Principium Est. It's a weird comparison, but I feel how Vader has cracked the 'Formula' for death metal. MPE has it for Melodeath. If I has to describe to genre to a person who is not a Metalhead, this is the band I would make them listen to.
Most are good bands but for me Amorphis is top of the mountain, always. Loved their death era, even more so their Pasi Koskinen era (my favorite), and with Tomy Joutsen they release masterpiece after masterpiece. I can't be impartial with them.
In terms of importance and legacy i would put DT, In Flames and At The gates at the top. In terms of my favorite. 01: Insomnium 02: Omnium Gatherum(especially after 2009) 03: Scar Symmertry (Christian Alverstram period) 04: Amon Amarth ( 2008-2011 is the best period. 05: Solution 45. Christian Alverstran new band. The debut album is amazing
this is truly wild as a long long time melodic death fan I have dark tranquility as my lowest of the Big 3-4 bands. I get the discography idea but I think you have to judge a band by their best work. Dark Tranquility doesn't have anything remotely close to as important or influential to Slaughter of the Soul or Jester Race. I'd even goes as far as to say they don't have an album better than natural born chaos either but that may be pushing it.
So, 9 months into the tier list, do you think at this point, Soilwork would also get a bump up in your opinion? To a B+ or even, just maybe, like a lower A?
For me the big four would be the black dahlia murder, amon amarth, dark tranquility, and arch enemy. At the gates is of course amazing but i think more people know more albums and songs by other bands.
Im a bit disappointed about the Hypocrisy rating, but we are supposed to have different opinions about albums and babds. I like all Hypocrisy some more than others. Overall you have a great channel, and can only imagine the the time and work that goes into all of this. Discovered your channel recently Subscribed and have been binge watching. Keep up the great work!!
You have the big 4, then you have what I considered a second generation group-Including Insomnium, omnium gatherum, scar symmetry, Mors Principium Est, Children of Bodom, Amon Amarth, Wintersun, Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Sybreed, Amorphis, Nightrage, Heaven Shall Burn, Raunchy, Hypocrisy, Orden Ogan, Wolfheart, Before the Dawn, MyGrain.
Kalmah is by far the best band on this list, with the first two albums swamplord and they will return being some of the best music ever made. The very best melodeath band is one surprisingly not on the list at all, Intestine baalism.
The very best melodeath bands are Extol and Persefone...dunno whether they made the list as I didn't feel like watching it any further after Soilwork, In Flames and The Haunted were put in the B- tier. The taste/knowledge of this fella make this channel a waste of time...
i got into melo-death scene after listening to reroute to remain by inflames but later I heard that they shifted their prime sound from that album or come clarity. now I m into dark tranquility. i guess u never know how or where u got influenced from
I can't listen to Arch Enemy anymore. It's become a trend for melo-death bands to sound cringe after a while, idk why I feel that way. But every time I hear an Arch Enemy riff I instantly want to skip it
It's interesting with In Flames, they play their new material so much heavier live than how it's recorded. I don't like any of their albums past Come Clarity as you said, but some of the songs are actually decent when played live. Particularly on "Sounds from the Heart of Gothenburg"
Soundtrack to your escape was not bad come clarity. But ah yea anything after that man I haven’t really listen much of. A sense of purpose would be the last album I bought. Whoracle is my fave
I use to listen to a ton of In flames. It’s funny I started out with come clarity soundtrack and reroute. But after diving more into the earlier work I gravitated more into the jester and colony clayman whoracle. Those albums are sumthen else
@@MetalTrenches I wasn't a fan of the last one either. But the first albums are good and Avatar Country and Feathers & Flesh are really good (more prog/avant garde than the others) but they all get pretty weird. Took me a long time to get into them and Avatar country was definitely what made me a fan
Hey bro! My album drops on the 15th FFO: Limp Bizkit, Chevelle, Tool, Incubus and Deftones. A review would be pretty dope let me know if you got a band I'll do the same
Arch Enemy being on the bottom kind of hurts my soul lol Like below the likes of The Haunted / Hypocrisy O_o Burning Bridges to Rise of the Tyrants were all fantastic stuff and definately their golden age where it was banger after banger.
They’re just REALLY inconsistent. Album for album I’d argue that they only have maybe 4 really good ones, a few average ones, and some straight up bad ones. Don’t get me wrong, when they’re great they’re great, but they can’t compete with some of the others here in my opinion.
Hello, thank you for your work on this video. The subject itself is quite complex and always deserves a discussion:) First off, my favorite bands here are Dark Tranquillity, Soilwork and Amorphis. However, the first "but" appears already at this point and this word is the key word when describing all the bands on your list. The word "but" or 'inconsistency" as you call it. And so, Amorphis' output can be really great at times but they also can be boring and repetitive on some albums. The same goes to Soilwork and the other bands. I hate this inconsistency and only can explain it with commercial reasons and/or duties. I mean if a band HAS TO publish an album every two years then we shouldn't expect it to create good music all the time. It won't work that way. It's only a product, not a work of art it should be. And most of these bands work so. They're creating products mostly. One or two outstanding albums and then only well sounding products. That's my first remark on the subject. The second thing is, it's quite risky to compare bands like Carcass or Amorphis with newer groups like Kalmah or Black Dahlia Murder and so on. Carcass' influence on other genres is well-known, and Amorphis, too, was probably the first Death Metal band to start incorporating folk music. Nobody did this before. Their first albums were and still are very innovative and even if Amorphis go mainstream now, their early work will always be remembered as groundbreaking on the whole death metal scene. Third, the bands that I miss to some extent on your list, would be Edge of Sanity (not pure melodic death metal, rather something like Carcass in terms of changing styles throughout their existence) and the Swedish group Gardenian. Gardenian's 2nd and 3rd album were in my opinion on par with the Dark Tranquillity 's or In Flames' better albums. Thank you for your attention! :)
Personally, I love Revolver from the Haunted, but to each their own. I've tried on numerous occasions to get into Dark Tranquility and I want to like them, but it just has not stuck for me. As you have put them in S Tier what album would you recommend as a starting point to give DT another shot?
They really have something to offer everyone. Depends what you dig. For more raw melodic dm, their early stuff (Skydancer, The Gallery, The Mind's I), more atmospheric & moody (Projector/Haven), height of MDM popularity (Damage Done, Character, Fiction). Then they went into a period of combining sounds from all areas (We Are The Void, Construct), and further polishing it all (Atoma, Moment). My top 3 favourites are Moment, Atoma, Projector. I have been listening to them since 99! :)
Not to start a war, but I would rank the following two bands lower because their fanbase consists entirely of people I would never like to have anything in common with: In Flames and Children of Bodom.
I discovered Insomnium back in 2006 and since then I'm surprised they never drop a "meh" album, to me they all sound incredible and usualy I tend to stick with a few albums of a band but I just can't with them
@@jcrosato That’s interesting, because One For Sorrow is my all time favorite Insomnium Album, closely followed by Shadows of the dying sun and Heart like a grave
Love Kalmah, much deserved S-tier ranking! 12 Guage is my favorite. Hypocrisy I always viewed more as straight up death metal, not melodic. That said, The Final Chapter and Abducted are great, as is Osculum Obscenum from their earlier stuff.
I wonder have you listened to Solution .45? They are quite similar to Scar Symmetry, but I prefer them a LOT more than SS. Their riffs are so much groovier, and so much more headbangable I find. The band has Christian Älvestam in the band. Honestly, all you have to do is listen to the song Clandestinity Now, a 16-minute masterpiece of a track. I guarantee you'll be HOOKED by just this one song alone. Also I recommend you to listen to the band Miseration, this band is HEAVY, not really melodic death metal, more tech death honestly, also has Christian Älvestam on vocals, this band absolutely SLAYS.
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Melodic Death Metal is such a wonderful genre of music, I enjoy the fact that it tends to evoke a bit more musical and emotional variety than traditional death metal.
Agreed
@@MetalTrenches do you have a spotify channel / account name?
We call what happened to In Flames "In Flames Syndrome" or IFS. Feel free to apply that to any bands discography.
lol love it
Same thing happened to Sonata Artica. They went from four masterpieces to mediocre albums to absolute shit.
@@caraculo1077
Correct! It's really unfortunate
@@caraculo1077 imo Unia and The Days Of Grays are their absolute best albums
For sure DT, At the Gates, Inflames, Arch Enemy should be the big 4. Arch Enemy first 3 albums are very influential. Buring Bridges is an essential album for melodic deathmetal
You did not do arch enemy justice....it helped pave the way in the melodic death metal scene my dude...i think it certainly doesn’t desrve the c tier.
You're right, arch enemy is at the top
Taking in the whole discography, my only S-Tier Bands are Dark Tranquillity, Insomnium, Be'Lakor, and Mors Principium Est - So consistently good. Would be curious what a three album run ranking would look like as I think In Flames, Arch Enemy and Children of Bodom would be right there at the top of S-Tier. Gonna go listen to some Kalmah and you should check out In Mourning if you haven't already.
I listened to Be'Lakor a lot, but apparently they are so horrible live! I saw them in August in London, left after the second song, very disappointed.
Sorry to hear that. Sadly, I haven't seen any of these bands live but Insomnium and Dark Tranquillity appear to have the goods from shows I've watched here on yt. Would have loved to have seen MPE with Andy Gillion @Sergey-wg7ne
@@Sergey-wg7ne Belakor live are very good dont know what u talking
@@mnoack5619 you haven't seen them live have you.
@@Sergey-wg7ne i do 3 Times in germany.2 Times Summerbrezze and Last year Hannover. All live Gigs were realy good
First few In Flames Albums for me. Will always be special.
Absolutely
Im a Melo death noob, but Children of Bodom is my favorite! I think it'd fit in the big 4
Sounds like time to check out some others as well 🤘🏻
@@MetalTrenches you should check out Ulthima, a Mexican-Finnish symphonic melodeath band, album from last year was pretty solid ("symphony of the night" is a good first track) I also really enjoyed Aephanemers album.
I’ve only heard The Gallery but gonna dive into DT pretty soon. Currently listening to Enslaved’s discography and I’m consistently getting blown away haha. Also congrats on 10,000 subscribers here’s to many more 😎❤️
Enslaved is incredible and Dark Tranquillity are up there as well
Be'lakor's debut is The Frail Tide. The only one they still need to press on vinyl.
Came to say the same!
I happen to be a big melodic death metal fan. It was pretty much my gateway to the entire death metal genre. I've always liked the combination of death metal brutality with Iron Maiden like melodies when it comes to this subgenre. Here would be my tier-list for these bands and I haven't listened to Serenity in Murder or Nightrage so I'm not including them.
S - Dark Tranquillity, At the Gates, Carcass, Be'lakor, The Black Dahlia Murder, Insomnium
A - The Haunted, Amorphis, Omnium Gatherum, Scar Symmetry, Hypocrisy, Amon Amarth, Mors Principium Est, Kalmah
B+ - Soilwork, Children of Bodom
B- - In Flames, Arch Enemy
C - none
Been following you for a while, love your communication style and analysis. Very happy you included the Finish bands from the melodeath scene which are my favorites. Thanks for breaking the mold of the biased Gothenburg sound. You putting Kalmah at S tier really shows you know your stuff, you are my new favorite source for metal reviews
🖤
hard to not to put kalmah at s. Alone that they managed to make such a hard and good ballad is still crazy to me.
I don't see In Flames' newer albums as terrible, it's just that they're no longer melodic death metal but evolved into something else entirely. I mean yeah if you judge them based on being melodic death metal albums than yes they absolutely suck, but that's not what they are. In fact this is the exact problem with many bands that evolve 'too much' to the point where they're no longer the same band they used to be. They gain new fans along the way but also lose many of their older fans for basically being a different band. I appreciate the fact that artists wish to grow and experiment with new things and all, and it's absolutely every artist's right to write and play whatever music s/he chooses, we the fans don't have a say in what direction any of our favorite artists take their music into.
Sometimes we like the new directions our favorite artists venture into, sometimes we don't. Neither is necessarily right or wrong, it's just that the name recognition of the band is typically associated with a specific type of music, and once you stray too far from your core you naturally begin to alienate people who loved your previous works for what they were and don't like the new direction you're headed into. In Flames fell into this trap very hard, of basically being a completely new band at this point, same deal with Opeth and many others.
I'm surprised you ranked Arch Enemy this low. I get your point that their discography is inconsistent, they did change their lead vocals twice after all. With that said, I actually think that it's mostly the Angela Gussow era that's inconsistent but there are some massive highs in there, along with some lows of course. Their initial albums had a very similar and high quality to them and thus far the 'new' albums with Alissa White-Gluz are pretty consistent too. It took her a bit of time, naturally, to find her groove in her new band but she did start very strong in 2014 with War Eternal and has progressed pretty consistently since than. I genuinely believe that all of the Alissa White-Gluz albums are incredibly underrated by old school melodic death metal fans because Alissa herself brings something very different to the scene and people simply aren't used to it, and many simply don't care to give her and the entire band a chance.
Belakor and Insomnium are my favorites.
Hello metal trenches and fellow metal heads! I'm a patron supporter and would love to see 3 bands from my childhood and many others I assume added. Norther, in mourning, and Diablo. Gonna really spice things up. Shout out to metal trenches for the absolute best reviews in metal period!
Carcass at the top where they belong 💪💪💪
The first couple of albums buy Scar Symmetry with Christian Älvestam were incredible, his voice is something else..
Man I love those first 3 albums
Pitch Black Progress is my favorite Melo-Death Album, it’s literally perfection imo
Children of Bodom in B-?????? My guy that’s INSANE.
I am re-watching this video and I think a few years down the line this will be one of the all time classics for the channel. That ending where Insomnium being one of the largest bumps for a band on the channel and closing a very well put tier list is very satisfying
Put them last for a reason \m/
Now this is one category ive been wanting to discuss with other melodeath fans for years now.
I am so happy to learn more about melodic death metal, wintersun, insomnium and be'lakor are amazing, my favorite genre
My own list:
*S:* Edge Of Sanity, Carcass, Insomnium, Dismember, Dark Tranquillity, Eternal Tears Of Sorrow, In Mourning, Daylight Dies
*A:* Amorphis, Be'lakor, At The Gates, Hypocrisy, The Crown, Scar Symmetry, The Black Dahlia Murder, Soilwork, Mors Principium Est, Sylosis, Disarmonia Mundi, Intestine Baalism
*B:* Kalmah, Wintersun, Dawn Of Disease, Amon Amarth, Omnium Gatherum, Words Of Farewell, Bloodred Hourglass, The Absence, Kataklysm, Night In Gales, Nightrage
*C:* In Flames, Ensiferum, Children Of Bodom, Northlane, This Ending, The Agonist
*D:* The Haunted, Arch Enemy
Great updated list! Glad that Insomnium grew up on you from last time. Seeing them at C tier definitely rustled my jimmies but, anyways, opinions are opinions.
Edge of Sanity at S tier gets an automatic 👍 from me
Are you sure you're not me in disguise?
You are probably aware of those bands, but if not, I'd really recommend checking out Callenish Circle, Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Edge of Sanity, Wintersun, Mercenary, Norther, Before the Dawn, Wolfheart, Aephanemer and Solution.45 :) some of them you could argue about if they belong here since they have many other influences aswell, but they all atleast have a melo death core. eitherway really worth checking out :)
Nice ranking. My ranking changes drastically depending on my mood. The one that stays top of the list for me and keeps getting higher is Soilwork. They've now become my all-time favorite band. Insomnium is high too, especially because of Winter's Gate. Carcass bores me. In Flames has grown on me. I now enjoy every album quite a bit and I personally would have them higher than At the Gates. Dark Tranquillity is always S for me. So much good stuff in Melodic Death Metal. My Favorite!
What a great list . . . . I listen to 12 of these bands regularly with Amon Amarth and Insomnium as two of my favorites. I'm going to have to dive into some of these that I am less familiar with. . . . also all due respect to Alissa but I'd have the Angela Gossow Arch Enemy a lot higher on the list. Random thing you may already be aware of but you mentioned OG having similar riffs to Insomnium . . . Insomnium's lead guitarist Markus Vanhala is in both bands and writes a lot of the songs. They tour together sometimes.
P.P.S. Nekrogoblikon.
Arch enemy defo theyre iconic even as the "female screaming band" or in female fronted metal in general as long as melodeath
The Mighty Soilwork gets my vote 👍
I've never heard of Kalmah gonna have to check them out.
Great rankings, my main disagreement is on Hypocrisy being so low
Also, not sure if you mentioned this and sorry if it was but Tomas Lindberg did vocals on the first two Nightrage albums .
Cheers 🤘
Mors Principium Est for the win
Also, I'm really happy Insomnium has been bumped up. Love them. Was kinda sad they were in C tier last time
Why it’s always worth circling back to things
Carcass in S tier.... Im happy
An easy choice
Damn I'd been waiting for this, imma go make some popcorn
Our lists would be different, but honestly, it was a fun watch.
Soilwork- Stabbing the Drama is my favorite. But The Living Infinite DOUBLE ALBUM is a masterpiece dude!! Give it another go, especially the first disc.
Pete Tatgren is an ICON. Not only for Hypocrisy, but for being one of if not the best Metal producers on the planet 🤘
Man I love Insomnium! Glad you came around to them. Late era In Flames is a guilty pleasure of mine though I would never call it good music haha. As far as the "big four" I think Carcass deserves that 4th spot!!
I mean Heartwork is definitely in that pantheon of most important melodeath albums but considering they have more non-melodeath albums than melodeath albums it’s hard for me to give them the slot. Fantastic band either way.
@@MetalTrenches Totally understandable. Heartwork its my favorite melodeath album, shit maybe even death metal or metal in general so I'd give them the spot just based on that. But of the bands you mentioned I'd definitely go Soilwork
Halo effect new album in August . Basically the new old in flames
@@Tikitackfouls been looking forward to it, the singles are fire
Hello, know this video might be old but another band you should take a look at is Gates of Ishtar, they were a band formed by Mikael Sandorf (who is currently the guitarist/vocalist for The Duskfall) Their debut album (A Bloodred Path) and even their second album (Dawn of Flames) are pretty strong, solid albums in my opinion, admittedly the second album can get a little repetitive and the third and final album's mixing is a disaster, (At Dusk and Forever)
Either way, it's a really neat project and I think you should give them a listen. I personally recommend their debut album A Bloodred Path and their second album Dawn of Flames (although the original album covers for the second and third albums are quite ugly, I'd recommend the remasters for that).
Melodeath is definitely one of my favorite sub genres of the whole Metal scene still. There’s some bad but when I find really good Melodeath my mind explodes.
S+: Carcass, Swallow the Sun, Edge of Sanity, Intestine Baalism
S: Insomnium, Dark Tranquility, Dissection, In Mourning, Amorphis, Mors Principium Est, Hypocrisy
A: Children of Bodom, Gates of Ishtar, The Chasm, Black Dahlia Murder, Followbane, Arghoslent, Daylight Dies
B: At the Gates, Omnium Gatherum, Sylosis, Kalmah, Dungeon Serpent, Ares Kingdom, Be’Lakor, The Crown, Disarmonia Mundi
C: Dismember, In Flames, Amon Amarth, Ensiferum, Kataklysm, Dawn of Disease
D: Arch Enemy, Soilwork, The Haunted, Scar Symmetry
F: The Agonist, Wintersun
🤘🏻
Swallow the sun last album is a whole journey I love em
Intestine Baalism was one of the first melodeath bands I got into back when TH-cam was in its early stages. Chinese melodeath is great. Too bad it was so hard to come across back then. Frosty Eve and Moss were some that I recall coming across.
It is interesting to see Americans speaking about so many European bands :D
Nice video anyway, and sometimes I'm surprised Hypocrisy is not really known on your part of the ocean. For us, Europeans is an At the Gates tier band, but that is mainly due to the frontman, Peter Tagtgren being one of the leading guys of the Scandinavian scene, producer of many great albums and videos :)
And on the other hand, we, Europeans have no real idea about the metalcore/deathcore/groove, USA alternative scenes :))
Serpent and Veiled in Scarlet, while a bit more neo classical are criminally underrated (or may just unknown). But man, when Japanese metal is good, its godly.
Nice list, DT are definitely S tier. I'd have to disagree with you on Amon Amarth, I think the last two albums were quite good, though not up to the standard of the ones before them. I'd also bump Omnium Gatherum a bit higher, maybe B+. Btw have you listened to a band called Orbit Culture? If not, I highly recommend them. They're like this fusion of melodeath and groove metal, and the vocalist sounds so much like James Hetfield, it's really cool.
Always have Insomnium blasting in my car
I would add Children of Bodom amongst the big four/five - out with Soilwork. And I also would not call The Black Dahlia Murder melodic death, perhaps modern death or something? And Arch Enemy is a B+ tier for my part, excited for the new album.
Insomnium is my fav. melo-death band =)
Correction , @Metal Trenches , Be'lakor's debut album is called: The Frail Tide ;) Not heard that one?
I don’t think I have actually
@@MetalTrenches Check it out, might like it. Of course it is a debut full length, so take it for what it is worth... And for newer bands, check out Parasite Inc.
Cool that you put Nightrage there. The guitarist had a guest spot on our album, so yeah. You know I am a fan. Good riffs with great melody.
🤘🏻
Id have to put Be'Lakor and Insomnium at the top of my list as far as whole discography no dissappointments. With that said early Dark Tranquility, early In Flames and early At the Gates is almost untouchable. Amon Amarth is fun to see(saw them live 3 times)I would put With Oden on our Side and Twilight of the Thunder God as top tier albums. Amorphis grew on me with their newer stuff, but the older albums are classic as well
I’m interested in hearing your take on Deadlock. I found their first 2 albums almost flawless, and Melo death but maybe you haven’t listened to them much.?
if insomnium is S tier, belakor should be at the very least A tier
Once Arch Enemy drops their new album, Deceivers, you should do a tier list of that band!
Agree!!!
Disarmonia Mundi discography is worth a listen. You will find some standout tunes. I think the Mindtricks album is a good start
Carcass, Inflames (1994-2000 era), Amorphis and Insomnium.
Thats the Big 4 Imo.
Also, i would add "Garden of Shadows" and "Scum (Finnish Band)" "Intestine Baalism" and "Desultory" to the list. Those are heavily underrated.
Insomnium is unfortunately too small and came a bit later. Carcass, In Flames, At The Gates, and Dark Tranquillity set the foundation. You could also argue either Arch Enemy or Soilwork in there. Big 4 isn’t about who is BEST, it’s about who is the biggest and most influential
Always appreciate your MPE fanservice lol. Seven was a great album, but Dawn of the 5th Era is their magnum opus and funnily enough what put them on my radar was the album cover of 'And Death Said Live' (best album art from them imo).
I'm a huge CoB fan too, I love hearing the thrash influence in their work especially the early albums. Follow the Reaper is the best but HCDR, Hatebreeder, and Are You Dead Yet are all fantastic. And I agree that after that I have songs I really like even if I don't love entire albums. I'm biased to them admittedly but I'd probably place them at B+ or maybe A-...probably B+.
Serenity in Murder is fantastic but I wish they were easier to get ahold of like you said.
Arch enemy in C tier is criminal, In Flames went fully Pop
You missed the fact that on Nightrages Sweet Vengeance and Descent into Chaos it was Lindberg on vocals ;)
Additionally, Omnium Gathrums guitars sound like Insomnium because their guitarist IS Markus from IInsomnium.
Well played
dark tranquillity and insomnium definitely s tier
With Bodom, I do remember being disappointed when Are You Dead Yet dropped. With hindsight, that album had a lot of really good and memorable songs. It was the change of direction to a more rhythm based album that was a bit jarring. That and most of what came after was kinda forgettable. I thought their last album was the closest they got to the early days. Hatecrew was a 10/10 for me.
I think Character is the defining album of the genre. It is simply the best MDM album I have ever heard. And before I heard Character, I heard Damage Done and thought the same thing about that one XD
@Metal Trenches Is Vital Remains considered melodic death metal, also wondering if you’ll ever include them in a tierlist?
I did one you can dig up on the community tab. It’s just not public since it was a Patreon request
Not really. They obviously have MDM moments in their sound but not enough to consider them as MDM band.
Everyone should listen to Mercenary, definitely a slept on band. So may love them some might not but worth to check them out.
My first introduction to melodeath was probably IF with Jester Race. I got into Amorphis with Tuonela (bit of a weird point in their discography) and CoB with Follow the Reaper/Hatebreeder shortly after (2000ish). I'm super nostalgic about In Flames as I basically made it through grad school on Whoracle / Clayman / Colony / Come Clarity / R2R, but they've kinda moved on from what I really like in melodeath. I think I got pretty into a bunch of the other bands on the list. My current favorites are DT, Insomnium, Omnium Gatherum, Kalmah, Be'lakor and Amorphis. I don't listen to MPE enough, but they're incredibly consistent. I'd add Allegaeon to your list. Very solid band, but also pretty technical. For what it's worth, there are other tech death bands that I would consider pretty close to melodeath due to the tasty melodic riffs like Inferi (insanely cool band).
I feel like all of you people in this community forum are friends of mine already...I could talk about Melodeath with other melodeath fans forever.
🖤
Kalmah at S-Tier is absolutely correct, that band is so good it's unreal. Criminally underrated. The intro to For The Revolution is one of my favourites in metal, period.
Speaking personally I'd bump Amon Amarth to S as even their weaker albums tend to be pretty damn killer compared to those of most other bands. Also think Scar Symmetry deserves a bump up from C for consistency and experimentation, but hey it's your list.
I do think it's interesting just how many of these bands fall into the category of like "If you started with the early stuff then you almost certainly don't like the later stuff." Like speaking personally I think In Flames' Reroute to Remain is a metal classic and truly don't get the hate, but I also didn't start with Jester Race or Clayman so that probably informs my opinion somewhat.
As much as their newer stuff weighs down their discography, I challenge anyone to find bands who had a string of albums as strong and influential as Lunar Strain through A Sense of Purpose. 9 albums in 15 years plus a bunch of EPs. Perhaps I’m biased, but that’s definitely a rare sight to behold
Certainly influential but of declining quality imo
Dark Tranquility is one of my favorite bands ever. Kalmah is awesome, as well as Insomnium. In Flames is eh, never really cared for them. But awesome reaction and rankings, your giving me whole new bands to listen to
Skydancer rules bro. Find the remaster. It opens up a whole new album.
Glad to see someone talking about Mors Principium Est. It's a weird comparison, but I feel how Vader has cracked the 'Formula' for death metal. MPE has it for Melodeath. If I has to describe to genre to a person who is not a Metalhead, this is the band I would make them listen to.
Most are good bands but for me Amorphis is top of the mountain, always. Loved their death era, even more so their Pasi Koskinen era (my favorite), and with Tomy Joutsen they release masterpiece after masterpiece. I can't be impartial with them.
Not having Amon Amarth in the big 4 melodic death metal bands should be a crime
What are your thoughts on Constuct? I loved that album and felt disappointed in the following two albums.
Check out the Dark Tranquillity tier list…
In terms of importance and legacy i would put DT, In Flames and At The gates at the top.
In terms of my favorite.
01: Insomnium
02: Omnium Gatherum(especially after 2009)
03: Scar Symmertry (Christian Alverstram period)
04: Amon Amarth ( 2008-2011 is the best period.
05: Solution 45. Christian Alverstran new band. The debut album is amazing
this is truly wild as a long long time melodic death fan I have dark tranquility as my lowest of the Big 3-4 bands. I get the discography idea but I think you have to judge a band by their best work. Dark Tranquility doesn't have anything remotely close to as important or influential to Slaughter of the Soul or Jester Race. I'd even goes as far as to say they don't have an album better than natural born chaos either but that may be pushing it.
So, 9 months into the tier list, do you think at this point, Soilwork would also get a bump up in your opinion? To a B+ or even, just maybe, like a lower A?
For me the big four would be the black dahlia murder, amon amarth, dark tranquility, and arch enemy. At the gates is of course amazing but i think more people know more albums and songs by other bands.
Im a bit disappointed about the Hypocrisy rating, but we are supposed to have different opinions about albums and babds. I like all Hypocrisy some more than others. Overall you have a great channel, and can only imagine the the time and work that goes into all of this. Discovered your channel recently Subscribed and have been binge watching. Keep up the great work!!
You have the big 4, then you have what I considered a second generation group-Including Insomnium, omnium gatherum, scar symmetry, Mors Principium Est, Children of Bodom, Amon Amarth, Wintersun, Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Sybreed, Amorphis, Nightrage, Heaven Shall Burn, Raunchy, Hypocrisy, Orden Ogan, Wolfheart, Before the Dawn, MyGrain.
Kalmah is by far the best band on this list, with the first two albums swamplord and they will return being some of the best music ever made.
The very best melodeath band is one surprisingly not on the list at all, Intestine baalism.
The very best melodeath bands are Extol and Persefone...dunno whether they made the list as I didn't feel like watching it any further after Soilwork, In Flames and The Haunted were put in the B- tier. The taste/knowledge of this fella make this channel a waste of time...
i got into melo-death scene after listening to reroute to remain by inflames but later I heard that they shifted their prime sound from that album or come clarity. now I m into dark tranquility. i guess u never know how or where u got influenced from
Enjoyed this, good reminder to go back and re-listen to several bands here. I would have added Edge of Sanity and Arsis!!!
Dark Tranquillity is amazing! Huge fan.
I can't listen to Arch Enemy anymore. It's become a trend for melo-death bands to sound cringe after a while, idk why I feel that way. But every time I hear an Arch Enemy riff I instantly want to skip it
The new one at least sounds interesting
idk i hate the stuff with alissa , but i really don't get why people also hate the albums with Angela , those were still pretty great
It's interesting with In Flames, they play their new material so much heavier live than how it's recorded. I don't like any of their albums past Come Clarity as you said, but some of the songs are actually decent when played live. Particularly on "Sounds from the Heart of Gothenburg"
It’s a shame they completely abandoned their melo death sound so early.
Soundtrack to your escape was not bad come clarity. But ah yea anything after that man I haven’t really listen much of. A sense of purpose would be the last album I bought. Whoracle is my fave
I use to listen to a ton of In flames. It’s funny I started out with come clarity soundtrack and reroute. But after diving more into the earlier work I gravitated more into the jester and colony clayman whoracle. Those albums are sumthen else
Kalmah is like a really good mix of death metal and power metal.
Where does the group Avatar belong? I always thought them as a Melodic Death Prog band. You should do a tier list for them.
I was considering it but I got busy. The new album is pretty awful imo but I hear the old stuff is pretty good
@@MetalTrenches I wasn't a fan of the last one either. But the first albums are good and Avatar Country and Feathers & Flesh are really good (more prog/avant garde than the others) but they all get pretty weird.
Took me a long time to get into them and Avatar country was definitely what made me a fan
Hey bro! My album drops on the 15th FFO: Limp Bizkit, Chevelle, Tool, Incubus and Deftones. A review would be pretty dope let me know if you got a band I'll do the same
Arch Enemy being on the bottom kind of hurts my soul lol Like below the likes of The Haunted / Hypocrisy O_o
Burning Bridges to Rise of the Tyrants were all fantastic stuff and definately their golden age where it was banger after banger.
They’re just REALLY inconsistent. Album for album I’d argue that they only have maybe 4 really good ones, a few average ones, and some straight up bad ones. Don’t get me wrong, when they’re great they’re great, but they can’t compete with some of the others here in my opinion.
Angela Gossow 😞
Hello, thank you for your work on this video. The subject itself is quite complex and always deserves a discussion:) First off, my favorite bands here are Dark Tranquillity, Soilwork and Amorphis. However, the first "but" appears already at this point and this word is the key word when describing all the bands on your list. The word "but" or 'inconsistency" as you call it. And so, Amorphis' output can be really great at times but they also can be boring and repetitive on some albums. The same goes to Soilwork and the other bands. I hate this inconsistency and only can explain it with commercial reasons and/or duties. I mean if a band HAS TO publish an album every two years then we shouldn't expect it to create good music all the time. It won't work that way. It's only a product, not a work of art it should be. And most of these bands work so. They're creating products mostly. One or two outstanding albums and then only well sounding products. That's my first remark on the subject. The second thing is, it's quite risky to compare bands like Carcass or Amorphis with newer groups like Kalmah or Black Dahlia Murder and so on. Carcass' influence on other genres is well-known, and Amorphis, too, was probably the first Death Metal band to start incorporating folk music. Nobody did this before. Their first albums were and still are very innovative and even if Amorphis go mainstream now, their early work will always be remembered as groundbreaking on the whole death metal scene. Third, the bands that I miss to some extent on your list, would be Edge of Sanity (not pure melodic death metal, rather something like Carcass in terms of changing styles throughout their existence) and the Swedish group Gardenian. Gardenian's 2nd and 3rd album were in my opinion on par with the Dark Tranquillity 's or In Flames' better albums. Thank you for your attention! :)
Stabbing the drama is an overlooked album by Soilwork
Personally, I love Revolver from the Haunted, but to each their own. I've tried on numerous occasions to get into Dark Tranquility and I want to like them, but it just has not stuck for me. As you have put them in S Tier what album would you recommend as a starting point to give DT another shot?
Damage done
Damage Done and Fiction for me, but their latest record, Moment is quite fantastic, too
They really have something to offer everyone. Depends what you dig. For more raw melodic dm, their early stuff (Skydancer, The Gallery, The Mind's I), more atmospheric & moody (Projector/Haven), height of MDM popularity (Damage Done, Character, Fiction). Then they went into a period of combining sounds from all areas (We Are The Void, Construct), and further polishing it all (Atoma, Moment). My top 3 favourites are Moment, Atoma, Projector. I have been listening to them since 99! :)
Great picks and ranking!
I can accept no slander on the good goddamn name of Hypocrisy!
I suggest you to check Imperial Circus Dead Decadence, they are very very great band. They won't let you down. They are Melodic/Symphonic Death Metal
Damn, didn't even acknowledge Norther
In flames placement hurts but I haven’t listened to much of their new stuff, The Jester Race for me secures it at least an A
Forgot Children of Bodom in big 5
Not to start a war, but I would rank the following two bands lower because their fanbase consists entirely of people I would never like to have anything in common with: In Flames and Children of Bodom.
I discovered Insomnium back in 2006 and since then I'm surprised they never drop a "meh" album, to me they all sound incredible and usualy I tend to stick with a few albums of a band but I just can't with them
I agree to a certain extent, I was disappointed with One for Sorrow. I liked the opening track and Lay The Ghost to Rest. But that's just me XD
@@jcrosato That’s interesting, because One For Sorrow is my all time favorite Insomnium Album, closely followed by Shadows of the dying sun and Heart like a grave
Carcass is S-tier in three categories: grindcore, melodeath, and classic death metal.
I wouldn’t include carcass since they aren’t just melo death and I love your description of children of bodom. Right on point lol
It’s hard NOT to include Carcass when Heartwork is such an important album though
@@MetalTrenches very tough indeed! The album is a masterpiece for sure!
Any fans of Destroy Destroy Destroy here? They have the most underrated melodic/viking death metal album
Very much agree with MT , In Flames album to album very so much.
Love Kalmah, much deserved S-tier ranking! 12 Guage is my favorite. Hypocrisy I always viewed more as straight up death metal, not melodic. That said, The Final Chapter and Abducted are great, as is Osculum Obscenum from their earlier stuff.
I wonder have you listened to Solution .45? They are quite similar to Scar Symmetry, but I prefer them a LOT more than SS. Their riffs are so much groovier, and so much more headbangable I find. The band has Christian Älvestam in the band. Honestly, all you have to do is listen to the song Clandestinity Now, a 16-minute masterpiece of a track. I guarantee you'll be HOOKED by just this one song alone. Also I recommend you to listen to the band Miseration, this band is HEAVY, not really melodic death metal, more tech death honestly, also has Christian Älvestam on vocals, this band absolutely SLAYS.
I’ll have to give it a listen