I have seen In Flames maybe 4 or 5 times live, they are one of my favorite bands ever. Such a great band. Everytime I stream I listen to inflames or something like it. Great band man :D
In Flames was a lot better pre Clayman. That album marked the climax, and it was all downhill from there. Great album though...
In any case, there's a lot of variety in Melodeath, and some people look for different things. I've built up one hell of a top notch collection though, so if I'm listening to it, it's really good. I also listen to a lot of hybrid bands that pull from power, thrash, and metalcore influences, so if you're into less pure stuff, let me know I'll give you even more to listen to.
My favorites: - Arsis (Often referred to as Tech Death) - Be'lakor (These guys are the next big thing) - Dark Tranquility - Disarmonia Mundi - In Flames (again, the best stuff is earlier. Clayman is amazing and my personal favorite) - Mercenary (pre-breakup, the new shit is terrible) - Scar Symmetry (especially Holographic Universe, one of the best albums of all time) - Skyfire - Solerrain - Wintersun
And there's some groups which have some death metal influences, but aren't really melodeath: -Adagio (Power/death) -Opeth (Prog/death/black) -Cynic (Tech/Death) - definitely some of the most unusual stuff you'll hear, a must listen -Kalisia (They released an album called Cybion, which is a 4 movement prog/death rock opera. THE BEST ALBUM EVER MADE!) -Raintime (Power/death) -Rhapsody of Fire (Power with some death influences) -Stormlord (Symphonic Black)
Pure melodic death metal that's quality and original is actually rather hard to come by. That's why I really really really love Be'lakor, cause they pull off the absolutely perfect sound while having original songwriting.
edit: Suidakra is new to me but I'm diggin' this.
edit2:
On January 19 2012 21:40 Canas wrote: The Jester Race, Whoracle and Colony are the best In Flames albums by far, their other stuff can be ok sometimes, but it still doesn't hold a candle to the three albums I mentioned. Most people just say "the old stuff", but Subterranean isn't really a full album with only 5 songs, and Lunar Strain isn't very good imo.
Aw cmon man, give Clayman some love. Though I agree Jester Race and Whoracle are unreal amazing.
On January 19 2012 23:08 Kashll wrote: Sorry I just saw the term "melodic death metal" and started laughing uncontrollably.
Are you 10? Please don't post things like that here it's outrageously disrespectful.
Well it was honestly my first impression. Hopefully you can at least see the source of humor, and maybe other people appreciated it on a similar level :p
(Or perhaps you're not aware of the concept of an ironic juxtaposition)
So actually they're playing "correct metal" as they call it but I think it's pretty close to melodic death metal :p Sorry if it's the wrong genre as in... what you could actually classify it as.
At the Gates, Insomnium, early years Soilwork (those solos!), these are the best swedish style melodeath bands imo. Also Carcass' album Heartwork should be heard by any metalhead. It gets credited for creating the melodic death genre and for good reason.
My first death metal band was children of bodom and into amon amarth and stuff like that, then i got into the death metal bands from like finland and melodic metal with keyboards. Dimmu borgir IMO is really underrated as to how awesome they play!
Also, another band that a friend of mine introduced me to a little while ago, can't say I've listened to a lot of their stuff, but they seem pretty decent:
On January 20 2012 04:58 FlyingToilet wrote: My first death metal band was children of bodom and into amon amarth and stuff like that, then i got into the death metal bands from like finland and melodic metal with keyboards. Dimmu borgir IMO is really underrated as to how awesome they play! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laTpy0i9J0g
I'm a music snob so don't be offended but Dimmu is not underrated or are they death metal. In fact, they're one of the more successful and mainstream metal bands. Btw they are considered to be black metal early on now symphonic black metal now.