Środa 27 Lut 2008, 10:34

This is going to be a rather lengthy and throughly journal of the origins of melodic death metal, the influences and what major bands there are which made the genre into what it is today. I am going to start with a history perspective and end with a short summary of what has been claimed so far.

The History
It all started a cold rainy day in Gothenburg… Weather aside, I cannot tell what type of weather it was but the weather is often terrible here, especially during Wintertimes. As usual, being the cultural matrix Gothenburg is, it is boiling with musical activities and the late 80s were no exception. Especially within the metal scene we can find a few young men that just started out their musical careers bearing the names of the Björler twin brothers, Mikael Stanne, Peter Dronjak, Anders Fridén and Jesper Strömblad. Maybe they just wanted an escape to the terrible weather haunting us Gothenburgers as a plague, but nevertheless, together or not together they formed various side projects such Septic Broiler, In Flames, Hammerfall and At the Gates. Other band names worth mentioning are Dimension Zero and Ceremonial Oath, but as these bands are no longer and had to give in for the main projects these men later formed, the are just added here as a side note.

However, as we slowly moved into the beginning of the 90s, At the Gates released the very promiscuous album The Red in the Sky Is Ours which directly became famous underground and thus set out the first clear distinction of melodic death metal compared to all other existing genres, especially the already existing Swedish death metal scene and it is clear that heavy inspiration is taken from bands such as Entombed, Dismember and Nihilist. Septic Broiler changed name into Dark Tranquillity and released Skydancer (it is incorrectly tagged here on Last.fm as Skydancer/Of Chaos and Eternal Night which was the later release of this full length bunched together with the EP that came after it. I am only speaking of the original release of Skydancer in this particular context) in 1993 while In Flames released Lunar Strain one year later. These three releases would become the basis of what we total call melodic death metal/Gothenburg.

What one realizes upon these listens are the heavy Swedish classical folk influences found on each release. Of course each band has their own personal sound to add where At the Gates and In Flames derive a lot from thrash. All three bands derive from NWOBHM as well in addition to said thrash elements. However, while we can clearly hear some thrash inspired elements it is above a technical level thrash would normally rely on, especially when we start adding three guitar layers. The intro to Dead Eternity found on The Jester Race are great examples where we first here the title melody played on one guitar, backed up three tones down or so by an additional guitar and then as well backed up by a main riff in the background by a third. This is if anything incredibly common among melodic death metal bands, especially when adding melodic layers. Of course this technique is hardly unique and limited to melodic death metal alone, and can if anything be derived from classical heavy metal bands and NWOBHM such as Iron Maiden where three guitar layers is even more common now when they are six man rather than five. These elements are however very uncommon in both thrash and classical old school death metal and it defines the melodic elements to be found in this very genre in particular. Another instrument that later has been added by many bands of this genre is the use of a keyboard to make the music more varied and allow the bands to create additional melodies. The mix of clean vocals and even sometimes guest female singers can be found and are also used to create melody.

However, the early 90s were tough years for metal bands. Metal has long left its glory from the mainstream scene in favor for grunge and only those that managed to produce the gems of their specific genres preservered. As noticed, At the Gates also met a certain death during the mid-90s when the Björler twins decided to leave the band for even today unknown reasons. They later reformed together with Peter Dolving to form The Haunted. The Haunted has very little to do with melodic death metal and the music made with At the Gates though, more leaning towards a post thrash with groove elements similar to Pantera.

However, in the wake of At the Gate's split up In Flames and Dark Tranquillity were supposed to record their best records accordingly, being The Jester Race and The Gallery. Whereas people agree these are their best releases remains a matter of opinion, but both albums were setting up a new pinnacle within the melodic death metal scene. At the same time, influenced by their music, other bands such as Soilwork, Arch Enemy, Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Eucharist and Amon Amarth followed in hope for the same underground fame their predecessors before them had earned.

But at the end of the 90s a notable change happened within the melodic death metal scene: In Flames released the experimental Reroute to Remain which was hardly greatly received by fans of old and it caused a heavy split up within In Flames' fan base between those that strictly sticked to their old era starting with the Jester Race and ending with Whoracle, also sometimes known as the Whoracle era, and those following their newer type of music being remiscient of modern rock. While Dark Tranquillity never drastically derived from their melodic death metal roots that In Flames did, they also changed their sound greatly with the very experimental Projector. The main difference was a more industrialized sound found in industrial rock and industrial metal with the addition of a keyboard to most often create electronical melodies.

When two of the remaining Three Kings of the genre had underwent such notably changes in their sound, other bands followed their examples which created what we call the second of wave. Bands such as Disarmonia Mundi, Sonic Syndicate, Arch Enemy and Soilwork went down the same path In Flames did and started to incorporate more lighter rock and groove elements into their sound whereas bands such as Scar Symmetry and Mors Principium Est tried to bridge the gap between the old school genre and the newer more modern sound. Lastly we have bands that still are strong to the genre or even trying to revive the old sound such as The Wake, The Duskfall and Insomnium.

The Others
There are also a few bands outside the genre that sometimes are bunched together with other melodic death metal bands because of various reasons. Most fans of melodic death metal also tend to enjoy these bands mentioned below. Such bands are Norther, Kalmah and Children of Bodom that are incorporating the same growl-types to be performed by most melodic death metal bands. They are keyboard front heavy to the point almost being symphonic and use a lot of thrash-like riffs to back up their otherwise power metal riffs and melodies. The chromatic scale is often used in addition. In general these bands have very little to do with melodic death metal. People mistakingly take them as such because of their sometimes melodic riffs and keyboard melodies.

Then we have the viking/folk metal bands which also started to experience fame during late 90s with bands such as Ensiferum and Finntroll. Obviously these bands derive a lot of folk elements into their metal sound which makes it somewhat similar to melodic death metal although some of the basic riffs are more similar to heavy metal than thrash/death metal. Another element aside from the riffs that is quite different compared to melodic death metal are the typical group shouts which are more or less unique to these two genres. An artist which lingers around the area of melodic death metal is Wintersun.

A little side note would be that Amon Amarth sometimes is more often bunched up here because people mistakingly take them for viking metal because of their viking-inspired lyrics but so is not the case. Amon Amarth is melodic death metal. A quick listen to Sorrow Throughout the Nine Worlds will reveal they have more in common with At the Gates in sound than previously mentioned bands.

Then we also have very strange off-shots that sometimes are classified to the genre, in particular, Opeth, although they obviously don't belong to the genre at all. As noticed, Opeth if anything has very little or to the point of nothing to do with melodic death metal more than having a few slightly remiscient death metal riffs along with death metal growls added with clean vocals. If Opeth as such needs to be defined, they are performing progressive metal as most listeners can clearly tell the heavy jazz influences to be found. Their record Damnation is a great example, especially the song Windowpane. As such, Opeth among the copycats can barely be classified as death metal because of a few death metal riffs and a typical death metal growl.

The Summary
With the new melodic death metal generation that emerged the early 21th century, we can notice one slight change, namely techniques. Bands like Scar Symmetry and Mors Principium Est are far more technical than At the Gates ever were so maybe we are seeing some progressive elements taking form. As In Flames continue to progress the sound keeps evovling through that direction as well and maybe melodic death metal is indeed becoming far more versatile than it emerged as to begin with. A few bands are still trying to keep the music which was created for over 10 years ago though, mimicking the landmark set by Dark Tranquillity, In Flames and At the Gates with their The Gallery, The Jester Race and Slaughter of the Soul releases.

It is right now impossible to tell where the genre is heading but to say melodic death metal is dead would be anything but a lie as the genre is as alive as ever - just a few bands bit the dust on the way. With new bands joining the genre every or so five years, I am sure we will be available to enjoy and listen to this music in all its glory, all the way from those searing and crunchy riffs, growls and to the point where the melodies touches you with their beauty at the core of your very soul.