Hello everyone,

so I've been trying for a few months now to get into death metal, not because I want to feel cool or a 'true metal fan' or whatever childish motive born from inferiority complexes one can imagine. No, I just sort of like the sound of it. However, and this is the problem for me, I have yet to find a death metal style I can stick or relate too. There are many albums out there with some songs that I really enjoy. Overall, they all are either too aggressive, too little melodic or just too plain boring, though. I guess my taste walks a very fine line when it comes to death metal, and I have yet to make out that line's borders. But that is where you come into play. I'll give you a few impressions of mine with some death metal bands and albums, so that you might be able to suggest something that I really like.

First of all, I like melodic metal. I've been a fan of power metal for quite a while and also enjoyed some symphonic and progressive stuff every now and then. Therefore the obvious choice for me was melodic death in the beginning. I've tried two albums of Amon Amarth (With Oden On Our Side, Twilight Of The Thunder God) and enjoyed them to some extent. However, the main problem I have with those albums is that all the songs sound really similar to each other. Maybe that is something I can get over after some time, but that has yet to happen. I have tried some Opeth as well. They are more the progressive and atmospheric type, and I enjoy their music when I'm depressed or want to fall asleep, but not when I usually want to listen to music, which is while working on my pc for example. They are just no band, I can casually listen to. Dark Tranquillity (The Gallery, Damage Done) and Scar Symmatry (Holographic Universe) didn't work for me much either. I don't know why though. The death metal album I enjoyed the most so far was 'Tales From The Thousand Lakes' by Amorphis. The thing I really liked about it was how they are melodic, yet not offensively so, and atmospheric, but not to the extent to where you can't listen to it in a happy mood.

I guess that is the sort of death metal I am looking for. However, 'Tales From The Thousand Lakes' is such a unique album in terms of its style, that I have yet to find a band that plays similar music. Someone in the shoutbox suggested Garden of Shadows yesterday. I went to youtube and was quite suprised to see, or rather hear, that they are in fact not too far from the sound of that particular Amorphis album. The thing is though, that they've only released two albums so far and that they've been inactive for over ten years as far as new records go. Who knows if they'll ever release another one? That's why I'm still searching for bands. Oh, and I've listened to Wintersun, which is another melodic death album I like. Besides those 3 to 4 albums I mentioned, I hardly like any death metal that much though, so I'd really appreciate your help.

To summarize: I like death that . . .

. . . is melodic, but not in the way where every song sounds the same
. . . is not too aggressive, I still need to be able to somehow understand the lyrics without reading them
. . . can be atmospheric, but not to the extent where I can't listen to it casually
. . . maybe utilizes clean vocals at times as well

The problem here is you aren't actually listening to death metal. None of the bands mentioned above play death metal - if anything, they are of the melodic branch, but Wintersun (power) and Opeth (progressive) definitely don't belong.

Try bands like Bolt Thrower, Suffocation, Immolation, The Chasm, Gorguts, Ulcerate, Mitochondrion, Quo Vadis, etc. for real death metal.

Maybe you should try Obituary, Morbid Angel, and Death, the easiest death bands to get into IMO.

You would probably like Symbolic-era Death. I'd say they are closer to some sort of more extreme thrash metal than death by that point but seems to correlate the best to your points.

Anything else I know would probably not be good for you.

Http://rateyourmusic.com/list/roby72/100_essential_death_metal_albums
This a list of essential TRUE death metal albums. To be honest, some of them are brutal, most are aggressive, but no one can call himself a DM fan without hearing those classics.
The Death Metal you want is Melodeath, which can't be really called TRUE death metal. One of Death Metal's main traits is brutality and heaviness. Although I can give you agressive DM that's kinda understandable:
Malevolent Creation - Retribution
Bolt Thrower - The IVth Crusade
Vader - De Profundis

Written by Guest on 07.07.2011 at 19:48

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/roby72/100_essential_death_metal_albums

For the record there's a lot more to life than recommending RYM lists to everyone who asks for help with a genre...

Written by Troy Killjoy on 07.07.2011 at 22:49

Written by Guest on 07.07.2011 at 19:48

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/roby72/100_essential_death_metal_albums

For the record there's a lot more to life than recommending RYM lists to everyone who asks for help with a genre...

Actually, it's very useful. It showed me some forgotten DM classics. Not only that, it got me to DM.

There is some lists(by users) on MS for death metal classics better than this one. just my opinion.

I don't know, but seeing the kind of your post, i understood that you are trying of searching your side more "agressive" in your metal heart (which until now you had not even searched
) =), try something like this, and tell me if you found the light! haha =) :

Aeternam - Disciples Of The Unseen (melodic death)
Vader - Litany (death metal)
Repugnant - Epitome Of Darkness (death with thrash)
Melechesh - Emissaries (well, it is black, but could help you in your way toward the dark =) , great album)

I'm sorry guys, maybe the title is a bit missleading. I know that I'm not after pure death, just a certain sub genre. Thanks for your help thus far though. And thanks Vikcen, I'll try that.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 07.07.2011 at 17:23

The problem here is you aren't actually listening to death metal. None of the bands mentioned above play death metal - if anything, they are of the melodic branch, but Wintersun (power) and Opeth (progressive) definitely don't belong.

Try bands like Bolt Thrower, Suffocation, Immolation, The Chasm, Gorguts, Ulcerate, Mitochondrion, Quo Vadis, etc. for real death metal.

I agree with you. The problem then is that he likes melodic metal. And if he can not even get into stuff such as Dark Tranquillity or Opeth... will he be able to get into "real" death metal?

Try out some Arsis. Celebration of Guilt is a fucking killer album, melodic, yet still aggressive and has great lyrical content.
Darkest Hour is another solid yet "calmer" death metal band....if you can really call them that I suppose...
The Montreal scene is good to, Augury, Quo Vadis and Beyond Creation are all worth mentioning.

Melechesh - The Epigenesis. I think it's rather catchy and melodic - not in a "ballad"-way though.
Death metal can be hard to get into. I'd like to recommend Nile, because there are so much depth and melody in the musical arrangements. It's music that really rewards the listener for spending time with it. However, they also rank amongst the most brutal death metal bands often playing at almost inhuman speed. But it's a lot more than just that - they incorporate a lot of doomy riffs and oriental tunes. Anyway, it's the band that got me hooked on death metal. But I was also into more aggressive styles beforehand.
Immolation is another band that offers a lot more than just blasting away (even though they do that pretty well). However, you might want to save that experience for when you can appreciate death metal. I started with Immolation prematurely and didn't get it. Then I got into Nile and Behemoth and succesfully returned for more.
Behemoth is pretty listenable. The riffs are catchy and melodic, while the lyrics are distinguishable. And it contrasts a lot of death metal releases in it's clear and powerful production (Try Demigod and Evangelion first IMO). It's very aggressive though. But hey, that's death metal .
The band Death might be a good gateway drug to death metal (with the album The Sound of Perseverance). It's among the very early death metal bands but at the same time it borders on progressive metal.

Written by Dööm on 09.07.2011 at 15:31

Melechesh - The Epigenesis. I think it's rather catchy and melodic - not in a "ballad"-way though.
Death metal can be hard to get into. I'd like to recommend Nile, because there are so much depth and melody in the musical arrangements. It's music that really rewards the listener for spending time with it. However, they also rank amongst the most brutal death metal bands often playing at almost inhuman speed. But it's a lot more than just that - they incorporate a lot of doomy riffs and oriental tunes. Anyway, it's the band that got me hooked on death metal. But I was also into more aggressive styles beforehand.
Immolation is another band that offers a lot more than just blasting away (even though they do that pretty well). However, you might want to save that experience for when you can appreciate death metal. I started with Immolation prematurely and didn't get it. Then I got into Nile and Behemoth and succesfully returned for more.
Behemoth is pretty listenable. The riffs are catchy and melodic, while the lyrics are distinguishable. And it contrasts a lot of death metal releases in it's clear and powerful production (Try Demigod and Evangelion first IMO). It's very aggressive though. But hey, that's death metal .
The band Death might be a good gateway drug to death metal (with the album The Sound of Perseverance). It's among the very early death metal bands but at the same time it borders on progressive metal.

Nile is very hard to get into because of their very fast chugging riffs. I wouldn't recommend them yet.

Written by Guest on 09.07.2011 at 15:40

Nile is very hard to get into because of their very fast chugging riffs. I wouldn't recommend them yet.

Actually, I agree. But as I said, it's the band that got me into death metal, so I felt I had to mention them. But I've also been fond of very demanding bands like Meshuggah long before.

I think Obituary might be easy to get into. But it's not that melodic, and some of their very good stuff (The End Complete and World Demise, if you ask me) has a pretty harsh sound, which is why I also mentioned Behemoth.

Hail of Bullets actually plays some old school death metal with many melodic passages and aren't overwhelmingly brutal. The "new" album, On Devine Winds, also has a good production, which helps a lot.

Written by Dööm on 09.07.2011 at 17:58

Written by Guest on 09.07.2011 at 15:40

Nile is very hard to get into because of their very fast chugging riffs. I wouldn't recommend them yet.

Actually, I agree. But as I said, it's the band that got me into death metal, so I felt I had to mention them. But I've also been fond of very demanding bands like Meshuggah long before.

I think Obituary might be easy to get into. But it's not that melodic, and some of their very good stuff (The End Complete and World Demise, if you ask me) has a pretty harsh sound, which is why I also mentioned Behemoth.

Hail of Bullets actually plays some old school death metal with many melodic passages and aren't overwhelmingly brutal. The "new" album, On Devine Winds, also has a good production, which helps a lot.

I think Bolt Thrower and Malevolent Creation are the easiest. Obituary's vocals might be freakingly scary the first time you hear them. But you start to like them with time, that's the way it goes.

Hypocrisy looks like a band for you: start with Abducted (1996) and the later albums.

Hypocrisy
. . . is melodic, but not in the way where every song sounds the same
. . . is not too aggressive, I still need to be able to somehow understand the lyrics without reading them
. . . can be atmospheric, but not to the extent where I can't listen to it casually

For some reason I forgot to mention Hacksaw to the Throat. Check out Wastelands, probably my favourite metal album ever. Melodic, technical, brutal. In simple terms, a masterpiece...

Deicide's Legion album.

According to your Description, Nile and Death is for you.

Written by Sammol on 11.07.2011 at 11:22

According to your Description, Nile and Death is for you.

Nile isn't that easy to get into. I would classify them as Technical Brutal Death Metal.

To be honest, you can't force yourself to like any genre of music, however if you wish to explore it, what started me off was "death". Their one of the first death metal bands and are fucking insanely good, "the sound of perseverance", "Human", and "Symbolic" are my favorite albums, they are a nice transition from other genre's into death metal, rather than jumping straight into Brutal Death. Another 2 bands i recommend are Carcass and Arch Enemy. Good luck!

Thanks guys for all the input. I just want to give you some kind of update. I listened to Aeternam's debut album and really liked it, thanks Vikcen. In fact, I even included it in my Top 10 of 2010 list. I liked how it was just melodic enough to keep the songs from getting boring. They found a good balance there. Also, I want to thank all the people who suggested Nile. I listened to a few songs of them on Youtube, and kind of enjoyed some stuff of their latest album. Some of the older songs just seem too, how do I put it, too random in their structure? Behemoth sounds pretty decent though, but I haven't listend to much by them, yet. What I was playing over and over again though, was a song of the new EP by an underground band not listened here on MS.

The band is Sanhedrin, and this is what kept me relaxed when I needed it in the past few days: click!. It's kind of atmospheric death/doom and a little melodic at times as well. Do you guys know anything similar?

Written by Troy Killjoy on 07.07.2011 at 17:23

The problem here is you aren't actually listening to death metal. None of the bands mentioned above play death metal - if anything, they are of the melodic branch, but Wintersun (power) and Opeth (progressive) definitely don't belong.

Try bands like Bolt Thrower, Suffocation, Immolation, The Chasm, Gorguts, Ulcerate, Mitochondrion, Quo Vadis, etc. for real death metal.

YEah when I saw the title I was like ! eh eh ! Ima help, but then after reading the first post I got the exact same reaction (Uh, wasn't it supposed to be death metal... but Amon Wintersun ?? WHAT ) :p lol anyways he just got a bit messed up with the sub-genres something almost everyone does.

Written by Pazu on 16.07.2011 at 03:43

I listened to Aeternam's debut album and really liked it,

Then I think you should give Arkan a shot "Melodic Death", try their Hilal's album.

I got into DM with Demigod of Behemoth

So many Great death bands. It would be a huge list if I were to recommend everything I love. Here are a few: Death of course, Immolation, Nile, Bolt Thrower both melodic and brutal at the same time. How about the great Swedes like Entombed, Vomitory, Amon Amarth, and Dismember.

Written by Steelreaper on 28.07.2011 at 04:12

So many Great death bands. It would be a huge list if I were to recommend everything I love. Here are a few: Death of course, Immolation, Nile, Bolt Thrower both melodic and brutal at the same time. How about the great Swedes like Entombed, Vomitory, Amon Amarth, and Dismember.

I just can't help but thinking of Amon Amarth as Viking Power Metal rather than anything Death Metal related (note: I've heard Twilight of The Thunder God and a few other songs from other albums - I might not have seen the full picture).
It's good for loud evenings with friends and plenty of beer and shouting, but I wouldn't present it to anyone as Death Metal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl3Wa-H-k30

A bit different Amon Amarth^^

Sadly a large part of the song's cut, including the best part.