Defending Melodic Death Metal 

I feel like you already made this video, but it’s nice to see it updated with some new stuff (thank you for mentioning my band AGAIN, and with the OG album cover with the stretched out logo lol!) On the subject of Purgatory Afterglow and EoS, I feel like The Spectral Sorrows is a better representation of EoS as a melodic death metal band because its a lot more consistently “death metal” but also still very melodic. Purgatory Afterglow has some really amazing melodeath songs like “Of Darksome Origin,” but then other parts of the album are musical brainfarts like “Black Tears” that hardly count as metal at all. I remember checking Purgatory Afterglow out after your first video and it turned me off of EoS entirely for years lol. Also nice to put Be’Lakor on here, I like them a lot. “Outlive the Hand” makes me almost cry often. Again it’s nice to see you make these videos.

Wyatt, can you defend me from my crippling anxiety?

I don't understand why one of the most heartfelt, exciting, sincere genres needs to be defended. I swear melodeath cures depression

I love Intestine Baalism, such an underrated band. Great to know you like them

"welcoming riffs" Ah yes, no one is as welcoming and inviting as Arghoslent.

Melodic death metal and melodic black metal are my favorite genres especially the 90's era like Moonstruck (Sweden), Gates of Ishtar, Hypocrite, Everdawn, Crown of Thorns, God Dethroned, A Canorous Quintet, etc. Amon Amarth is still my favorite. I got into them in 1999 before they got real big. The first album is my favorite. Gates of ishtar maybe my 2nd favorite. My favorite album is The Dawn of Flames.

My favourite melodeath band has to be insomnium. Some of the most awesome emotional melodic death metal ever. Absolutely wicked shit.

I used to love the whole 90's approach to Melodic Death Metal, nowadays it's usually got such a pop style song structure..verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus. It can get tiring quickly Looking back at albums like The Gallery by Dark Tranquillity is was completely different and had more interesting and diverse song structures, that's what I miss

Melody adds character and nuance to music. Extreme music for extreme music’s sake is boring to me. It’s a mentality that has its place but also has a shelf life. Idk over the years I’ve grown as a listener and extreme music with the mentality to just sound heavy, doesn’t do it for me anymore. I love melodeath because it adds a new venue/platform to play around with. Apart from certain bands, plain ol Death Metal can be monotonous to me, it doesn’t satisfy me.

Wow. Haven't heard Intestine Baalism in forever! So happy you mentioned them. Such a good band.

I love melodic death metal. Thanks for the list of bands to check out. This subgenre makes it a bit easier to get into extreme metal for beginners too.

Every Intestine Baalism album is great. My personal favorite is their second album, Banquet in the Darkness. But they are all amazing.

Melodeath is one of my favourite styles of metal, so this was a great video of recommendations! Also, kudos to you for mentioning Edge of Sanity, who I would argue were probably the first Swedish melodeath band before In Flames, At the Gates, and Dark Tranquillity started (and possibly even influenced them as well). I would also argue that Death helped pioneered melodeath as well, since their later albums, especially Symbolic, were quite melodic compared to their earlier material.

I would also say Dechristianize by Vital Remains is a “brutal melodeath” album, still waiting for more of this by them

Wyatt, you beautiful specimen. You're getting me to put so much great music on my spotify downloads. Looking forward to listening to some of these albums. Might even order a couple that aren't on the streaming service

This channel gives me so much great music recommendation! thanks

Dungeon Serpent is so good oO. WOW, Thanks man. I have been hunting for more stuff like intestine baalism for over 10 years now. Thank you so much!

Everytime I watch one of your videos I discover like 3 or 4 albums or bands I want to go listen to!

I've been watching you for years man great video as always

Thanks for recommending bands similar to Intestine baalism I love that band so much and I love Arghoslent

This was an excellent video. I'm pumped you mentioned Mi'Gauss!

Thanks for showing me a ton of bands I haven't listened to before

Jester Race will always be the GOAT for me

Love the Depeche Mode Violator shirt! Great album!

Purgatory Afterglow is definitely my favourite EoS. Cool video! Personally also love Schaliach’s Sonrise and anything Anata related for this sphere even if neither are particularly brutal or conventional.

As an already huge melodeath fan, this gave me so many good tips. Be'lakor really are awesome!

Babe wake up, Wyatt dropped another banger of a video

Love the Garden of Shadows and Be'Lakor mentions, two of my favorite melodeath releases are from them.

Garden of shadows - Oracle moon to me is the epitome of all atmospheric/melodic death metal.

Yay melodic death metal, perhaps one of my favorite genres. Awesome album mentions and lots of fun reccomendations for me to check out. Speaking of bands sounding like At the Gates, Sein's album The Denial of Death was a very good example of the Slaughter of the Soul sound and I feel this is the closest of ever seen anyone nail the sound to a t and I have talked about it before in a blog on MA where I referred to it as Slaughter of the Soul 2.0. Definitely a great release imo

Great video man

Wyatt I found your channel like 2 days ago and I have watched an unhealthy amount of your content, I am gonna need you to drop everything else in your life and upload more. THANKS!

Death’s last three albums were melodic death metal so I basically have to like the subgenre

I love melodic and symphonic metal in general, I find it's a more challenging listen because you have to pay attention to the layers of detail when it's done well.

Oh boy i can hear the REEEEEES already in the distance Lol. I gotta say 100 percent respect to your channel for even daring to mention Arghoslent, you analyze the bands for what they are, strictly music oriented, you are a true transparent reviewer. 🤘🤘🤘🤘

Three of my favorite melodeath albums from the naughty list are Soilwork "Natural Born Chaos", In Flames "Clayman" and Arch Enemy "Wages Of Sin".

So fuckin happy to see FollowBane get some recognition. Was scrolling the archives for more melodeath bands to listen to (as it is my personal favorite subgenre) and stumbled upon them. After listening to Dead Fantasia I was blown away. For anyone interested in that symphonic melodeath style, xGodx by Serpent is an amazing album that needs more recognition. They are also from Japan and that album quickly became one of my all time favorites. As well after they broke up some of the members formed Veiled in Scarlet, and that band is also great. There are a lot of shitty atg, in flames, and dt worship bands but the genre is so much more than that.

Incredible video, definitely gonna have to listen to the bands you've mentioned. Also, I appreciate the disclaimer given for Arghoslent along with giving examples of similar bands that aren't racist. Melodeath is probably my favorite genre, and yeah that includes the At the Gates ripoff bands but I never did a deep dive into the more brutal sounding bands so I greatly appreciate this video.

If I hear anybody hating the great Carcass I'm going to do something horrible

If I had never found Amon Amarth, I never would’ve gone down the rabbit hole. 🤷🏻‍♂️ I appreciate gateway music a lot.

They didn’t really start out as Melodic Death Metal, but one the biggest (If not the biggest) Death Metal bands to make a huge change to their sound was Death in 1995 with Symbolic. In my opinion it’s one of their best albums, and it’s also one of their albums where I listen to almost of the tracks.

I love japanese metal and it's great to have more to listen to, thanks!

Is that a Depeche Mode shirt?! I loved Melo-death as a kid, got heavily into ATG and the Haunted when I was 15 (25 years ago), Soilwork and In Flames and Dark Tranquillity, and lesser known stuff like Gardenian and Darkane. Its a great genre with all kinds of incredible song writing. Sure it got trendy, that happens, but that whole scene ruled my younger metal years. Gates of Ishtar is a great example of how melodic death was blended with black, Dawn as well.

I feel like I need to take out a notepad for each of your videos so I can write down all the bands you recommend

I think Arghoslent deserves a mention but I completely understand why you wouldn't want to talk about them lmao. Love the video.

Great video

Great choices for hard-core Melodeath. One I've been enjoying recently: Sarcasm

For anyone coming here - Eucharist's A Velvet Creation. Worth it entirely.

no discussion of melodeath is complete w/o Vehemence - "God Was Created". an absolute classic and landmark of the genre that really has no equal. stunningly beautiful leadwork, amazing brutal riffs, great songwriting and to top it all off, some of the most disturbing and spine-chilling lyrics ever penned in death metal that puts most brutal/slam/goregrind to shame. easily the best example of the style to come out of the USA, at the very least.

I took a shot every time you said Intestine Baalism and now I am deceased

Inb4 Wyatt mentions Arghoslent for the 50th time.

Melodic death metal is my jam so needless to say this is my favorite video

It used to be my favorite genre now it's one of my favorites

Hey man, can we ever get a full video of you singing/dancing to "Right Here In My Arms" like you did in the comfort jams video?

I find it funny that a death metal fan wears a Depeche Mode shirt

I'm showing my age here, but by '93, it seemed that death metal had worn out its welcome, so Heartwork was a breath of fresh air, and I got full-swing into the Gothenburg sound in '96, because it seemed so new and exciting. The feeling I got was that they were trying to recapture the classic rock/metal feel of their (also my own) childhood of the 80s, while making some arena-ready death metal. Mission accomplished! One important band you forgot to mention was Dissection, as they were huge in the scene. Also, Sacramentum, who were compared with Dissection but I think were actually better - I still play the "Finis Malorum" EP regularly today! Also Varathron and Rotting Christ from Greece (though they are more associated with black metal now), and Einjerar and Old Man's Child from Norway (on both of their debuts).

Haha I had a fucking feeling you were playing Perpetual Dawn at the start. Best GOI song if you ask me.

a band that I'm into recently is Lost In Wonders, this band is so underappreciated. the guys behind the project are from my city here in Brazil (Curitiba). all you guys should try a listening

I would also add Scum (FIN). DAMN they're so overlooked in melodeath scene. They incorporate a very psychedelic and doomy sound within their aggression and melodic sound. Mother Nature has more aggressive tendencies but Purple Dreams and Magic Poems take one step further with the approach and make them sound so unique. Same goes Garden Of Shadows (their third album) as well which unfortunately was delayed due to label's lack of response but in 2016 their long lost album was finally released to the public.

Melodic death metal is ny favoutite genre of music. I like how diverse the genre is. Most of the bands mentioned were familiar, but not all.Some of my personal listening suggestions: Desultory Uncanny (These two are more death metal, but have the melodic element) Soilwork's first two for some heavier Gothenburg style Gates of Ishtar Bloodred hourglass Nailed to Obscurity Allegaeon for those into technical stuff

the lyrics for slaughter of the soul don't get enough praise

BeLakor and Insomnium are brilliant

Thanks a lot, regard

I'm surprised you didn't mention dismember when you started name dropping OSDM bands going Melo-Death later on down the line.

The band Majesties on 20Buckspin sounds like Slaughter of the Soul straight up, stoked on their release

followbane is so underrated its insane. Most of their albums are bangers.

I have 3 recommendations most people have heard of that barely meet the definition : Anata - Conductor's Departure Inferi - Path Of Apotheosis Swallow the Sun - The Morning that Never Came

I love Purgatory Afterglow by Edge of Sanity. Thank you for mentioning that album, Wyatt.

dawn of flames in the background 🤘

Highly recommend Vaelmyst - Secrypts of the Egochasm. Think edge of sanity meets Rotting Christ. It’s the first Melodeath album I’ve loved in YEARS.

I would highly recommend Slumber's lone full length Fallout. Another bit of that more "Somber" style of Melodeath. I also recommend any Godgory album but especially Resurrection.

ngl was just expecting you to bring up arghoslent for 21 minutes.

I heard you qualifying "Be'lakor - Stone's Reach" as "elegant" and my first reaction was WTF. But after a listen I think I get what you meant

Hey can you make a video on explaining methwitch? Like where do you think Cameron (the person behind methwitch) got his inspiration from and what genre do you consider them

sup dude im a big fan of your youtube channel, i am really thankfull that some cares that much for underground metal community. I got into black metal Genre pretty recently and i would really like to know your opinion about one small Post Black Metal band called “Besna” Its a band from Slovakia and Slovak magazines rated it as one of the best albums of 2022 rn. Their music is very interesting and beautiful. They sing in Slovak but i belive it wont be a problem :) I just want to know your opinion….

The Black Waltz by Kalmah is one of my favorite metal albums of all time.

I dont take any metal advice from anyone who doesn't have various types of swords, Good Job Buddy! all joking aside, pretty in depth video

This is kinda random but if anyone hasn't heard of the melodeath band, "disarmonia mundi", I highly suggest it. They're the most underrated band and they're from Italy, but imo one of the best in the genre. Check out "perdition haze" "a taste of collapse" "flare" "celestial inferno" or "parting ways" by them to get started. I cant believe no one has heard of them.

By any chance do you know the band Traumatic Voyage and their album Traumatized...? Definetely a hidden gem that deserves a entire video in itself

Love that Techno Animal redcord!

That Brotherhood of the Bomb is dope AF. You a fan of other Justin Broadrick projects (besides Godflesh)?

@wyattxhim you should check out In Thy Dreams - Highest Beauty. This album encapsulates every good aspect of melodic death metal.

I think we should drop the term "melodic" to name any genre. It literally means that something has a melody, the correct term for the diversity of melodies is "melodious".

that bit at the beginning about melodic tendencies being present from the outset, that was a very good point. same as how black metal had loads of punk tendencies without having to re-invent a genre by making "punk black metal." all these ultra specific genres are fucking ridiculous. unrelated question, but will you PLEEEEEEEEASESESESE get into Old Nick and talk about them some. maybe its just me, but i firmly believe that they are the best and most interesting new black metal band from america. cheerz lads. anyone reading, check out Old Nick.

I think Daniel Ekeroth made a point either in his book "swedish death metal" or one of the interviews about it at the time that the swedish bands basically hit on the melodic thing by accident, because a lot of people in the bands at the time thought thrash was death metal, you'd have for example some local band with a bay area style riff with a singer doing a death growl over the top.

Kalmah is one of my favorites!

I started with Melodic Death Metal with Amon Amarth just when Twilight of the Thundergod came out but I think checking everything from Arrival of the Thimble Winter to Surtur Rising would be an excellent way to open yourself to Melodic Death metal as well as bridge yourself into Folk Metal or even black metal if you liked the earlier works, on top of Johan Hegg;s vocals sounding more like a death metal Viking warrior compared to a lot of Melodic Death Metal vocalists who I feel are higher pitched like black metal or lower closer to what you might expect from death metal in general.

Hey wyatt have got anymore blacklisted records for a part 3? I've really enjoyed part 1 and 2

Have you heard of a band called In Flames? They got really heavy around 2014.

Heard about Intestine from Undeath vocalist who did a piece in Metal sucks or Metal injection.

Glad to see Stone's Reach all the way at the end. I suppose by this broadened definition of melodic death metal, I'd say Chapel of Disease is one of my favorite melodeath bands.

not music related but your curls are looking really nice!

I absolutely love melodic death metal. Mainly cause I’m into Power Metal and Thrash Metal heavily.

TLDR: Wyatt if you like Intestine, give Imperial Circus Dead Decadence a listen and tell us your thoughts about them If you like Intestine Baalism and Followbane, then I 100% have to recommend Imperial Circus Dead Decadence to you. Basically put Intestine, Followbane and Dimmu Borgir into a blender and don't stop until you see only one singular colour. That colour would be ICDD's sound Personally I would recommend their 2nd and 3rd full lengths, and the EPs between those 2 albums Vermilion D Alice Syndrome is sort of a sister band to ICDD (same vocalist but no other members overlap with the project but instead it's a completely different person handling all the instruments), but instead of having a triumphant vibe in the last song in their albums, VDAS albums are just darker, grimmer and more gothic than ICDD. I would recommend Karasu but other albums are worth a listen

Techno Animal! Such a great album

No one mentioning Eucharist? They are one of the pioneers from Sweden. Love their albums "A velvet creation" and "Mirrorworlds"

i love melodeath, it also got my friend into death metal (he's into power metal)

Probably my favorite “flavor” I guess of death metal. Probably because I used to listen to a lot of NWOBHM a lot. Stuff like Stratovarius. Also, those last two albums could spawn a new genre, “Atmospheric Death Metal”, I mean, Black metal can be atmospheric, so why not. Ps, Arghoslent is pretty cool I guess..

The problem is that Gothenburg MDM became so mainstream that other styles got overshadowed and MDM is just a shorthand for "Gothenburg power metal with harsh vocals", and I would say the Gothenburg scene is a mistake and ruined MDM for DM fans So unless they took a progressive/technical direction (which is how i discovered EoS and subsequently Opeth), I usually just go for Japanese MDM for some mold-breaking bands like ICDD and Intestine Baalism

my favourite "Slaughter of the Soul inspired" melodic death metal album is CENTINEX - HELLBRIGADE . great dark epic album.