Metal Reviews

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While I don't mean any personal disrespect, WTF is this about melodeath vs melodic death metal. Last time I looked one was an abbreviation for the other. Giving two different meanings to these terms seems almost as silly as doing the same thing with 'prog. metal' and 'progressive metal'.

As far as the album goes, I'm certainly looking forward to it; as we all know DT reliably produce great stuff (even if it can't recapture the 'glory days'). Wish I could say the same about their peers of long ago.

after KREATOR's last album, I went listening to my second purchase of the week : DT's new album...

I agree on the review though I might be a little less enthusiastic... it's indeed good stuff but many songs are kind of "lookalikes"...

the one thing I want to add to the review is how great keyboards work is. it's a bit like hearing Jon Lord (the great one !) with a melodic death band so less hammond and more modern synthesisers (which i regret) but hyper cool riffs & ambiences... top notch !

to Character I'll give 85... indeed it's good but not excellent...

You can't deny that there is a large rift forming in that genre of music. You have DT/ATG/old In Flames clones abounding and that's fine. There is also the new style which is tending towards metalcore but not quite. While it may just split off and become metalcore, there is a rift forming in the genre. Also, I don't think it's fair to call bands like Kalmah, Skyfire and hell even Children of Bodom melodic death metal anymore since their music goes far beyond the realm and incorporates additional sounds that are not death metal in origin. Lots of symphonic black and prog influences creeping in nowadays.

Jay, I have to agree with him. They're the same thing. Melodeath just has its own seperate identity. It's expanded beyond just a sub genre of death.

New Soilwork is not melodeath in my opinion (or melodic death if you prefer). It's like... hard rock/thrash metal.

Good review anyway, this is definitally the first huge album of 2005. Can't wait.

Melodic Death, Gothenburg, whatever, its dead, it died a long time ago. Having Dark Tranquillity being the only real survivor of that movement doesnt connotate a whole genre for it.

As for the Melodeath / Melodic Death thing, there is Melodic Death and then theres mallcore with half assed Gothenburg melodies thrown in to try and fool metalheads (like Atreyu and Unearth). Soilwork hasnt been melodeathy since 2002 and that was stretching it In Flames is dead and Arch Enemy got lazy.

Anyways, Jay is right about this album, it is fucking great.


Ben

i haven't heard this one yet but i'll download it (and then buy it when i get the money) as soon as i can.

i listened to Damage Done for the first time just yesterday, at the fnac record store (you can listen to anything there). it was FUCKING AWESOME.

also i agree that this is a dead genre. ever new band does nothing but copy the sound of their favourite bands. it's all very nice and all, but there's no incentive to go out and get their stuff instead of ome other new band, let alone instead of the classics from Soilwork and In Flames.

and Arch Enemy getting lazy? screw you! they are getting more and more aggressive and on interviews Angela says that the future for them is even more aggression and she refuses to SING (it's really in right now, you know) (probably because she can't ). i'm sure the new AE will kill, whenever it comes out.

In Flames and Soilwork are mere shadows of their former selves.

as for DT.. from what i've heard/heard of, they kicked, kick and will keep kicking ass.

I don't know what do you guys mean by lazy, but one thing is sure: Wages of in was 1000 times better than Anthems of Rebellion. And yes, Melodeath is oh so dead.

Yeah, WOS is better than AOR. But Melodeath is dead? do you want a LOL or a ROFL?

Mention 5 new Melo-death bands that are worth 10 cents.....

I agree with Jay. I don't know if I'd use the terms "melodeath" and "melodic death" to describe the two sides of said rift, but you can pick out sets of tendencies. And I also agree that Skyfire, Bodom, and Kalmah play totally different music.

And I also agree with deathkvlt. The genre needs a serious breath of fresh air.

I totally agree with you, though I'll name one: Helltrain - Route 666
This band picked up where In Flames dropped it, total copycats, but not bad at all...

that's the problem! they all have energy and enthusiasm but they are no more than copycats. i'll have the ORIGINAL, thanks.

there are just too many "good" bands in this genre.

the only MD band, among the newer ones, that i like is The Black Dahlia Murder. they incorporate "normal" death metal and black metal into the At The Gates sound sooooo well. kickass!

at least one more of us here is also a big fan... eh deathkvlt?

The Black Dahlia Murder kicks major ass!

Also I agree with the melodic Death Metal being different to Melo-death, theory.

agreed too ! awesome band ! one thing though, I hear elements of metalcore too (altogether with death & black.. even grind ? influences...)

highly recommanded

Atreyu and Unearth really shouldn't be uttered in the same sentance. I don't really follow Atreyu, but Unearth has never tried to push themselves as melodeath, and I've never heard anyone ever refer to them as melodeath. They're a solid, heavy, talented metalcore band.

Here's two great new melodeath bands I can think of off the top of my head: Within Y, Soulscar

Melodeath has a huge following, it can't just die. If only At The Gates reformed. The metal world would tremble in fear and awe.

Hey people! Long time, no writing for me!!! (first post in this forum since I wrote directly in the site hehe)... Justa want to say that I'll give a 100/100 to this album. I don't think Melodic Death is dead 'cause this guys are stil ALLIVEEEEE!!!! and very, very, VERY healthy!! It's their most difficult album to listen I think, full of small details that a normal listner can't figure them out on the first listens....focus on each instrument...concentrate yourselfs and prepare for a godman unique experience....every riff, every melodie, every fucking note it's plain awesome and I don't agree with Jay when he says that the last song's are a bit "worst" than the first ones...their more slow but even more worked than the first ones and they have a quality that no band, but I mean NO band in the melodeath/melodic death (whatever, who cares anyway) spectrum has. The mid-tempo songs (like for example One Thought or Am I 1?) are just plain hymns to the beauty of music itself...and Stanne growls like in no other album. I bear to say that this is their best album EVER...The Gallery is a masterpiece but this one transcends it in everything (ok, maybe not in the riffing technic which is similar but in the quality it has no chance at all)...

Azrael, olá jovem! Tá tudo? Bora lá falar português para desorientar aqui a "camonezada" toda...muhahaha 8)

I can totally conceed a difference in the genres but guys, you HAVE to choose less confusing names.. A 'genre' is supposed to be a construct that allows us to easily communicate about music. Using these two terms differently kind of defeats the purpose because of how confusingly similar they are.



So what are they then? "Blackened Melodic Death Metal" ? I don't think thats any better.. We can add more adjectives till the cows come home, but it gets to a point where you're better off simply explaining a bands sound in terms of other bands. Terms that indicate a genre are inherently inaccurate. Sometimes its hard to explain a band's sound with 50 or 100 words, how can you reasonably expect to do it in 3?



I would like to do this but I'm afraid I might accidently refer to Melodic Deathmetal bands instead as the distinction between the two terms is still not clear to me...

The lowdown as I see it: We need to stop worrying so much about whether a band "really fits within a particular genre". Just use genres as a broad guide and then back it up with comparisons to other bands to provide a more finely grained explanation of a particular sound.

"Mention 5 new Melo-death bands that are worth 10 cents"

why they have to be "new" to prove the genre isn't dead? There are bands that STILL play awesome melodic death metal.

Amon Amarth
Suidakra
Nightrage
Dark Tranquillity
Arch Enemy

i won't mention bands like Skyfire or COB and some that have power metal influences, cause i don't like the presence of power metal in Melodeath,so...If you remove the growling vocals - which even aren't so growling in COB - there isn't any Death left in it...

(btw Melodeath is just an easier way to say Melodic Death, so i don't think that melodeath and melodic death are two different genres.)

___________________________________________________

And as they return
Bleeding but proud
The Horizon burns
And the song is ringing
Loud...

Wheee I am relieved that I am not the only one who thinks this

Speaking of Skyfire.. I am still yet to see a review that does Timeless Departure justice. While there are plenty of Mind Revolution and Spectral reviews out there that are right on the money, everybody seems to underquote TD.. Personally I see TD as a 'classic', impossible to touch much like The Gallery. But I suppose by saying this I am starting two debates. Anyone hear TD first but prefer either of the two later albums? (I add the qualification because it seems common for any music that people prefer the first album they heard.)