@ Adveser: Nice hair man, nice to see another fellow long-hair on this site.
On topic, an interesting discussion to be sure. I love Ralph's playing, his work in Obituary and those guys's side project is good stuff, though more slower and bluesy. Deicide is good, though its hard to sit through a whole listen I find his solos in their latest to be a redeeming aspect of the album.
Interestingly, the drummer Steve Asheim(sp?) has another band, Order of Ennead, with An Examination of Being an enjoyable listen to be sure. The leads are similar to TSoR from what I recall. Outside of those though nothing springs to mind, most happy-note jumpy leads and solos being relegated to the melo-death side of the spectrum. Personally for me its not a big loss cause I prefer really emotional solos, slow leads and wicked wails and howling in the death I listen to. The occasional guitarist that makes me sit up and say "wow", "goddamn" and "HOLY SHIT THAT'S FUCKIN' METAL!" is far less common for me now, but it does happen every now and then. I really enjoy overall ability, songwriting and emotion over power metal's tendancy for sheer speed and scales.
A personal favorite style I enjoy is old-school styled death metal leads, not really solos, but how the riffs can get soooo fuckin' doomy and evil, the atmosphere is just seeping with vile aura, and then a somber lead starts backing up the riffs. Obliteration and Lie in Ruins do this to great effect, but the list is huge. I apologize for veering so far offcourse haha.
