Melodic Death Metal

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    Euphoreon – Euphoreon (2011)

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    After their very impressive demo “Before the Blackened Sky”, Euphoreon returns with their crushing self-released and self-titled debut album. All fans of (old) Children of Bodom, Moonsorrow, Turisas, and similar should be keeping an eye out for this very well produced album.

    Featuring re-vamped versions of the three songs presented in the demo, this new release adds five more tracks of brilliant musicianship and excellent combination of elements that have made the previously mentioned bands very successful. The song “Before the Blackened Sky” shows the wide palette of influences the band has and it also gives a very nice intro of what is to come in this release.

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    Scar Symmetry – The Unseen Empire (2011)

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    After their overly formulaic “Dark Matter Dimensions”, the band returns with a very interesting release with “The Unseen Empire”. It seems that the band somewhat changed a bit their ‘musical formula’ and now diluted their sound with some Male-fronted Gothic Rock/Metal influences.

    While the traditional epic chorus sections are a staple of this album, we also have different sounding melodies that make this band… well… more melodic. The technical brilliance of the band is also pushed back a bit and while we do get some brilliant guitar sections, the focus is more on the catchiness of the songs.

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    Before the Dawn – Deathstar Rising (2011)

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    Multi-instrumentalist Tuomas Saukkonen returns with another excellent Before the Dawn release. Fusing Melodic Death Metal and Gothic Metal, Before the Dawn has been gaining popularity over the years and with “Deathstar Rising”, they set the bar even higher.

    Besides Tuomas brilliant songwriting skills, the bass guitar and clean vocal talents of Lars Eikind greatly complement the band’s sound. Not being to ‘weak’ for regular Metal people, and without being extremely harsh, “Deathstar Rising” is a release that fits right in the middle between aggressive and melodic Metal released.

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    Amon Amarth – Surtur Rising (2011)

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    The Swedish masters of Viking infused Melodic Death Metal are back with their most catchy and melodic release up to date. With “Surtur Rising” the band validates why they are one of the premiere Melodic Death Metal bands in the world and they will surely please all fans and gather hordes of new fans as well.

    As we all expected, the guitar work in “Surtur Rising” is outstanding to say the least. The riffing power of Olavi Mikkonen and Johan Söderberg is unrivaled and on this release they put together 10 songs of pure power and catchiness. Sure there are heaps of ‘traditional’ Amon Amarth sections, but the way the guitar melodies drives the music in this release is just excellent.

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    As Likely As Not – Stand Up and Nerve (2011)

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    Hailing from Italy on The Execution Kollective Records today we have As Likely As Not and their debut full-length “Stand Up and Nerve”. Labeled as a mixture of Melodic Death and Metalcore, the band delivers a somewhat uninspired release that bridges both genres but fails to deliver in the important aspects.

    The band does a solid job in not being too Metalcore, but they also forget some of the important elements of Melodic Death Metal, like the killer guitar work and wide variety of blazing riffs that other bands tend to focus on. While “Stand Up and Nerve” is not the best album ever, it has some moments and shows some promise from this young band.

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    Made of Hate – Pathogen (2011)

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    Hailing from Poland today we have a very refreshing band: Made of Hate. This band plays Melodic Death Metal the true way, not the pussy Melo-Death shit that new bands play these days. With influences of older In Flames, CoB, Soilwork, etc, the band has a very guitar driven sound that does not feel like a complete rip-off of their influences, something very rare in this genre.

    “Pathogen” contains 8 tracks of very solid guitar driven compositions that will have you head banging in a matter of minutes. Since the opening track “Friend” you can start to notice the riff-athon you are in for. Featuring ‘manly’ vocals the band has a strong sound that has the late 90’s Melodic DM feel all written over it.

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    Deadlock – Bizarro World (2011)

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    Deadlock, one of the most polarizing bands in the metal scene returns with yet another very diverse sound release. By polarizing we mean that people have very outrageous opinions about their musical style, some people call it Pop Metal, but we have to say their style is pretty bad ass and it really grows on you after a few listens.

    Moving past their hip hop and metal track in “Manifesto”, the band consolidates their efforts in a very dynamic sounding release. Yes, there are some parts that might be considered too mainstream for ‘extreme’ metal, but in general the band has a unique sound that surely gets them noticed everywhere they play and gains them fans from all kinds of musical genres.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Omnium Gatherum – New World Shadows (2011)

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    Finish melodic Death Metal masters Omnium Gatherum return with their best album to date: “New World Shadows”. After their killer debut album “Spirits and August Light”, the band wondered off with some lukewarm releases and finally returned to the spotlight (for us at least) with “The Redshift”.

    In “New World Shadows” the band goes into darker territory and presents us with a more ‘classical’ Melodic Death Metal sound and their own brand of guitar acrobatics and solid songwriting. With this album, the band is sure to drawn comparisons to Finish Melodic Death Metal heroes Insomnium.

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    Neaera – Forging the Eclipse (2010)

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    Hailing from Germany, today we have Neaera and their crushing Melodic Death Metal that will surely rattle your seat (and windows) once “Forging the Eclipse” starts playing on your stereo. The band’s sound is very brutal in nature and features most of the ‘traditional’ Melodic Death Metal elements but also has a nice modern edge to it, without getting too faggy for us.

    After the first few listens we noticed that while “Forging the Eclipse” is a very solid album, it’s very linear in nature and gets repetitive after a few songs. The band’s songwriting abilities are not the best in the scene and even with twelve songs, the album lasts only 39 minutes. The riffing is very brutal and features some nice traditional Death Metal hooks in songs like “Sirens of Black”, but manages to keep an overall melodic tone.

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    System Divide – The Conscious Sedation (2010)

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    Today we have System Divide, a band that plays a very interesting mix of Gothic Metal elements with Melodic Death Metal/Deathcore foundations. Featuring Sven de Caluwé of Aborted fame and Miri Milman (Distorted, Orphaned land) on vocals, you know you will have a very nice contrast between sweet female voices and demonic growls.

    With a very similar style than Deadlock, the band seamlessly merges elements and creates a very solid melodic yet brutal album with “The Conscious Sedation”. It’s very interesting that such release will appeal people from both the Melodic Metal community and the ‘Modern’ Metal (i.e. Deathcore) section, since it features elements that will please both sides of the fence.

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