Melodic death/doom metal
There also some quality bands that mix death/doom with melodic death metal, such as Ghost Brigade, Insomnium and Wolfheart. These type of bands can be hard to classify, as they rarely play exclusively slow and mournful music. A good example of the style is Insomnium’s song “Down With the Sun”. Another Finnish recommendation is Barren Earth, a band that takes the style in a progressive direction influenced by Opeth and classic progressive music.
As usual with intricate genre tags, the melodic death/doom metal tag doesn’t have much distinction compared to the death/doom metal one. Most Finnish death/doom naturally falls under the melodic umbrella, for instance bands like Swallow the Sun, Rapture, Kaunis Kuolematon and early Amorphis.
Five melodic death/doom metal albums to check out
Here is a starter pack of five melodic death/doom metal albums that are worth checking out!
Daylight Dies – Dismantling Devotion
Daylight Dies combines classic Katatonia style death/doom elements with melodic death metal and a slight progressive twist to create a great sound. All of their albums are high quality, but “Dismantling Devotion” is the absolute masterpiece for me. Check out the song “Lies that Bind” below, it’s an awesome tune!
Ghost Brigade – Guided by Fire
Ghost Brigade mix a lot of styles, everything from Neurosis style sludge to newer Katatonia hooks and classic Finnish melodic death/doom. Whatever style they choose to focus on, the songwriting and emotion is usually spot on. “Hold On Thin Line” (video below) is a murky tune from their debut album that captures all that is good about Ghost Brigade.
October Tide – Rain Without End
An old classic that masterfully fused the Katatonia – “Brave Murder Day” template with what was going on in the melodic death metal scene at the time. The melodicism is as dreary as it is awesome, and Jonas Renkse’s tortured growls fit perfectly on top.
Rapture – Futile
Rapture took the “Brave Murder Day” sound and added Finnish style melodic death metal. They wrote some very catchy, yet depressive tunes based on it. “Futile” is a great album that succeeds in being both infectious and strongly depressing. All three albums are great though.
Slumber – Fallout
A masterclass in melodic death/doom metal from the Stockholm suburbs. It’s almost undividedly hailed by the scene as a masterpiece for good reason, and the newer bands featuring the band members (Atoma, Enshine and Exgenesis) are really good too.
Read more:
Death/doom metal ->
Funeral doom metal ->
10 essential death/doom metal albums ->
Soliloquium, swedish death/doom metal ->
