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Melodic death metal is a subgenre of death metal that emphasizes melody alongside the heavy, aggressive characteristics typical of death metal. It became influential in the 1990s, particularly through Scandinavian bands, and helped bring death metal's intensity to a broader audience by making it more accessible through memorable musical hooks and song structures.
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Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- music genre
- Subclass of
- death metal
- Country of origin
- Sweden
- Image
- Deadlock Rockharz 2016 06.jpg
Show 2 more facts
- inception
- 1990-01-01
- topic's main category
- Category:Melodic death metal
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Encyclopedic overview
Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs and solos, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal, combined with low-pitched growls or aggressive screams and the heavily distorted guitars of traditional death metal.
Pioneered by the English band Carcass with their 1993 album Heartwork, melodic death metal was developed further by Swedish bands like At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity, and In Flames in the mid-1990s. The Swedish death metal scene did much to popularise the style, soon centering in the "Gothenburg metal" scene. At the Gates' Slaughter of the Soul, Dark Tranquillity's The Gallery, and In Flames' The Jester Race, all released in the mid-1990s, were highly influential albums in melodic death metal, with At the Gates and In Flames being the two most common influences on North American 2000s heavy metal bands. Many American heavy metal bands emulated At the Gates' sound, resulting in the usage of the phrase "At the Gates worship".
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “melodic death metal” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.