Hey Folks! It’s me… Again!

I’m coming back once more to explore the depths of a genre that arguably did not begin where you all thought it did! Yeah yeah… Alright, maybe Left Hand Path, Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious, Like An Ever Flowing Stream & The Red In The Sky Is Ours aren’t exactly the sound you would expect, but they were certainly a sign of something incredible that was about to happen. The birth of Melodic Death Metal!

Most of you, them, us… Would agree that Melodic Death metal really appeared in the form of Carcass’s 1993 album Heartwork. Even though some shades of what would become staples of the genre were heard before, this one would truly be the first album to be called as such. Mixing OSDM with more classic heavy metal styled riffs & melodies, our beloved genre (along with Thrash) would become for a lot of our teenage selves, a gateway into the more extreme bowels of metal’s subgenres. I would argue that it’s an almost obligatory step in the grand metalhead’s journey. Ah, how amazing it was to first taste the somewhat delicate sound of melodeath before rattling our ears with the obscenities & nonsensical wankery of grindcore, brutal tech-death, dissonant death and post metal… Rrrrright.

As you have become accustomed to by now, I will attempt to honour the genre by listing the absolute best Melodic Death metal albums to be ever released throughout the years. And I will do so starting with a few albums that are arguably not Melodic Death metal… Because I can and I did, hah! F*ck you! Along the way, you might stumble upon some strange & unorthodox choices mixing a plethora of other genres as well and that’s ok. Truly. Take it easy, don’t hyperventilate over it and just go with the flow. The main goal here is to help people who don’t know much about melodeath discover it and where it came from. I also want to push forward some less known jewels amongst highly praised landmarks of the style and sprinkle a bit of my personality along the way because that’s always fun. The albums will be ordered in years of release and there will be no other restriction or specific rules.

I hope you have a blast going through my list and that it brings you joy and a slight tingle on your nostalgia strings. Though, if it pisses you off, if I forgot your absolute favourite album of all goddamn time or if you think I’m an idiot, well… Just remember that I’m right, always and forever, thank you. Regardless It will be a pleasure for me to hear your recommendations or discuss anything related to melodeath below. Cheers & have fun!

-Guib-

Note: Albums with a 🇨🇦 are from my country (Canada) and albums with a ★ are my personal favourites.

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Last Updated: April 8th, 2024

1.Entombed - Left Hand Path

2.Carcass - Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious

3.Dismember - Like An Ever Flowing Stream

4.At The Gates - The Red In The Sky Is Ours

5.Carcass - Heartwork

      View entire list ››

As with the others, gonna update as I go through my collection. This is really just for my own organizational purposes.

1.Brutus (BEL) - Unison Life

2.Chat Pile - God's Country

3.An Abstract Illusion - Woe

4.Xaon - The Lethean

5.Helms Alee - Keep This Be The Way

      View entire list ››

1.Disillusion - Ayam

2.Aenaon - Mnemosyne

3.Wilderun - Epigone

4.Ghost - Impera

5.Panzerfaust - The Suns Of Perdition - Chapter III: The Astral Drain

      View entire list ››

Bands in my daily listening rotation. Albums chosen are my favorite by the respective band in most cases 🤘

1.200 Stab Wounds - Slave To The Scalpel

2.A Perfect Circle - Mer De Noms

3.Abbath - Abbath

4.Acid Witch - Rot Among Us

5.Æther Realm - Tarot

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1.Avatarium - Death, Where Is Your Sting

2.Belphegor - The Devils

3.Cabal - Magno Interitus

4.Sedimentum - Suppuration Morphogénésiaque

5.Kalmah - Kalmah

      View entire list ››

To add fuel to the fire of the "they'll never top their first album" rhetoric, here are all my favorite full length debuts in alphabetical order. Full lengths, not EPs.

1.Acid Witch - Witchtanic Hellucinations

2.Aeternus - Beyond The Wandering Moon

3.Agruss - Morok

4.Ahab - The Call Of The Wretched Sea

5.Alcest - Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde

      View entire list ››

1.White Ward - False Light

2.Gaerea - Mirage

3.Dream Unending - Song Of Salvation

4.An Abstract Illusion - Woe

5.Voivod - Synchro Anarchy

      View entire list ››

Taken around 8:30 pm GMT
There was no write-in for djent so I voted for one.
Not totally clean (trolls in last categories are kept for fun),
Thanks to the person who curated most of the write-is since yesterday, it really reduced the work to do!

PS : I cleaned the list listening to The Testament by Seventh Wonder, so I was particularly unhappy to see it in the biggest letdowns at the end

1.

2.A.A. Williams - As The Moon Rests

3.Disturbed - Divisive

4.Dog Fashion Disco - Cult Classic

5.Fleshwater - We're Not Here To Be Loved

      View entire list ››

1.An Abstract Illusion - Woe

2.White Ward - False Light

3.Disillusion - Ayam

4.The Halo Effect - Days Of The Lost

5.Gaerea - Mirage

      View entire list ››

I don't know if I am just getting too old, or is it the lack of dedicated time to just sit down and listen to an album properly, without doing anything else, but I have a feeling that more and more albums sound just the same. Writing this years my top ten, or should I say top twenty five-ish list was really hard for me. Not because there was a lack of good albums, there are always some good albums, and this year, in some cases, was pure fucking brilliance. But a lot of times there were albums that I listened to a few times, and at that moment they actually sound good, but if you asked me half an hour later which songs I remembered... I would be dumbstruck to give you a proper answer.

So, let us get on with the top ten first. There were some really pleasant surprises, especially in terms of new bands and bands I discovered this year. New Horizon is a project of now ex H.E.A.T singer Eric Grönwal who in early 2022 was revealed as the new singer of Skid Row. Now, I am biased as fuck, because I am a huge fan of his voice, for me he is a brilliant power metal or hard rock singer. And this is exactly how this album sounds, power metal mixed with AOR and hard rock. The album is a collaboration with his former band mate, who plays keyboards in the mentioned H.E.A.T. It seems they wanted to delve deeper into power metal here as opposed to more hard rock style of H.E.A.T although HEAT's last album with Grönwal had pretty strong power influences. I have no idea how, why and what happened in that band so that Eric left, but simultaneously put out a project with his former band mate... and I don't really care. This album is a pure fucking masterpiece of melodic metal. Really refreshing. In terms of originality you won't hear anything especially new, but the delivery is excellent and song writing top notch.
Now I am not going to write a detailed album-by-album review here, I am way too lazy for that. Or not quite. I will just say that first four places, you could switch them in any order you want, and it would be great. Amorphis delivered another great album, Månegarm is being Månegarm, rising again to the top tier of Viking metal. What I really love about Månegarm is that they do not just write your default Viking metal songs and lyrics. Just as the previous few, this album is inspired by, and follows the story of Yngling dynasty, legendary and semi-legendary rulers from Scandinavia who, as the sagas say, claim descent from Odin himself and are progenitors of all the medieval rulers and kings from Scandinavia. At least that is what the sagas say. My point here, it is not just another default band and album riding the wave of Viking popularity, or at least it is not just that. Månegarm looks to explore history, sagas and myths of medieval Scandinavia and re-tell the Norse sagas in a modern metal format. Another band of a similar manner in the list is Ereb Altor, quite similar to Månegarm in style, modern Viking metal or pagan metal, or however you want to call it these days, heavily influenced by both black and folk metal. Just like Månegarm, most of their songs are in Swedish, rather than the English language. Which is a huge bonus if you ask me.
Between those two, there is a new In Flames album. What do you mean it is not In Flames? OK, an album that should have been In Flames, if In Flames were actually any good in the last decade or two. It might be called The Halo Effect, but it sounds like In Flames/Dark Tranquillity. Zero surprise there, since for those who are not familiar, it is literally made up of former In Flames members, with Mikkael Stanne from Dark Tranquilliy, who is also former In Flames member himself, on vocals. Great album, it sounds like In Flames, it is nothing especially original, but it is a quality album, and better than anything In Flames recorded since.. probably the Clayman if you ask me.
If there wasn't New Horizon, Stormruler would be the revelation of the year for me. I don't know what is going on in the USA, but there are quite a few really good melodic or atmospheric black metal bands in recent years coming from the US. Last year it was Stormkeep, this year it is Stormruler. As far as I know, they are not connected in any way, but similarities do not stop at having a "Storm" in their name. Fucking masterpiece of an album. If you are into atmospheric instrumental interludes that remind me of Summoning, or melodic black metal.. yes, this album is for you.
Quite as Expected, Brymir put out another quality album with their Voices in the Sky. If you are not familiar with Brymir..well, think of Ensiferum, Wintersun, maybe some Equillibrium or Kalmah. Yeah, so do I. Awesome album.
Another new band on this year's list, Fallen Sanctuary. A collaboration between members of Temperance and Serenity. Personally, I really enjoy Georg (Neuhauser, singer of Serenity and the main vocal contributor to Fallen Sanctuary) voice. His voice has a beautiful tone and colour. So I was on it from the start. Also, I am a real sucker for melodic power metal so.. makes sense that his made my list. Unsurprisingly, Septicflesh made the cut with another good album. One of the few bands that keep a high level on consistency in many years. Since Communion, they haven't put out a bad album. I really struggled to decide what album to put on number ten spot, since there was at least five or six I considered to be good enough.. in the end, I picked progressive veterans Threshold. Because it was quite a surprise how much I liked this album, it reminded me a lot of their 2004 Subsurface, and how good they used to be in their prime.

Few more things and few albums that I want to mention. I was never huge fan of Parkway Drive, but they grew on me with years, and I kind of fell for them over the time, even though I did not really liked them for years when I first hear them. Well, this album, who probably most of the old and more metalcore fans will not like.. to me was a fucking masterpiece. They quite moved away from the old PWD sound and… well I really enjoyed this one. Sakis Tolis put out another Rotting Ch… I mean solo album masterpiece. Blind Guardian put out the best album since 2010, but I am still kind of divided on it. I like it but at the same time it lacks that something to make it really memorable. As I said maybe I am just too old, haven’t listened to it enough times, or need to play it without doing anything else to really let it sink in. Not great, not terrible but quite solid. I could say the same thing about Evergrey, Therion and few other bands on the list.. Few of the other albums that were quite close to be in top 10, and are definitely worth mentioning are Bucovina’s new album. Also Finnish folk black metal one woman project Vermilia put another good album. Yes, I really do enjoy bands that sing in their native languages, in spite of me not understand shit. Or maybe because of it. After a long wait, Battlelore returned with a new album called “The Return of the Shadow”, of course it is another Tolkien themed album, and of course, I love the shit out of it.

In the end there was a lot of other albums that I consider to be good, especially some really big bands like Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy, Behemoth also released some new stuff this year. And while none of it was particularly band, I do like most of it, none was either really deserving of the place in the top tier. Not great, not terrible as the meme would say.

1.New Horizon - Gate Of The Gods

2.Månegarm - Ynglingaättens Öde

3.Amorphis - Halo

4.The Halo Effect - Days Of The Lost

5.Ereb Altor - Vargtimman

      View entire list ››

1.Immolation - Acts Of God

2.Bloodbath - Survival Of The Sickest

3.Strigoi - Viscera

4.Konvent - Call Down The Sun

5.Souldrainer - Departure

      View entire list ››

As the Earth makes another full circle around the sun, its time to celebrate the best albums that marked that period.

1.Kurokuma - Born Of Obsidian

2.Jungle Rot - A Call To Arms

3.The Hu - Rumble Of Thunder

4.Malevolence - Malicious Intent

5.Toxik - Dis Morta

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Every category (Best, Very Good...) in no particular order...

1.

2.

3.Disillusion - Ayam

4.An Abstract Illusion - Woe

5.Aenaon - Mnemosyne

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Better late than never! I tried to be thorough and listened to anything I thought I might be remotely interested in order to create this list.

1.An Abstract Illusion - Woe

2.Blind Guardian - The God Machine

3.Wilderun - Epigone

4.Brymir - Voices In The Sky

5.Immolation - Acts Of God

      View entire list ››

Another year has passed, so that means it's time for my list of the best and worst albums of 2022.

Some numbers:

- 194 albums
- Total points given: 1437,9
- Average score: 7,41/10

- Albums with a score of 7 or above: 80,93%
- Albums with a score of 8 or above: 27,32%
- Albums with a score of 9 or above: 0,52%

1.Lost In My Perception - In The Name Of Progress

2.My Diligence - The Matter, Form And Power

3.Temnee - Horror Of Noon

4.City Of The Lost - Wasteland Guide II

5.Evil Invaders - Shattering Reflection

      View entire list ››