Essential Melodic Death Metal Albums of The 90's

While many may think that death metal was "dead" by the mid 90's dzue to lack of popularity, labels dropping bands due to shitty sales etc., a newer genre of death metal was very much alive: melodic death metal. It combined the brutality of the regular death metal, with the melodies of Iron Maiden. In fact, one of the purveyors of the genre, In Flames, have been quoted as saying their original goal as a band was to combine death metal with Iron Maiden.

Today, melodic death metal has (unfortunately) become just as generic as metalcore. It's incredibly hard to differentiate between albums and the bands that are still chugging along from the 90's, have either drastically changed their style and are labeled sell-outs (In Flames), or have played the same style and are now labeled as boring (Dark Tranquillity, Arch Enemy). One of the only bands that you can actually differentiate is Disarmonia Mundi. But in the 90's, when melodic death metal reigned supreme, there were albums that were so fucking catchy, talented, and different, that they are now hailed as classics. Here are some of my favorites, and of course these are highly recommended :)

Arch Enemy-Black Earth/Burning Bridges: I haven't listened to Stigmata enough to make a proper judgement, so it would be unfair to put it up here or leave it out. These two albums were melodic death metal perfection. Amazing riffs, and shredding solos by the Amott brothers is what made them so memorable. It seems that they've lost their edge in the recent albums. I know Johan's vocals are hard to get into. I hated old Arch Enemy at first, but then I realized how good they were and tossed my initial reactions aside.

Dark Tranquillity-The Gallery: You should know about/own this album. I love all Dark Tranquillity, but this is definitely one of their finest hours. This is before they had a keyboardist, and it was all Mikael's first album with DT as a vocalist: he previously just played guitar, and sang for In Flames, while Anders was the original singer on Dark Tranquillity's debut album Skydancer. While Skydancer is indeed a good album, the production, and shitty vocals by Anders lowered it for me. The Gallery came out and tossed all the negatives aside, and raised the positives. Mikael suits this band much better. The melodics are fucking excellent; something modern death metal has been lacking.

Hypocrisy-The Final Chapter: From their initial beginnings as a straight forward death metal band, to their recent return to greatness (A Taste Of Extreme Lividity), Hypocrisy has always been a very interesting band. I would have felt bad posting this list without a Hypocrisy album. It was a hard toss between Abducted and Final Chapter, but I felt the later was the better. The songs are catchy, and Tägtgren's vocals and song writing is at his best.

In Flames-the Jester Race/Colony: God I Could go on for days about how much ass these two albums kick. Insane fucking harmonies, Anders finally sounds good, and great production and artwork. While In Flames sounds nowhere near this good anymore, I still enjoy their newer material. But, these albums will be forever known as melodic death metal at it's peak. Definitely two of my "desert island" albums.