[floatboxright:
Primary Stylistic Influences:
+ DeathMetal, NewWaveOfBritishHeavyMetal, TraditionalHeavyMetal
]
[floatboxright:
Secondary Stylistic Influences:
+ ThrashMetal, BlackMetal, PowerMetal, SpeedMetal, ProgressiveMetal, HardcorePunk, HardRock, PostRock, {{Metalcore}} (in later bands)
]

'''Melodic death metal''', occasionally called "Melodeath", is a notable subgenre of DeathMetal that is characterised by harmonized, Music/IronMaiden-styled guitar melodies and a generally higher-pitched growl, though low-pitched ones are occasionally used. Depending on the band, they may even incorporate clean singing into the mix.

From one perspective, melodeath was created by the British band Music/{{Carcass}}; however, it's unclear whether they were truly the first. Whatever your stance, everyone can agree that the style was popularised by three bands from Gothenburg, Sweden: Music/InFlames, Music/AtTheGates, and Music/DarkTranquillity. The success of these three bands resulted in a number of mainly Scandinavian bands that took on the style, while several bands from Finland (Music/ChildrenOfBodom, Norther, and Kalmah) created a flashier, more bombastic style that borrowed heavily from power metal and helped influence both that genre and a host of other, newer melodic death acts.

Melodeath is seen as a [[LighterAndSofter less underground style]] than standard DeathMetal (can even be thought as a GatewaySeries to the latter); its lyrics generally do not focus on gore, although there are exceptions (Dismember is one of them). Melodeath was also a huge influence on many {{Metalcore}} bands. When fused together, they become Melodic Metalcore
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Bands classified as melodic death metal include:

[[index]]
* Music/TheAbsence
* Music/AbysmalDawn (''From Ashes'' only)
* Music/ActOfDefiance (very heavy overlap with thrash)
* Music/{{Aeternam}} (Fuses melodic death with [[FolkMetal Middle Eastern folk]])
* Music/AetherRealm (also power metal and folk metal)
* Music/TheAgonist (A female-fronted example like Arch Enemy, though they tend to mix it up with clean vocals. Crosses over with deathcore and ProgressiveMetal.)
* Music/{{Allegaeon}} (Mixed with Tech Death)
* Music/AllThatRemains (''Behind Silence and Solitude''; they later mixed this with {{metalcore}} and eventually turned into modern rock)
* Music/{{Alterbeast}} (also tech)
* Music/{{Amaranthe}}
* Music/{{Amniote}}
* Music/AmonAmarth
* Music/{{Amorphis}} (They have gradually morphed into some form of "[[ProgressiveMetal Progressive]] FolkMetal", although melodeath elements can still be heard from time to time. One of the early users of clean vocals that made it work, along with Dark Tranquillity. Possible UrExample, as a few songs from their debut could certainly fit in with the genre and predate ''Heartwork'' by a year)
* Music/{{Anata}} (along with tech death, also a TropeCodifier for technical melodeath)
* Music/{{Arch Enemy|Band}} (Notable for - eventually - having a female singer doing growling vocals.)
* Music/{{Arsis}} (Also qualifies as [[TechnicalDeathMetal Tech Death]])
* Astralborne
* Music/AtTheGates (TropeCodifier)
* Music/{{Avatar}} (early material, the bulk of their material is nu metal)
* Music/BarrenEarth (Formed from members of several other Melodeath bands. Fuses Melodeath with ProgressiveMetal. The first track off of their first full-length release includes a ''flute solo''.)
* Music/{{Battlecross}}
* Music/BeforeTheDawn (Melodeath with GothMetal influences)
* Music/{{Belakor}}
* Music/BeyondTheEmbrace
* Music/TheBlackDahliaMurder (They are often considered a {{deathcore}} band due to their fanbase and a couple of their ''very'' early releases, but even though they have proven highly influential to deathcore they have little in common music-wise with the genre and are a lot closer to At the Gates than they are to Suicide Silence; as of ''Everblack'', they've begun including elements of brutal death into their sound.)
* Music/BlackFast (''Terms of Surrender'', though they are a roughly 50/50 split between this and thrash)
* Music/BleedFromWithin (mixed with {{Metalcore}} and GrooveMetal)
* Music/BloodshotDawn (also tech on self-titled, moved towards a more traditional melodic death sound on ''Demons'')
* Music/BloodStainChild (Fused melodeath with ElectronicMusic, in particular, {{Trance}} and [[JapanesePopMusic J-pop]].)
* Music/{{Carcass}} (Later; possibly the TropeMakers.)
* Music/{{Centinex}} (sometimes, most prominently from ''Hellbrigade'' through ''World Declension'', which was when Scar Symmetry founder Jonas Kjellgren was in the band)
* Music/ChildrenOfBodom (Fused melodeath with PowerMetal.)
* Music/{{Chthonic}} (Combined with BlackMetal and Taiwanese folk music)
* Music/{{Cormorant}} (Their debut EP and album fused with countless different genres)
* Music/{{Cypecore}} (Also IndustrialMetal, although they started leaning more to the latter on ''Identity'' onwards)
* Music/DarkLunacy (Heavy Symphonic influences. Early releases feature violins prominently.)
* Music/DarkTranquillity (TropeCodifier)
* Music/DarkestHour (later material verges on melodic metalcore, though ''Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora'' is a return to their old style)
* Music/DaylightDies (Fuses melodeath with DoomMetal)
* Music/DeadByApril (Possibly the only metal band that fuses melodeath (or any metal for that matter) with BoyBand styled pop)
* Music/{{Deadlock}}
* [[WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}} Dethklok]]
* Music/DevilDriver (as of ''The Fury of Our Maker's Hand'', though their debut has hints of it, also GrooveMetal; depending on the album, they might lean more heavily towards melodeath or groove, though ''The Last Kind Words'' is the closest they've come to a straight melodic death album)
* Music/DisarmoniaMundi (featured Speed of Soilwork as a session vocalist on some songs)
* Music/{{Dismember}} (not always, but many of their later albums heavily borrow from this)
* Music/{{Dissection}} (On ''Reinkaos'').
* Music/TheDuskfall
* Music/EdgeOfSanity (also ProgressiveMetal / ProgressiveDeathMetal, especially on the ''Crimson'' albums)
* Music/{{Eluveitie}} (Fused melodeath with [[FolkMetal Celtic metal]].)
* Music/EnfoldDarkness (mixed with melodic black metal)
* Enforsaken
* Music/{{Ensiferum}} (Mixed with PowerMetal, FolkMetal and [[BlackMetal Viking Metal]].)
* Music/EternalTearsOfSorrow (another melodeath/gothic fusion)
* Music/{{Eucharist}}
* Music/ExDeo (Side project of Maurizio Iacono from Kataklysm, with themes based on Roman history. Later releases mixed with Symphonic Black Metal.)
* Music/{{Exhumed}} (On ''Necrocracy'', though they've flirted with this before)
* Music/ExistTrace (mostly their earlier releases)
* Music/{{Exmortus}} (a case of GenreBusting, but this is probably the best label for their sound at this point)
* Music/{{Eyeconoclast}}
* Music/{{Falchion}}
* Music/FleshgodApocalypse (''Agony'' onward) Also TechnicalDeathMetal
* Music/GardenOfShadows (notable in that they were Sean Beasley's band prior to his joining Music/DyingFetus)
* Music/GatesOfIshtar
* Music/GhostBrigade (mixed with doom metal)
* Music/GodDethroned (later albums; earlier material was [[BlackMetal Blackened]] DeathMetal)
* Music/GodForbid (A melodeath/metalcore crossover, with a strong thrash influence to boot.)
* Music/{{Gorod}} (along with tech and prog)
* Music/{{GYZE}} (with a strong PowerMetal and NeoclassicalMetal influence)
* Music/TheHaloEffect (a collaboration between former and current members of In Flames and Dark Tranquillity)
* Music/TheHaunted (With a strong influence from both ThrashMetal and GrooveMetal.)
* Music/HeavenShallBurn (Mixed with {{Metalcore}} and, to a much lesser extent, {{Grindcore}})
* Music/{{Horrendous}} (''Anareta'', also had elements of this on ''Ecdysis'')
* Music/{{Hypocrisy}} (Since 1994; arguably the weirdest of the lot, and also one of the heavier bands in the genre.)
* Ice Giant (also PowerMetal)
* Music/{{Illdisposed}} (introduced elements of this starting on ''There's Something Rotten...'' before diving headfirst into it on ''1-800 Vindication'' and sticking with it for a while - returned to straight death metal on ''With the Lost Souls on Our Side'')
* Music/InFlames (TropeCodifier) (they leaned toward AlternativeMetal[=/=]NuMetal in their later albums, but still kept many elements of this genre)
* Music/{{Inferi}} (mixed with tech)
* Music/{{Insomnium}} (Also contains strong influence from ProgressiveDeathMetal and DoomMetal.)
* Music/IntestineBaalism
* Music/IntoEternity (Mixed with ProgressiveDeathMetal)
* Music/{{Kalmah}} (Early works had a strong PowerMetal influence. Later works also fall under death/thrash)
* Music/{{Kataklysm}} (''In the Arms of Devastation'' onward; prior material is brutal death, though they've always had melodeath elements - also a fairly heavy example)
* Music/{{Kokuyasou}} (mixed with SymphonicMetal and BlackMetal)
* Majesties (SoloSideProject of Tanner Anderson of Obsequiae)
* Medeia (a GenreBusting band mixing DeathMetal, AlternativeMetal, and GrooveMetal, therefore most easily labeled as this)
* Music/{{Mercenary}} (Mixed with PowerMetal and, to a certain degree, ProgressiveMetal.)
* Music/{{Mayan}} (Mixed with SymphonicMetal; [[Music/{{Epica}} Mark Jansen's]] side project)
* Miseration (first album only - shifted to old-school/brutal death afterwards)
* Music/{{Moonspell}} (''The Antidote'' onward, fused with GothicMetal)
* Music/MorsPrincipiumEst
* [[Music/MyGrain myGRAIN]] (Later works involve elements of PowerMetal and {{metalcore}})
* Naildown
* Music/{{Nekrogoblikon}} (mixed with FolkMetal, SymphonicMetal and a whole lot of kayfabe)
* Music/{{Neuraxis}} (along with TechnicalDeathMetal, also a TropeCodifier for technical melodeath and probably an UrExample as well)
* Music/{{Nightkin}} (notable for featuring several former members of The Black Dahlia Murder)
* Music/{{Nightrage}}
* Music/{{Norther}}
* Music/{{Nothgard}}
* Music/{{Noumena}}
* Music/NovembersDoom (later material, mixed with Death/Doom)
* Music/{{Oathean}} (Mixed with Melodic BlackMetal and Korean Folk music.)
* Music/OmniumGatherum (Latest release experiments with Progressive influences. Very strong ties with Insomnium (including one of their current guitarists joining Insomnium after the departure of a longtime member), to the point both sharing a considerable portion of their fan bases and being known as Insomnium Gatherum.)
* Music/{{Once Human}} (some definite ProgressiveMetal influences, especially on their second album ''Evolution''. Notable for having a female vocalist with an astonishing death growl.)
* Music/OrbitCulture (mixed with GrooveMetal)
* Music/ParasiteInc.
* Music/PathsOfPossession (notable for featuring George "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Corpsegrinder]]" Fisher from Music/CannibalCorpse.)
* Music/{{Persefone}} (Earlier works were ProgressiveMetal done in melodeath form. Their 2013 album ''Spiritual Migration'' expands to ProgressiveDeathMetal.)
* Music/QuoVadis (Mixed with Tech Death)
* Music/{{Raintime}} (Mixes Melodeath with PowerMetal.)
* Music/{{Revocation}} (Along with [[TechnicalDeathMetal Tech Death]], Death/Thrash, and [[GenreBusting far too many other genres to list]])
* Music/{{Saturnus}} (Mixed with DoomMetal)
* Music/ScarSymmetry (Another melodeath/power metal fusion. There's a bit of ProgressiveMetal, too)
* Music/{{Sentenced}} (the albums ''North From Here'' and ''Amok'' specifically. Much like Amorphis, they're potential UrExample)
* Music/{{Skeletonwitch}} (also thrash metal, became melodic black metal on ''[[NewSoundAlbum Devouring Radiant Light]]'')
* Music/ShadowOfIntent (''Melancholy'' onward, earlier material is deathcore)
* Music/ShadowsFall (''Somber Eyes to the Sky'', also still had elements of this on ''Of One Blood'', which was otherwise the start of their more famous melodic metalcore style.)
* Music/TheShowdown (Mixes with Metalcore, Groove Metal, and Southern Rock)
* Music/SilentDescent (Another trance-fusion melodeath band alongside Blood Stain Child.)
* Music/{{Skyfire}} (A very [[GenreBusting experimental]] example)
* Music/{{Soilwork}} (mixed with AlternativeMetal, though their first few albums were straight melodeath)
* Music/SoliumFatalis (''The Undying Season'' only, also a particularly heavy example)
* [[Music/{{Solution45}} Solution .45]] (Another group formed by members of other bands, includes ex-Scar Symmetry vocalist Christian Älvestam. Some progressive elements.)
* Music/SonicSyndicate (Though it's sometimes debated whether SS is melodic death metal or metalcore. [[TakeAThirdOption Or both]].)
* Music/SoulEmbraced
* Music/SoulRemnants
* Music/{{Starkill}} (also power metal)
* Music/{{Stortregn}} (also melodic black metal)
* Music/{{Suidakra}} (Originally BlackMetal; Mixed with [[FolkMetal Celtic Metal]])
* Music/SwallowTheSun (Mixed with DoomMetal)
* Music/{{Sybreed}} (Mixed with Industrial and GrooveMetal)
* Music/{{Sylosis}}
* Music/{{Symbolik}} (also tech and SymphonicMetal)
* Music/SystemDivide
* Music/TenggerCavalry (helped pioneer "Mongolian metal" by exchanging normal HarshVocals for throat-singing)
* Music/{{Thirdmoon}}
* Music/ThisEnding
* Music/{{Trivium}} (also {{Metalcore}} and ThrashMetal, with which of the three taking prominence depending on the album)
* Music/TheUnguided
* Music/UnleashTheArchers (also power metal)
* Music/UponStone
* Music/ValeOfPnath (Mixed with Tech Death)
* Music/VenomPrison (''[[NewSoundAlbum Erebos]]'' only)
* Music/{{Vile}} (''Metamorphosis'' only, mixed with brutal death)
* Music/WhenDarknessFalls (Mixed with Metalcore)
* Music/AlissaWhiteGluz
* Music/WingsInMotion
* Music/{{Wintersun}} (also ProgressiveMetal / ProgressiveDeathMetal)
* Music/{{Wolfheart}}
* Music/WorldUnderBlood (side project of [[Music/{{CKY}} Deron Miller]])
* Music/TheYearOfOurLord
* Music/YourChanceToDie (Mixed with Tech Death)
[[/index]]

!!This genre exhibits the following trope examples:
* AnAesop: Melodic Death seems to have lyrics of this, more often than not.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Music/{{Hypocrisy}}, Music/{{Arsis}}, [=DevilDriver=], Eyeconoclast, Music/HeavenShallBurn, Music/FleshgodApocalypse (as of ''Agony''), Music/{{Kataklysm}} (on later albums), Music/AtTheGates, Music/{{Revocation}}, Music/{{Carcass}} (''Heartwork'' onward), Johan Liiva-era Music/{{Arch Enemy|Band}}, and Music/TheBlackDahliaMurder are this to other bands in the genre thanks to a greater death metal slant.
* GenreBusting: It's not uncommon for a Melodeath band to invent their own sound by drawing inspiration from a wide array of stylistic influences, ranging from other extreme metal subgenres such as ThrashMetal and BlackMetal, to more musically varied styles such as ProgressiveMetal or PowerMetal and even non-metal genres, such as ClassicalMusic, FolkMusic, ElectronicMusic and ''even'' CountryMusic.
* HarshVocals: It varies from band to band. The most popular kinds are a high-pitched raspy shout (popularized by Tomas Lindberg of At The Gates), and a higher-pitched variant of the "cookie monster" growl usually associated with DeathMetal.
* LighterAndSofter: This to DeathMetal. [[Music/{{Hypocrisy}} But]] [[Music/FleshgodApocalypse not]] [[Music/TheBlackDahliaMurder always]]...
* LyricalDissonance: Gorn lyrics are rarer than in standard DeathMetal, or even [[TechnicalDeathMetal Tech Death]]. The lyrics often range from society/political stances (e.g. Soilwork, Carcass) to [[HeavyMithril fantasy]] (e.g. In Flames, Dark Tranquillity) and classic horror (e.g. Dismember, The Black Dahlia Murder).
* MetalScream: Mostly Type 3 or Type 2, though Type 1 shows up occasionally.
* SopranoAndGravel: Music/TheAgonist, Music/{{Deadlock}}, Music/SystemDivide, and Music/FleshgodApocalypse are a few known bands that make fair use of clean vocals. Bands without any cleans frequently exhibit another variant of the trope, alternating between low growls and high screams.
* RomanticismVersusEnlightenment: Quite possibly the most romantic form of music since the 1800's.
* TropeCodifier: In Flames for melodic, lead-driven melodeath, At the Gates and Carcass for thrashy, aggressive melodeath, Dark Tranquillity for gothic/electronic-inflected melodeath, Soilwork for poppy, rock-influenced melodeath, Neuraxis and Anata for technical melodeath, Children of Bodom for power metal-inflected melodeath, and Ensiferum for the folk-tinged variant.
* TropeMakers: Some would say ''Carcass,'' others would cite one of the three Scandinavian {{Trope Codifier}}s, but it's not exactly known. Eucharist is another common name that gets thrown around when the "who came first" question is posed, as well as Sentenced. Children of Bodom, Norther, and Kalmah all share roughly equal responsibility for the more bombastic and power metal-tinged variant that came along later.
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!!Melodic death metal songs:
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3oCB5mw7jo The Absence - Riders of the Plague]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO3_jACS7TI At the Gates - Under a Serpent Sun]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf_4uvymwRw Amorphis - The Bee]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ8qNqMGZFA The Black Dahlia Murder - I Will Return]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3CSbg-1OUg Bleed From Within - Into Nothing]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVsK0rB0zXE Blood Stain Child - Sirius VI]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcA4VO7EH3w Carcass - Buried Dreams]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW_wgKGoEmI Children of Bodom - Kissing the Shadows]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW_qlf5O4Es Dark Tranquillity - Punish My Heaven]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLF02Igv_HA DevilDriver - Clouds over California]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUHWEEpz08I Exhumed - Coins Upon the Eyes]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMOfGpv4dEY Heaven Shall Burn - Übermacht]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGA5M0wQLt4 Horrendous - Ozymandias]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF0vmTB0cpc Hypocrisy - Alive]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHas_OStwCY In Flames - December Flower]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZLguQ-8w3M Insomnium - Valediction]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjuznrRbcUw Kalmah - They Will Return]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaMEAe3CS0k Nightrage - Shed the Blood]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=999FCY0lp7M Neuraxis - Darkness Prevails]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j55oEnYKhVM Sentenced - Nepenthe]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVqlOeLE75M Scar Symmetry - Mind Machine]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zFDsRNipO4 Shadow of Intent - Gravesinger]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfFekhh69tQ Skeletonwitch - Baptized in Flames]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiRqwPTrGag Soilwork - Bulletbeast]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEKuMO8Cs5g Soul Remnants - Cult Destroyer]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XWFfVRmrcw Vehemence - The Last Fantasy of Christ]]
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