Melodic death metal is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal. The genre features the heaviness of death metal but with highly melodic or harmonized guitar riffs and solos, and often features high-pitched shrieked vocals alongside the low-pitched growls commonly featured in traditional death metal. Pioneered by the English heavy metal band Carcass with their 1993 album Heartwork, melodic death metal developed further in Sweden 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".
Soilwork is a Swedish melodic death metal band from Helsingborg. They are signed to Nuclear Blast. Formed in late 1995 by Björn Strid and Peter Wichers, originally under the name Inferior Breed, the band changed their name in late 1996 to Soilwork.
Storm of the Light's Bane is the second full-length album by Swedish black metal band Dissection. It was released on 17 November 1995 by Nuclear Blast. This would be the band's last full-length album before Nödtveidt's 1997 incarceration for the felony murder of Josef ben Meddour. It would not be until 2006 that they would release their third and final album Reinkaos, which was followed by the breakup of the band and Jon Nödtveidt's suicide shortly after. As with the band's debut album, Kristian 'Necrolord' Wåhlin created the artwork.
Mattias Bernt Johannes Eklundh, also known as IA, is a Swedish guitarist and vocalist. He is known for his work with Freak Kitchen, Jonas Hellborg and Art Metal, and he has also produced several noted solo Freak Guitar albums released by Steve Vai and Favored Nations, and holds his annual Freak Guitar Camp in the woods of Sweden every summer for dedicated guitar players from all over the world. He was also prominently featured playing his trademark-style solos on the first four Soilwork albums.
The Chainheart Machine is the second studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band Soilwork. It is the first Soilwork release to feature guitarist Ola Frenning and drummer Henry Ranta.
Natural Born Chaos is the fourth studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band Soilwork. According to Nielsen Soundscan, the album sold 2.267 copies in the US as of 2002.
Figure Number Five is the fifth studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band Soilwork. The record was released on 22 April 2003 through Nuclear Blast label. On this release, the band introduces more elements of alternative metal into their melodic death metal style. This would be the last album with Henry Ranta on drums before he left the band after its release.
Stabbing the Drama is the sixth studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band Soilwork. The record was released on 28 February 2005, via Nuclear Blast label.
Sonic Syndicate is a Swedish metalcore band from Falkenberg. They were formerly influenced by Swedish melodic death metal bands such as In Flames and Soilwork and American metalcore bands like Killswitch Engage and All That Remains.
Björn Ove Ingemar "Speed" Strid is a Swedish vocalist who has worked with rock/metal bands such as Allegaeon, Disarmonia Mundi, Terror 2000, Coldseed, The Night Flight Orchestra, Act of Denial, Gizmachi, and most notably Soilwork.
Disarmonia Mundi is a melodic death metal band from Avigliana, Italy, that started out as a progressive death metal band. The project is the brainchild of the producer and multi-instrumentalist Ettore Rigotti and is mainly known for featuring Soilwork's vocalist Björn "Speed" Strid as guest vocalist on several albums. After releasing two albums under Scarlet Records, they have signed to Italy-based Coroner Records.
Sworn to a Great Divide is the seventh studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band Soilwork. The album was released on 19 October 2007 for Europe and on 23 October 2007 for the US, both through Nuclear Blast. Everything aside from vocals was recorded at Not Quite Studios in Helsingborg. This is the only album to include Daniel Antonsson on guitar who replaced founding member Peter Wichers after his late 2005 departure. It is also the last album to feature long-time guitarist Ola Frenning who left Soilwork in February 2008.
The Early Chapters is the first EP by Swedish melodic death metal band Soilwork. It was released by Listenable Records on 20 January 2004. It features two cover songs of the bands Deep Purple and Mercyful Fate, the original demo recording of "Shadow Child," the bonus track from their second album, plus a live song which was a bonus track from their first album, Burn and Disintegrated Skies are Japanese bonus tracks on their first album, Egypt was a bonus track on some versions of The Chainheart Machine.
Peter Wichers is a Swedish guitarist, songwriter and record producer best known as one of the founding members of melodic death metal band Soilwork. From 1995 until late 2005, when he announced his departure from the band, and again from 2008 until 2012 he was the lead guitarist and songwriter, especially on their Stabbing the Drama album.
Melodic metalcore is a fusion genre, incorporating elements of melodic death metal and metalcore; it has a heavy emphasis on melodic instrumentation, distorted guitar tones, palm muting, double bass drumming, blast beats, metalcore-stylized breakdowns, aggressive screaming, death growls, and clean singing. The genre has seen commercial success for employing a more accessible sound at times compared to other forms of extreme music. Many notable melodic metalcore bands have been influenced by At the Gates and In Flames.
The Panic Broadcast is the eighth studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band Soilwork, released 2 July in Europe and 13 July in North America, 2010. The album marks the return of long-time Soilwork guitarist and founder Peter Wichers, who also took on the role as the album's producer, though Wichers would leave Soilwork in 2012. The album also features the debut of guitarist Sylvain Coudret who replaced longtime guitarist Ola Frenning in 2008. Mixing was done by Jens Bogren. According to Nielsen SoundScan, The Panic Broadcast sold around 5,257 copies in its first week of sales in the United States. The album debuted at #88 on the Billboard 200 chart, making it their highest-charting album in their entire career at the time.
The Sledgehammer Files: The Best of Soilwork 1998–2008 is the first compilation album by Swedish melodic death metal band Soilwork, released in 2010 on Avalon Marquee Records.
The Living Infinite is the ninth studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band Soilwork, released on 27 February 2013 in Asia, 1 March 2013 in Europe, on 4 March 2013 in the UK and on 5 March 2013 in the US. It is the band's first double album. It is also the first Soilwork release to feature guitarist David Andersson; founding guitarist Peter Wichers left Soilwork for the second time in 2012, making this the second album to not feature him. This also marks the band's last album with longtime bassist Ola Flink who parted ways with the band right before the recording of the next album The Ride Majestic.
Beyond the Infinite is the second EP by Swedish melodic death metal band Soilwork. It was released by Victor Entertainment on 24 September 2014. It contains five unreleased tracks from The Living Infinite sessions and was mixed and mastered at Fascination Street by Johan Örnborg. This release is for Asia only and no plans have been made to release the EP in current form outside of Asia. The tracks have since been included in the 2016 compilation album Death Resonance.
The Ride Majestic is the tenth studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band Soilwork. It was released on 28 August 2015 and is the first album to not feature longtime bassist Ola Flink who left before the recording of the album and also the last album to feature longtime drummer Dirk Verbeuren, who left the band in July 2016 to join Megadeth.
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