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".
The Black Dahlia Murder is an American melodic death metal band from Waterford, Michigan, formed in 2001. Their name is derived from the 1947 unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short, often referred to as Black Dahlia. Currently, the band consists of lead vocalist Brian Eschbach, bassist Max Lavelle, drummer Alan Cassidy, and guitarists Brandon Ellis and Ryan Knight. The Black Dahlia Murder has undergone various lineup changes, with Trevor Strnad and Eschbach remaining the only constant members, until the former's death in 2022, which then saw Eschbach take over lead vocals and Knight replacing him on rhythm guitar.
Unhallowed is the debut studio album by American melodic death metal band the Black Dahlia Murder. It was released through Metal Blade Records on June 17, 2003. An enhanced version of the album was released that included photos and info about the band. Metal Blade released a limited edition vinyl version of Unhallowed on August 20, 2013 in honor of the album's tenth anniversary. The band performed the album in its entirety on their spring 2016 tour with Fallujah and Disentomb.
Miasma is the second studio album by American melodic death metal band the Black Dahlia Murder. Released through Metal Blade Records on July 12, 2005, Miasma is the only album to feature drummer Zach Gibson, who replaced founding member and drummer, Cory Grady, as well as being the last with bassist David Lock. Gibson also left the band the following year after the release of the album and was replaced by Shannon Lucas, formerly of All That Remains.
A Cold-Blooded Epitaph is the first EP by American melodic death metal band the Black Dahlia Murder released in May 2002 on Lovelost Records, it is released as an MCD. This is the band's last release with guitarist John Deering.
Shannon Lucas is an American heavy metal drummer from Staunton, Virginia. He is best known as the former drummer for melodic death metal band the Black Dahlia Murder and metalcore band All That Remains.
Bloodlust is the debut studio album by American deathcore band Through the Eyes of the Dead, released on October 25, 2005 through Prosthetic Records. After releasing an EP and a split, Through the Eyes of the Dead released Bloodlust. The album is considered a deathcore album with elements of melodic death metal, featuring a musical style similar to bands like At the Gates and The Black Dahlia Murder. Before the deathcore label existed, Bloodlust was labeled as metalcore due to its combination of melodic death metal with occasional hardcore breakdowns, which resembled metalcore. Bloodlust's lyrics were inspired by serial killers, and depicted poetic lyrics telling stories and imagery. Through the Eyes of the Dead cited Cannibal Corpse, Carcass, Death, In Flames, At the Gates and Dark Tranquility as influences.
Nocturnal is the third studio album by American melodic death metal band the Black Dahlia Murder. It was released through Metal Blade Records on September 18, 2007, and is the band's first album to feature bassist Bart Williams, who replaced Dave Lock, and drummer Shannon Lucas. It is also the last album to feature longtime guitarist John Kempainen.
Starkweather is an American heavy metal band from Philadelphia formed in 1989. They have a complex experimental metal sound often including use of dissonance, intricate tempo changes and avant-garde sensibilities. Starkweather helped pioneer the hardcore punk/heavy metal crossover sound that would later be known as "metalcore", as well as being a major influence on the mathcore subgenre. They have influenced many of today's top selling hardcore/metal bands such as Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Mastodon and Coalesce among many others.
Salt the Wound was an American deathcore band from Cleveland, Ohio, formed in 2001. The band is signed to Rotten Records and have released three full-length studio albums. After the release of their debut album, Carnal Repercussions the band would continuously tour to an overwhelming extent, which led to their disbandment during the first half of 2010. With later negotiations, the group reformed in 2011 with original as well as new members releasing their next full-length studio album Kill the Crown.
Light This City is an American melodic death metal band from the Bay Area of San Francisco, that has been active from 2002. The band is notable for the aggressive vocal approach of frontwoman Laura Nichol.
Deflorate is the fourth studio album by American melodic death metal band the Black Dahlia Murder. Released through Metal Blade Records on September 15, 2009. The album sold 12,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release and debuted at position #43 on the Billboard 200.
Slowmotion Apocalypse is an Italian melodic death metal band formed in Pordenone in 2002 and currently signed to Scarlet Records. They released their third album Mothra in October 2009, recorded at Planet Red Studios, Richmond, VA, with producer Andreas Magnusson and featuring Myke Terry from Bury Your Dead and Matt Rudzinski from Killwhitneydead. At the Gates vocalist Tomas Lindberg provided guest vocals on the song "The Blessing" on their second album, Obsidian, which was produced by Ettore Rigotti and released in 2007.
Facing the Thousand is the third album by American melodic death metal band Light This City.
Ritual is the fifth studio album by American melodic death metal band the Black Dahlia Murder. It was released on June 17 in Europe and on June 21 in North America via Metal Blade Records. It is the band's last record to feature Ryan "Bart" Williams on bass and Shannon Lucas on drums. The album sold 12,960 copies in the United States in its first week of release and debuted at No. 31 on the Billboard 200. The album has sold 51,000 copies in the US as of September 2015.
Everblack is the sixth studio album by American melodic death metal band the Black Dahlia Murder. The album was released through Metal Blade Records on June 11, 2013. It is the first release by the band to feature drummer Alan Cassidy and bassist Max Lavelle.
Abysmal is the seventh studio album by American melodic death metal band the Black Dahlia Murder. It was released on September 18, 2015 through Metal Blade Records. It was produced by Mark Lewis, who also produced The Black Dahlia Murder's albums Deflorate and Ritual, and the band's former bassist Ryan Williams, who also produced their preceding album Everblack. It is the band's final album to feature guitarist Ryan Knight before his departure in February 2016, and return in 2022.
Infernal Atrocity is the debut album by Australian death metal band Revulsed.
Nightbringers is the eighth studio album by American melodic death metal band the Black Dahlia Murder. This is the first album to feature Brandon Ellis on lead guitar, replacing Ryan Knight. It was released on October 6, 2017, through Metal Blade Records. Nightbringers became the best-selling direct-to-consumer pre-order in Metal Blade Records' history.
Verminous is the ninth studio album by American melodic death metal band the Black Dahlia Murder. It was released on April 17, 2020, through Metal Blade Records. This is the band's final album to feature original member and lead vocalist Trevor Strnad before his death on May 11, 2022.
