Melodic Death Metal Revival

This week on “Into the Pit,” we are going to discuss the ongoing revival of melodic death metal. Several of the subgenre's most popular bands have put out comeback albums recently. The most exciting record may have yet to come, though. This fall, At the Gates is planning on releasing its first album in 19 years titled At War With Reality.

The release of At the Gates' hotly anticipated new record is coming at the perfect time. Melodic death meal has seen an insane resurgence in the last couple of years. Many new melodic death metal bands have made it into the heavy metal mainstream, whereas a lot of classic melodeath bands are experiencing comebacks. 

In Flames was a precursor to this trend. In 2011, the band released Sounds of a Playground Fading. While the album wasn’t a total return to form, it was still the best record In Flames had released in years. Hints of In Flames’ old style were definitely noticeable through tracks such as “Ropes” and “A New Dawn.” In Flames is currently working on a new record, which will hopefully be even better than their last.

Last year was a huge year for melodic death metal comeback records. The biggest of those releases was Carcass’ Surgical Steel. There were a ton of fans who never thought there would ever be a new Carcass record. Once the album was announced, the hype was unbearable. The expectations of metalheads were extreme, to say the least. When Surgical Steel was finally released it totally blew everyone away. It was one of the few instances of a record actually surpassing the crazy expectations set for it. Surgical Steel was the clear indicator that melodic death metal was about to enter a new glory age.

Releases from Dark Tranquillity, Hypocrisy and Children of Bodom last year also brought some life to the subgenre. Dark Tranquillity put out Construct, the band’s most experimental release in years. The album was a roaring success that pleased both critics and fans. Construct was without a doubt the band’s most acclaimed release since Character. It was a sign that the melodic death metal standards can still be tampered with while remaining in the confines of the subgenre. 

Hypocrisy’s End of Disclosure was a highly anticipated release of 2013. The album was criticized for being more of the same from the band, but was still generally praised. Hypocrisy has been one of the few melodic death metal bands that hasn't really declined throughout the years. The band has always stayed sharp, so having another above average release from them was a pleasure last year.

While creating End of Disclosure, Hypocrisy main man Peter Tagtgren was also busy producing the newest Children of Bodom record, Halo of Blood. Upon release, Halo of Blood was seen as a return to form for Children of Bodom. While it didn’t go completely back to the band’s neoclassical metal days, it pulled from that era, and was seen as a positive hybrid of styles.

Melodic death metal bands with cult followings have even put out great new releases recently. Arsis put out Unwelcome last year, which was seen as their comeback effort. Meanwhile, Wintersun released the first part of Time in 2012, which fans had been waiting eight years to hear. Time I was positively received and the second part should be out next year.

New popular melodic death metal bands who have certainly made their presence known include Battlecross and The Resistance. Battlecross is the big name going around right now. The band is receiving a lot of acclaim for its ability to combine melodic death metal and thrash metal. The Resistance is made up of In Flames’ old guitar team, Jesper Stromblad and Glenn Ljungstrom. Also featuring The Haunted’s vocalist Marco Aro, The Resistance released a gritty melodeath debut in the form of Scars. The album has received acclaim for being a bold display of power from these aging musicians. 

With impending releases from In Flames and At the Gates this year, melodic death metal as a subgenre is in a great place. This decade will surely be seen years from now as a melodic death metal revival. Sit back and enjoy it, metalheads, because it may be gone before you know it.

Neo-classical Metal

It is no secret that some of the world’s best guitarists love to play heavy metal. The genre’s speed, intensity and allowance for technicality make it very appealing to guitarists that feel unchallenged through other musical genres. These musically frustrated guitarists often turn to a subgenre of heavy metal called neo-classical metal as an outlet to express their desire to create extraordinarily technical, guitar-driven heavy metal music. 

Simplistically speaking, neo-classical metal is heavy metal music that takes influence from classical music. Usually, the influences from classical music are expressed through the subgenre’s complex guitar playing. Neo-classical metal is 100% guitar-driven and relies heavily on classically influenced, technical guitar playing. 

Neo-classical metal is the one subgenre of heavy metal that discourages the standard “band” format. Most neo-classical metal is played by guitarists who release the music under their own names, and are accompanied by a basic backing band. Many of these backing bands don’t feature vocalists in an effort to focus more on the captivating guitar work.

Neo-classical heavy metal was pioneered long before the term for the subgenre was coined. The idea of melding classical music with heavy metal can be traced all the way back to 1969 when Jon Lord from Deep Purple composed Concerto For Group and Orchestra. On this release, Deep Purple performed with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to create classically influenced, orchestral rock music. 

The typical version of neo-classical metal was pioneered during the 1970s. Ritchie Blackmore, Uli Jon Roth and Randy Rhoads in particular were some of the world’s best rock guitarists around that time, and their technical playing influenced the development of neo-classical metal immensely.  

It wasn’t until the 1980s that neo-classical metal really began to become popular. With the rise of speed and thrash metal at this time, guitarists became more technically proficient and were able to handle the complexity of neo-classical metal. At the forefront of the scene was Yngwie Malmsteen, who is arguably regarded as the most important neo-classical metal musician of all time. Malmsteen is a Swedish musician who came over to the US in the early 1980s and experienced major success with his solo material. His debut solo album, Rising Force, is considered to be a monumental neo-classical metal album, and was even nominated for a Grammy award. Since his debut, Malmsteen has released many other notable neo-classical metal albums throughout his career, and has helped to give the subgenre a strong following.

Beyond Malmsteen, many other neo-classical metal artists rose to prominence in the 1980s. Some of these artists included Tony Macalpine, Vinnie Moore, Paul Gilbert, Jason Becker and Marty Friedman. Many of them were signed to Shrapnel Records, which was famous for signing neo-classical metal artists throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Today, neo-classical metal is alive and well, though it is not quite as popular as it used to be. There are also many more full bands than there used to be who play or take major influence from the subgenre. DragonForce, Cacophony, Symphony X, Rhapsody of Fire, Children of Bodom, Protest the Hero and The Human Abstract are all famous metal bands today that use the technical guitar playing of neo-classical metal to create modern takes on the once more popular style of music.