# Best Melodeath Album Ever?



## Johann (Dec 24, 2008)

Okay, so, being a huge fan of melodic death metal, i wanted to ask you, in your opinion, which is the best album ever made. Like most people seem to prefer the jester race, the gallery and slaughter of the soul as masterpieces of the genre, those are the options i posted (In case you choose another, please specify which one )


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## Adam Of Angels (Dec 24, 2008)

On that list - Jester Race takes it, but I do love all three. I didn't pick the 4th option because I really can't decide - too difficult


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## Johann (Dec 24, 2008)

i'm kinda between the jester race and slaughter of the soul, nothing against dark tranquillity but IMO the gallery is the weakest of the three.


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## zimbloth (Dec 24, 2008)

1. Arch Enemy - Wages of Sin
2. In Flames - Clayman
3. Hypocrisy - The Arrival
4. Amon Amarth - With Oden On Our Side (I consider this melodeath)
5. At The Gates - Slaughter of the Soul

I love 'Jester Race', but I think it's a bit overrated. I think a lot of metal fans overly romanticize a bands early work. Songwriting and production wise I think Clayman and Colony are a step above.


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## budda (Dec 24, 2008)

this thread isnt gonna turn out well...


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## Xaios (Dec 24, 2008)

Alas, my personal favorites go like this...

1) Dark Tranquillity - Character
2) Arsis - A Celebration Of Guilt
3) In Flames - Colony
4) Mercenary - 11 Dreams
5) At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul


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## DDDorian (Dec 24, 2008)

I'd have put Carcass' _Heartwork_ on that list rather than In Flames, as their most influential stuff is more recent and not all that melodeath, really. Still, out of those I'd give it to _The Gallery_.


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## Metal Ken (Dec 24, 2008)

God Dethroned - Bloody Blasphemy


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## Adam Of Angels (Dec 24, 2008)

I have no idea what I was thinking earlier, but I think that I can safely give my vote to In Flames' 'Colony'. Amazing through and through.


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## Randy (Dec 24, 2008)

_Slaughter of the Soul_ is timeless, and thus, it got my vote.


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## Esp Griffyn (Dec 24, 2008)

The Jester Race is good, but I consider Soilwork's "Figure Number Five" to be the greatest melodeath album ever.

Clayman, Whoracle and Colony by In Flames are all pwn too.


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## stuh84 (Dec 24, 2008)

Slaughter Of The Soul definitely, its one of my favourite albums ever anyway, so it would easily win against the others in this. Heartwork is an amazing album too


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## polydeathsphere (Dec 24, 2008)

Cant believe Slaughter of the Soul isnt winning. another shouldnt have been an option lol


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## Snorelax (Dec 24, 2008)

I say Slaughter of the Soul out of the three on the list, but I prefer Terminal Spirit Disease over SOTS.


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## Misanthropy (Dec 24, 2008)

At the gates out of those 3 options \m/


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## Crucified (Dec 24, 2008)

at the gates.


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## god9 (Dec 24, 2008)

+1 one to whoever it was that mentioned Heartwork


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## Metal Ken (Dec 24, 2008)

edited poll and changed my vote accordingly.


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## Johann (Dec 24, 2008)

lol, is that fair? 


Still, at the gates is winning.


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## Harry (Dec 25, 2008)

The Jester Race for me


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## Stealthdjentstic (Dec 25, 2008)

At the Gates, it's probably the most well known and influential album out of all of those as well.


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## svart (Dec 25, 2008)

carcass - heartwork hands down IMO
Hypocrisy - Abducted a good second

following close behind:
Dark Tranquillity - The gallery
Soilwork - Steelbath suicide
At the gates - Slaughter of the soul
Arch enemy - Burning bridges


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## InTheRavensName (Dec 25, 2008)

heartworkheartworkheartworkheartwork 

from the list, ATG get my vote.


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## TimSE (Dec 25, 2008)

scar symmetry anyone!?


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## omentremor (Dec 25, 2008)

Arsis - A celebration of guilt
Carcass - Heartwork
At The Gates - Slaughter of the soul.


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## Overtone (Dec 25, 2008)

Showing some love for Nightrage - Sweet Vengeance


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## errnestoo (Dec 25, 2008)

zimbloth said:


> 1. Arch Enemy - Wages of Sin
> 2. In Flames - Clayman
> 3. Hypocrisy - The Arrival
> 4. Amon Amarth - With Oden On Our Side (I consider this melodeath)
> ...



Fuckin Aye Clayman rules! I was just having this convo with someone at my xmas party...the riffage and production value hit their peak at the same time on clayman. Pinball Map is the fucking shit, hands down. I will practice less and less and suck more and more at guitar as time goes by, but I will always know the pinball map riff.


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## failshredder (Dec 26, 2008)

You fail at putting DT's _Haven_ or _Damage Done_ in there. The latter has some of the best and heaviest guitar tones I've ever heard.


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## yellowv (Dec 26, 2008)

Out of those ATG, but Heartwork should be #1. Also a vote for Pitch Black Progress.


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## reptillion (Dec 26, 2008)

AGHH, you missed my favorite band
Hatebreeder by Children of Bodom>all.

All the bands mentioned i have heard a bit from and like em okay.
But i got the jester race a few months ago. And i think all the songs sound the same. No disrespect I saw In flames live with Bodom and Megadeth but are all the songs supposed to have the same melody?


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## Johann (Dec 26, 2008)

^^


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## killiansguitar (Dec 26, 2008)

What in the holy fuck is Melodeath? How about we quit coming up with new genre labels every two seconds??? Yeah?? Ok.


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## DDDorian (Dec 26, 2008)

killiansguitar said:


> What in the holy fuck is Melodeath? How about we quit coming up with new genre labels every two seconds??? Yeah?? Ok.



"Melodeath" is an admittedly dumb-sounding portmanteau of "melodic death metal". Surely it's not that hard to figure out?


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## D-EJ915 (Dec 26, 2008)

I think The Absence's Riders of the Plague is my favourite one


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## MikeH (Dec 27, 2008)

The Absence - Riders of the Plague


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## Dylan S (Dec 27, 2008)

DDDorian said:


> "Melodeath" is an admittedly dumb-sounding portmanteau of "melodic death metal". Surely it's not that hard to figure out?





...and it's been around a lot longer than a lot of these new crappy sub-genres.

In fact, melodic death metal influenced a lot of these new sub-genres, so to the guy saying WTFBBQ at 'melodeath', I am without knowing your surprised tone.


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## rectifryer (Dec 27, 2008)

Soilwork's stabbing the drama album was pretty effin epic to me.
Inflame's come clarity was pretty fuckin awesome. 
Arch Enemy's singer just ruins the music for me.
I will take a listen to the other bands listed. Hopefully I'll find something I like.


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## oompa (Dec 27, 2008)

had to pick atg - sots. cant really think of any other album that could justify taking the title from sots.


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## Nick (Dec 27, 2008)

Slaughter of the soul gets my vote but there are a few Hypocrisy albums id have liked to have seen on that list



killiansguitar said:


> What in the holy fuck is Melodeath? How about we quit coming up with new genre labels every two seconds??? Yeah?? Ok.



if by every 2 seconds you mean 10 or 15 years ago then yeah i agree


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## Demeyes (Dec 27, 2008)

Hmm,
I find it hard to pick the best ever. I think Slaughter of the Soul is a really influential album. It was a real masterpiece so it gets my vote. Terminal Spirit Disease is also brilliant. I was really pleased to get to see them live when they did the tour over the summer.
Jester Race is absolute class, it's my favourite In Flames album, the melody in it is superb. I'm not a fan of their newest stuff at all. 
I only got into DT in the last year or so. I really like their latest output. It's what I would have liked In Flames to end up like!
I think Children of Bodom and Arch Enemy deserve honorable mentions too but they didn't really have a hand in making the genre into what it is.


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## Joel (Dec 27, 2008)

Slaughter of the Soul without a doubt


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## Johann (Dec 27, 2008)

Demeyes said:


> I think Children of Bodom and Arch Enemy deserve honorable mentions too but they didn't really have a hand in making the genre into what it is.




Exactly, that's why those bands are not in the list, by "The best" i meant the most influential and the best way to do it was with the 3 albums that started all the gothenburg scene stuff (that's also why there's no clayman or The red sky is ours or fiction or any else), of course, there's also carcass' heartwork, but there's also SENTENCED's _North From Here_ (Which came out months earlier than heartwork and is also melodeath) i'm surprised no one said nothing about it.


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## Martin_777 (Dec 27, 2008)

Slaughter of the Soul is one of my favourite albums.
The Jester Race is very good as well.


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## pardon miasma (Dec 27, 2008)

Johann said:


> by "The best" i meant the most influential



That's not what "the best" means! Who you crappin'. Anyway, the answer is At The Gates.






... with "The Red In The Sky Is Ours" 

EDIT: By your criteria, anyway. By the literal definition of "the best", the answer is "Sweet Vengeance" by Nightrage.


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## Xaios (Dec 28, 2008)

failshredder said:


> You fail at putting DT's _Haven_ or _Damage Done_ in there. The latter has some of the best and heaviest guitar tones I've ever heard.



See, I like those albums, but for me, neither of them have anything on Character. Character is just heavier, better written, better sounding (Mikael Stanne is a legendary vocalist for everything else they've released, but on Character, he blows everything else away that they had done before, it's an awesome performance), more intricate than anything they had done before. For the most part, I actually prefer old In Flames to Dark Tranquillity, but Character tops all other melodic death metal albums for me, it's a monster of an album and a stroke of genius.


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## JJ Rodriguez (Dec 28, 2008)

Slaughter of the Soul for me, with In Flames' earlier work coming in second, and I mean that for both most influential and my favorite for melodeath. I'd say Dissection's Storm of the Light's Bane should be on this list too as it isn't really black metal and fits kind of as melodeath


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## TheHandOfStone (Dec 28, 2008)

For me, it's Jester Race hands down. I was blown away when I first heard Moonshield and Artifacts of the Black Rain. 

Edit: Pretty much all the other songs, too, come to think of it.


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## Toshiro (Dec 28, 2008)

Heartwork.


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## Harry (Dec 28, 2008)

TheHandOfStone said:


> For me, it's Jester Race hands down. I was blown away when I first heard Moonshield and Artifacts of the Black Rain.
> 
> Edit: Pretty much all the other songs, too, come to think of it.



Man, I remember when I first heard Moonshield too.
It tore me in half, it was amazing


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## Dyingsea (Dec 28, 2008)

Melo-death is one of the few genres that I don't think the earlier stuff was anywhere near better than the later and current. I'm also glad to see everyone giving DT's "Character" props. A freakin' steller album with awesome guitar tone and playing. Easily their best album in my eyes and wouldn't you know it it's a more recent release.


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## oompa (Dec 29, 2008)

JJ Rodriguez said:


> Slaughter of the Soul for me, with In Flames' earlier work coming in second, and I mean that for both most influential and my favorite for melodeath. I'd say Dissection's Storm of the Light's Bane should be on this list too as it isn't really black metal and fits kind of as melodeath



yep. sotlb is a strange album in that way, but still very underrated. the band has some strange history i admit, but i feel sorry for melodeath fans who missed this album because the cover or titles/names scared them off. i personally rate it as the final of the top three most important albums for swedish melodeath with atg's sots and jester race, because i know what it did for the scene


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## oompa (Dec 29, 2008)

doublepost


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## Toshiro (Dec 29, 2008)

killiansguitar said:


> What in the holy fuck is Melodeath? How about we quit coming up with new genre labels every two seconds??? Yeah?? Ok.



Welcome to the late 90's.  Let us know when you get caught up, okay?


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## Stealthdjentstic (Dec 29, 2008)

Toshiro said:


> Welcome to the late 90's.  Let us know when you get caught up, okay?


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## JJ Rodriguez (Dec 29, 2008)

Another awesome Melodeath band with the classic Gothenburg type sound is Sacrilege.


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## poopyalligator (Dec 29, 2008)

Xaios said:


> Alas, my personal favorites go like this...
> 
> 1) Dark Tranquillity - Character
> 2) Arsis - A Celebration Of Guilt
> ...



mercenary 11 dreams ftw


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## Kimling (Dec 31, 2008)

My vote goes to Slaughter of the Soul. For me, that is a epic cd


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## caughtinamosh (Dec 31, 2008)

Kimling said:


> My vote goes to Slaughter of the Soul. For me, that is a epic cd



+1


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## Anthony (Dec 31, 2008)

TimSE said:


> scar symmetry anyone!?



Scar Symmetry is horribly disregarded unfortunately. I think Pitch Black Progress is a worthy contender.

But out of those choices, I have to go with At The Gates.


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## awesomeaustin (Jan 27, 2009)

At the gates!


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## NovaReaper (Jan 27, 2009)

Arghoslent discography


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## groph (Jan 27, 2009)

Definitely Putrefaction in Progress by Last Days of Humanity.















..... I rather enjoyed Unhallowed by TBDM, if that is classified as melodeath. If it has to be Swedish, I dig Damage Done by Dark Tranquillity


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## Nonexistant27 (Jan 27, 2009)

I don't see to many of my favorites in this thread so here is my top 3:
1. Soilwork - A Predators Portrait
2. Arch Enemy - Stigmata
3. In Flames - The Jester Race


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## COBHC (Jan 27, 2009)

Favorites would have to be almost every DT album and majority of old Inflames ( especially jester race and whoracle )


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## kung_fu (Jan 27, 2009)

The Jester Race. I probably have to jam along to this album once per month. Dissection's SOTLB is a close second, i had been into melodeath for a few years and had thought i had heard it all until i heard this gem. "Where buried angels lie" is one of my fav melodeth compositions. Heartwork also pwns, but i wouldn't necessarily call it melodeath from start to finish, as there is still a lot of the Necrotism (another classic) grind in their sound. I also like Arsis' "Celebration of guilt" and their Diamond for disease EP, their more recent stuff is sort of hit and miss IMO.


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## lucasreis (Jan 28, 2009)

Pitch Black Progress!


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## MatthewK (Jan 28, 2009)

I'd probably go with Slaughter of the Soul out of the choices given. I'm not hugely into Swedish melodeath really though, I'm partial to the Finnish stuff. If I could pick anything it would be Wintersun's self-titled.


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## Panterica (Feb 2, 2009)

reptillion said:


> AGHH, you missed my favorite band
> Hatebreeder by Children of Bodom>all.
> 
> All the bands mentioned i have heard a bit from and like em okay.
> But i got the jester race a few months ago. And i think all the songs sound the same. No disrespect I saw In flames live with Bodom and Megadeth but are all the songs supposed to have the same melody?



UM...WHAT!?!?!

since when were those fags death metal??? 
If that is your favorite band i feel so, so so sorry for you, god, so sorry.
i'd rather listen to...to...to fucking Tom Petty or soemthing

*stop, get to the point, and roll, another jooooooint!


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## vampiregenocide (Feb 2, 2009)

The Absence - Riders of the Plague

And not just because Peter Joseph is on this forum


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## Naren (Feb 2, 2009)

I picked "Another." Out of the ones up there, I would pick "Slaughter of the Soul" by At The Gates. I personally think that Whoracle is a much much better album that The Jester Race (although that's a great album as well).

In my own personal opinion, though, the best melodeath album of all time is "Pitch Black Progress" by Scar Symmetry. Sure, it's not 1990's gothenburg melodeath, but so what?


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## darbdavys (Feb 2, 2009)

Edge of Sanity - Crimson


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## Panterica (Feb 3, 2009)

whoever neg repped me, tom petty's still a beast, CoB still isn't death metal, and your a pussy cuz u don't sign your rep posts


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## Thatch (Feb 7, 2009)

darbdavys said:


> Edge of Sanity - Crimson



 That album/song is fucking epic! 
I'm gunna listen to it now haha


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## demontamer (Feb 7, 2009)

Yeah,I must say that the list above misses Carcass's Heartwork and Arch Enemy's Wages Of Sins.
THe Jester Race is a bit overrated,but my quote goes to it,cause I love some of their guitar parts....even if I consider Whoracle much better...


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## ihave27frets (Apr 23, 2009)

vampiregenocide said:


> The Absence - Riders of the Plague
> 
> And not just because Peter Joseph is on this forum


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## LadyKiller (Apr 23, 2009)

Johann said:


> Okay, so, being a huge fan of melodic death metal, i wanted to ask you, in your opinion, which is the best album ever made. Like most people seem to prefer the jester race, the gallery and slaughter of the soul as masterpieces of the genre, those are the options i posted (In case you choose another, please specify which one )



?????????? Where tha fuck is HEARTWORK from CARCASS?
It was the first melodic Death metal Album


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## Scar Symmetry (Apr 23, 2009)

nearly 50 out of 100 votes have voted Slaughter of the Soul


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## TomAwesome (Apr 23, 2009)

I'm not a huge melodeath fan, but out of those, I'm going to go with SotS, just like most people, apparently.


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## elrrek (Apr 23, 2009)

polydeathsphere said:


> Cant believe Slaughter of the Soul isnt winning. another shouldnt have been an option lol



opinion

Agreed! This should be like the Origin poll using the following options:

1. AtG - Slaughter of the Soul
1. AtG - Slaughter of the Soul
1. AtG - Slaughter of the Soul
1. AtG - Slaughter of the Soul
1. AtG - Slaughter of the Soul

The rest are non-contenders.
And on the subject of Carcass, Necroticism > SoS > RoP > Heartwork.

/opinion


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## yingmin (Apr 23, 2009)

Slaughter of the Soul is not only maybe the best melodeath album there is, but I'd argue that it's also the most metal album ever made.


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## Konfyouzd (Apr 23, 2009)

Jester Race and Slaughter of the Soul for the motha fuckin' win!!!!


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## Dan (Apr 23, 2009)

Imperanons 'Stained' Is the best one ive ever come across

Or Holographic Universe by Scar Symmetry. that was just incredible


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## LadyKiller (Apr 24, 2009)

It is very sad that most people don't know more bands that In Flames and At The Gates 
Hey Treadmaker  What about Dissection's "Storm Of The Light's Bane" or Carcass' "Heartwork"
What's up dudes? 
Don't you know how huge the impact in Europe was when these bands came up ?


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## groph (Apr 24, 2009)

Dismember - Like An Everflowing Stream


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## Triple7 (Apr 24, 2009)

LadyKiller said:


> ?????????? Where tha fuck is HEARTWORK from CARCASS?
> It was the first melodic Death metal Album


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## IconW (Apr 24, 2009)

At the Gates.


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## Cadavuh (Apr 24, 2009)

Descent Into Chaos from Nightrage


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## B36arin (Apr 24, 2009)

Out of those that are mentioned there, Slaughter of The Soul is by far the best album imo. A few others that come to mind:

Carcass - Heartwork
ATG - Terminal Spirit Disease
Soilwork - A Predator's Portrait
Mercenary - 11 Dreams
Mercenary - The Hours That Remain
Arch Enemy - Wages of Sin
Scar Symmetry - Holographic Universe


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## Cadavuh (Apr 24, 2009)

Oh yea I forgot about Scar Symmetry! Pitch Black Progress has to be THE BEST


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## Shinto (Apr 24, 2009)

SotS gets my vote.


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## metal_head666 (Apr 24, 2009)

Wow. Slaughter of the Soul? You have to be kidding me. The Red in the Sky is Ours, and With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness as sooooo much better.


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## Cadavuh (Apr 24, 2009)

red sky is ours = . in fact i dont think ive heard a worse melodeath album.


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## Sroth Saraiel (Apr 24, 2009)

ATG


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## yingmin (Apr 25, 2009)

LadyKiller said:


> It is very sad that most people don't know more bands that In Flames and At The Gates
> Hey Treadmaker  What about Dissection's "Storm Of The Light's Bane" or Carcass' "Heartwork"
> What's up dudes?
> Don't you know how huge the impact in Europe was when these bands came up ?


I'm aware that they're influential, but that doesn't mean I want to listen to them. I don't really think Heartwork is that good (and that is, in my opinion, easily their best album), and I haven't heard any Dissection that really grabbed me.


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## LadyKiller (Apr 25, 2009)

Your tread is not objective. Because you posted only bands that you like.
If I would make a tread like this one I would choose more Records and Bands for the voting.


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## metal_head666 (Apr 25, 2009)

Cadavuh said:


> red sky is ours = . in fact i dont think ive heard a worse melodeath album.


Wow. You have horrible taste mate.


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