Dark Tranquillity – Skydancer (Spinefarm Records, 1993).

My first actual exposure to Dark Tranquillity was 1995s Of Chaos and Eternal Night EP, so I didn’t actually hear this until long after I had already heard Heartwork and The Jester Race. But when I did get to hear it, I fully recognized its importance and brilliance. Despite a wafer thin production, with Anders Fridden on vocals and the bands frilly, almost folky take on weaving melodies and riffs, the album shed an elegant, and well, ‘melodic’ light on the death metal being plied by their Stockholm peers at the time. “Nightfall By the Shore of Time”, “A Bolt of Blazing Gold” and “Alone” would arguably be the template for arguably every melodic death metal album to follow.

Carcass – Heartwork (Earache, 1994).

Because of the bands prior discographies, I often see Carcass left off melodic death metal lists, but the fact remains, Heartwork was a truly visionary and brave album that saw the bands fan base vehemently divided.  Coming of a certifiable death metal classic which was a signal to Heartwork in 1991’s Necrotism, Heartwork was a curveball that alienated the death metal legions. However, it took about 10 years for the true influence and brilliance of Heartwork to be appreciated by carcass fans-the band just grew up 10 years before their fans did. Full of smooooth rocking riffs and (gasp) real world lyrics, Heartwork, with tracks like “No Love Lost” and “This Mortal Coil”, stands as a legendary album that was way ahead of its time, and many years later still stands as one of the genre’s watermark albums, not just in melodic death metal, but metal as a whole.

At the Gates – Slaughter of the Soul (Earache, 1995).

Duh.

In Flames – The Jester Race (Nuclear Blast, 1996).

If Skydancer, Slaughter of the Soul and Heartwork introduced metal heads to melodic death metal, The Jester Race perfected the sound and opened the floodgates for its acceptance to the world and arguably its saturation.  With Anders Fridden jumping from Dark Tranquillity, and the band already having one album under their belt, The Jester Race was set up to be perfect in its execution, production and timing. When death metal was being plagued by Stockholm and Flordian clones, In Flames injected some truly breathtaking melodies that arguably helped coin the term melodic death metal and opened the door for a host of clones. I actually took a three hour detour on my honeymoon to go to Pit Records in Colorado Springs to go and buy this record when it came out.

Ebony Tears – Tortura Insomniae (Black Sun, 1997).

To this day, the opening track from this album “Moonlight”, stands as one of my very favorite songs, of any genre ever. While certainly on of the many In Flames clones that’s sprung up after 1996, Ebony Tears added a thrashy electric violin to the formula that At The Gates explored early and gave the album an edge along with the quirky themes (“Freak Jesus”, “Spoonbender”) and competent take on the genre. It’s a pity the band developed into a mindless thrash band after wards, but Tortura Insomniae still stands as underrated classic.

Edge of Sanity – Infernal (Black Mark, 1997).

With so many Edge of Sanity options to choose from, I went with the last that’s was a collaborative band effort. A huge departure from Crimson’s 45 minute, one song opus, Infernal instead went with catchy, anthemic choruses with slick clean vocals and a simple approach that was incredibly commercial. “Hell is Where the Heart Is” and “15:36”, were just damn good songs that even my non metal friends appreciated. Some thought Infernal was the “Black” album for Edge of Sanity, but hey-there are worse albums to be compared to.

Sacrilege – Lost in the Beauty You Slay/The Fifth Season (Black Sun, 1996/1997).

Yes -I’m cheating, these two albums were re-issued in 2005 by Blackened Records-so its counts as one. Arguably two of the most overlooked melodic death metal albums ever, Sacrilege took melodic death metal and made it complex, artfully intrinsic and still intricately melodic.  A far stray from the verse chorus structure of their peers, Sacrilege made melodic death metal a more technical tapestry but retained the genre deft melodies. Unfortunately, the band never really broke into the same level as In Flames and Dark Tranquillity and split up (with drummer Daniel Svensson eventually going in to join In Flames), but the legacy of these two albums should be as appreciated as any other landmark album in the genre.

Dimension Zero – Silent Night Fever (Regain, 2002).

You may notice a huge time rift from 1997 to 2002, and that’s because melodic death seem to have been shunned due to over saturation and the genre greats seemingly falling into their own creative ruts. However, in 2002 a group of Swedish metal icons, namely Jocke Göthberg of Marduk and Jesper Stromblad of In Flames got together and recorded a scorching debut of highly energized melodic death metal, and it seemed to invigorate the genre again. The album also hits home for me as it was the first CD I ever saw with a Digitalmetal.com quote on the CD’s cover.

Disillusion – Back to Times of Splendor (Metal Blade Records, 2004).

Where Dimension Zero added some serious balls to melodic death metal, Germany’s Disillusion gave the genre a level of progressive ambition, creativity and truly unique, envelope pushing sense of grandiosity, I would argue it actually one of the top 20 death metal albums ever-regardless of sub classification. Part Dark Tranquillity, part Opeth, and part Rush, five years later Back to Times Of Splendor still stands head and shoulders above anything released in the genre after 1997. If you have not heard this album yet, do your self a favor and find it.

Axamenta – Ever-Arch-I-Tech-Ture (Shiver Records, 2006).

Arguably the last melodic death metal album that made me stand back and go “Wow”, Axamenta’s transformation from a flakey folk black metal band to truly breathtaking, complex melodic death metal, Belgium’s Axamenta are the real dark horse on this list. They are a band that has the potential to take the genre into un-chartered, complex realms while others seem content to ape their genre forefathers or simply add breakdowns.  I only hope Ever-Arch-I-Tech-Ture wasn’t a wad blowing peak in the bands career.

Honorable mentions go to Embracing (I Bear the Burden of Time), The Black Dahlia Murder (Unhallowed), Eucharist (Mirrorworlds), Golem (Dreamweaver), Underthreat (Deathmosphere) and Arch Enemy (Black Earth).