One of the early Melodic Metal bands The Gathering. Their album 'Mandylion' is essential and now 14 years old.

Bathory is the originator of Viking Metal, "Blood Fire Death" and "Hammerheart" are both very satisfying, with Blood being the rawer of the two. A great recent MD release is "Fiction" by Dark Tranquillity and Arch Enemy "Rise of the Tyrant".

I would equate Bathory as Black Metal but it's all swings and roundabouts.

There are two pages and still no mention of the greatest of all viking metal bands? Eluveitie are possibly the best melo-death of all time. You heard it from me.

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who is technically the originator of melodic death metal. i'm assuming there are probably different opinions on this as is usually the case with any genre. a friend of mine was telling me that it started in sweden with in flames, dark tranquillity, and at the gates. i bought colony by in flames and that's the cd that really got me into melodic death metal. i was just wondering what everyone's thoughts on the first melodic death metal band.

I doubt you will ever find a definite answer but Lunar Strain (In Flames first recording) was 1993, Carcass' Heartwork was 1993, Dark Tranquility's Skydancer was 1993. It has to be around that year really.

Of course Dark Tranquility had earlier demo's I have never heard. At The Gates released Gardens of Grief in 1990. So I'm sure there are people who would claim it started earlier?

I find them to be one of the worst viking metal bands, and really quite a disappointment considering all the hype around them. They're just not good at it.

Perhaps because they are not viking metal ..... ...... ....
They are folk/melodeath ... not by in any way viking metal or power metal.

melodic death metal is not power metal - power metal is Helloween, Angra or Blind Guardian

I love all the In Flames I got, except for "Clayman" which is a bit repetitive

Dark Tranquility is a bit too "sweet" for me, really, and the singing is trying to be OTT evil when the subject matter isn't really that "evil" - Judas Priest's Angel of Retribution has more "evil" lyrics, really