The New Wave of Swedish Death Metal

by Jason P. Sorens

In recent years, the death/black metal scene in Sweden has been metamorphosizing... and exploding. The old school of Swedish death metal included bands like Entombed and Grave. Both of these bands have moved towards hardcore, and it would be difficult to describe them as death metal any longer. The new school of Swedish death metal began in the city of Gothenburg and has since moved outward and diversified. The new names of Swedish death and black metal are In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, Dissection, and Opeth. Some mention At the Gates in connection with these bands. The influence of these bands has already been enormous, spawning soundalikes in the U.K., Germany, Norway, Finland, and elsewhere.

The new wave of Swedish death metal began with In Flames and Dark Tranquillity, though Amorphis had begun to play a similar style of death metal in Finland. These bands began to introduce melody into traditional death metal. They were not the first to do so. The British doomdeath bands had already slowed down the grind pace and added violins, female vocals, and other melodic elements. American death/thrash bands like Atheist, Believer, Cynic, Death, and Deicide, all diverse bands with little connection to each other, were experimenting with jazz and psychedelic influences, while focusing on technical precision. The American bands did not form a movement, however, and the British bands arguably created an entirely new genre rather than influencing the mainstream of death metal. The Swedish (and Finnish and German) bands, however, have created a movement that has changed the face of death metal, perhaps forever. I will therefore begin with a history of the founders of the "Gothenburg sound", In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, and Amorphis (a Finnish band who started playing melodic NWOBHM-influenced death metal at about the same time as the Gothenburg School), and then I will move on to original bands like Opeth, Samael, and Therion who have pushed the new wave of death metal to further limits.

Dark Tranquillity formed in 1989 and released their first album, Skydancer, in 1993, following it up with the "Of Chaos and Eternal Night" EP (1995), "The Gallery" (1995), "Enter Suicidal Angels" MCD (1996), and "The Mind's I" (1997). Dark Tranquillity is considered the most technical of the Gothenburg bands. This technicality is most evident, in my opinion, on "Of Chaos and Eternal Night," particularly the title song. "Tonally fluent" is a term Dark Tranquillity applies to itself, an apt turn of phrase. Their vocals, since the leaving of Anders Friden after "Skydancer" done by Mikael Stanne, have been even a bit higher than those of In Flames, making them easily accessible to both death metal and black metal fans. Their music tends to be much faster and less groove-oriented than In Flames'. They also use female vocals, though not of the sort one might find in doom bands. Their current female vocalist sounds quite a bit like Geddy Lee of Rush, in my opinion.

In Flames started life in 1990, releasing their first full-length album on Wrong Again Records in 1994 with "Lunar Strain," following it up with the "Subterranean" EP (1995), "The Jester Race" (1996), and "Whoracle" (1997). "The Jester Race" and "Whoracle" show the band at its most mature. Listeners have noticed a strong Iron Maiden influence on their sound. All of In Flames' albums display excellent production, preserving a trademark searing guitar sound. They have a penchant for creating instantly unforgettable riffs and appealing guitar harmonies. The vocals, now done by Anders Friden, formerly of Dark Tranquillity, are of a fairly high-pitched sort, blurring the line between death and black metal.

This Finnish band either was highly influenced by the Gothenburg scene or exerted some influence upon it. It moved from fairly standard death metal (1993's "Karelian Isthmus") to doom-tinged melodic death metal (1994's "Tales from the Thousand Lakes") to extremely well-executed but fairly simple and commercialized metal (1996's "Elegy"). I consider "Tales from the Thousand Lakes" a classic of the genre, with heart-rending riffs and interesting synth interplay. Although the songs are short, the album exudes an epic, mythic feel.

At the Gates released its first EP in 1990 and its first full-length album in 1991. By all accounts, they started life as a traditional deathgrind band. Their 1994 release, "Terminal Spirit Disease," displays some influence from Dark Tranquillity and In Flames. Their last album, 1995's "Slaughter of the Soul," sounds quite a bit like "Clandestine"-era Entombed with the urban hardcore lyrical imagery of later Entombed. Therefore, At the Gates does not represent a cutting-edge melodic death metal band but rather a traditional death metal who incorporated some of the NWOSDM influences. Dissection is a Gothenburg black metal band who started playing, as far as I can tell, a blackened grindcore. 1996's "Storm of the Light's Bane" was fairly melodic, epic black metal. Dissection's future is in doubt, as their lead singer/guitarist has been arrested for murder. Edge of Sanity is another Gothenburg band that plays melodic death metal. In fact, they could be said to have the generic Gothenburg sound. Not as inventive as either In Flames or Dark Tranquillity or even Dissection, and with anthemic and sometimes simplistic lyrics, I would describe Edge of Sanity as the "Manowar" of the movement: a good cheerleader, but not a creative force.

The NWOSDM sound has expanded beyond Gothenburg into fascinating new vistas. Opeth is probably the best Swedish death metal band, the best progressive death metal band in the world, and in my opinion shares with Carcass the honor of being one of the best death metal bands of all time. Now, I must justify this sweeping claim. Opeth, like so many original, ground-breaking metal bands, draws its influences not from contemporaries (like Dark Tranquillity and In Flames) but from the past, interpreting old music in fresh and delightful ways. According to lead vocalist Mikael Akerfeldt, Opeth draws mainly on epic '70s prog rock like Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, and the like. Opeth is thus unique among death metal bands in many respects. Its vocals, for example, are atmospheric and harsh like those of black metal but fairly low, like those of death metal. In fullness and sheer nightmarish vividness they are unmatched. The music is extremely epic and complex. Opeth's songs on both of their albums (1995's "Orchid" and 1996's "Morningrise") average over ten minutes long, and one song, "Black Rose Immortal," is over twenty minutes long. Using long interludes of acoustic guitar, occasional piano, and multitudinous riffs (sometimes over ten in a song, by my count), Opeth paints sonar landscapes beyond easy description. Opeth is never boring, unlike fellow Swedes Katatonia, who attempt a similar epic style.

Samael is another inventive death/black metal band. Hailing from Switzerland, Samael has had a long and tortuous career, dating back to 1987. Their last two albums have begun to define them, finally. "Ceremony of Opposites" is a largely mid-tempo, groove-oriented death/black metal album with decent production. Their latest, "Passage," adds an electronic feel along with heavily progressive elements, like odd piano harmonies and rhythm changes.

Given the massive resurgence of melody and artistry in death metal, I am afraid that those of you who love brutal grindcore with no intelligence are doomed to endure a vastly changed genre. On the other hand, those of us who enjoy creativity and progressiveness will in the future find much more to like in death and black metal. I cannot even enumerate all the death and black metal bands who are now playing melodic music. But the trend bodes well for the future of extreme metal. Now that the musical standards of extreme metal have risen, the genre can survive and even branch out into unexplored musical territory.

Thanks to the following web pages for their helpful info: BNR Metal Pages, The Official Dark Tranquillity Home Page, The Official In Flames Home Page, A Land Forlorn's Unofficial Dissection Page.

Tracks Of Creation March / April 1998