Be'lakor - Stone's Reach (2009)

1) Venator
2) From Scythe to Sceptre
3) Outlive the Hand
4) Sun's Delusion
5) Held in Hollows
6) Husks
7) Aspect
8) Countless Skies

There haven't been too many great melodeath releases in the past couple of years. However, Be'lakor's Stone's Reach is among the few recent melodeath albums that won't (or at least shouldn't) be forgotten. Instead of going for the usual Children of Bodom, In Flames or Arsis styles, Be'lakor plays something similar to Opeth's Blackwater Park and the legendary Heartwork and Slaughter of the Soul. The only complaint I have about this album is the average song length, which is hardly a problem and is canceled out by the band's mastery of the genre.

Myspace
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Ignominious Incarceration - Of Winter Born (2009)

1) Avarice
2) Deeds of Days Long Gone
3) Elegance in Aggression
4) Saviour
5) Of Winter Born
6) Solitude
7) Dynasty Damnation
8) Tide of Pestilence
9) In the Face of Absolution
10) Elusion of Mortality

If there's one thing that makes me happy, it's when a melodeath band has balls, just like Ignominious Incarceration. It almost sounds like Amon Amarth meets Suffocation.

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Otkroveniya Dozhdya - Otkroveniya Dozhdya (2009)

1) Monolog Vechnosti
2) Ya ostalsya zdes'
3) Na prozrachnyh glazah
4) Zimnyaya skorb'
5) Imperia belogo sveta
6) Sny I - Resheniye
7) Sny II - Uzor
8) Sny III - Nash strah
9) Serym gnevom oseni oblichen
10) Monumental'noy tishiny apofeoz


So far, it seems like 2009 is a good year for funeral doom, sludge, stoner metal, and just doom metal in general. Here's Otkroveniya Dozhdya, a Russian band whose name I can't remember for shit. These guys play a melodic style of funeral doom. Don't ask me what the song titles mean.

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Arsis - A Celebration Of Guilt (2004)

Track listing :

1. The Face of My Innocence 05:33
2. Maddening Disdain 03:30
3. Seven Whispers Fell Silent 03:46
4. Return 04:42
5. Worship Depraved 03:02
6. Carnal Ways to Recreate the Heart 04:52
7. Dust and Guilt 04:25
8. Elegant and Perverse 02:23
9. The Sadistic Motives Behind Bereavement Letters 04:25
10. Looking to Nothing 03:22
11. Wholly Night 04:20

Total playing time 44:20


This is without a doubt the best album Arsis have put out to date. Thrashy, technical melodic death metal. If you know Arsis and never heard this you might end up with a different point of view regarding this awesome band. Tracks 5,6 and 7 are my favorite, and probably the best Arsis songs. Enjoy.

Download Link : http://www.mediafire.com/?myzmnwminm1

Carcass - Heartwork (1994)

Track List :

01 Buried Dreams 3:58
02 Carnal Forge 3:54
03 No Love Lost 3:22
04 Heartwork 4:33
05 Embodiment 5:36
06 This Mortal Coi 3:50
07 Arbeit Macht Fleisch 4:21
08 Blind Bleeding The Blind 4:57
09 Doctrinal Expletives 3:39
10 Death Certificate 3:39

Carcass gone death metal...no more grind. Less brutal/grim, more melodic. Still kickass.

Download link : http://www.mediafire.com/?6rigjot0emq

Oblomov - Mighty Cosmic Dances (2005)

Track list :

1. Into the R.O. 02:30
2. Mentality Failure 01:30
3. Redefination of the Past 05:15
4. Lost Between Emotions 05:25
5. Starsend 03:47
6. 1 of the 4 04:58
7. Nostalgic Idealization 05:35
8. Dreamworks 05:34



This trio from Czech Republic play a good mix of black and melodic death metal with a touch of folk. Very energetic, this isn't the type of record you'd listen to once or twice, the riffs and melodies are very catchy especially on the first half of the album. You hear saxophone leads, flute and other instruments, but they match the aggressive, melodic and progressive song writing perfectly. This is their first full-length. Grab it you won't be disappointed.

Download link :

http://www.mediafire.com/?da4x42ii424

Neuraxis - The Thin Line Between (2008)

1) Darkness Prevails
2) Wicked
3) Versus
4) Deviation Occurs
5) The Thin Line Between
6) Dreaming the End
7) Standing Despite...
8) Oracle
9) Phoenix
10) The All and the Nothing


I'm not the biggest fan of tech death (aside from Arsis and Brain Drill) you'll meet, but I loved this album. Hell, I would even put it on the Best of 2008 list! The riffs are great, the drumming doesn't go overboard on double bass and blasting, the vocals mix with the rest of the instruments...What else can I say about this album?

The Thin Line Between is the only Neuraxis album I've listened to so far, but that's about to change.

Myspace
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Amorphis - Tales From The Thousand Lakes (1994)

Although they are a progressive metal band now, Amorphis was once a melodic death metal band (featuring keyboards of couse). And like every good band, they fuse elements of other genres into their music. In this case it's folk and doom metal. The title Tales From The Thousand Lakes is very appropriate considering that the lyrics on this album are based off of the Kalevala, a collection of Finnish folklore compiled by Elias Lönnrot and one of the most important pieces of Finnish literature. Take all of that stuff, put it all together, and you have a truly amazing album.

Fun Fact: Amorphis was the first band added to the Metal Archives.
...What's so fun about a fun fact?

1) Thousand Lakes
2) Into Hiding
3) The Castaway
4) First Doom
5) Black Winter Day
6) Drowned Maid
7) In the Beginning
8) Forgotten Sunrise
9) To Father's Cabin
10) Magic and Mayhem

Myspace
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Arsis - We Are The Nightmare (2008)

1) We Are The Nightmare
2) Shattering the Spell
3) Sightless Wisdom
4) Servants to the Night
5) Failing Winds of Hopeless Greed
6) Overthrown
7) Progressive Entrapment
8) A Fest For The Liar's Tongue
9) My Oath To Madness
10) Failure's Conquest

Melodic tech death band Arsis is back with another album. The band's 2008 release is certainly not as great as A Celebration of Guilt or A Diamond For Disease, but it is a large improvement on their last album United in Regret. The songwriting on We Are The Nightmare is less repetitive and the sound quality is much clearer. Overall, this album is not Arsis' best, but it is definitely not their worst.

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Immortal Souls - Wintereich (2007)

Chapter I – The Awakening

1. "Nightfrost" (4:25)
2. "Feareaper" (3:27)
3. "Frozen Inside" (3:12)

Chapter II – Reflections of Doom

4. "Icon of Ice" (3:43)
5. "Color of My Sky" (3:34)
6. "Constant" (3:29)

Chapter III – The Shadow of the Valley of Death

7. "Idlestate" (4:54)
8. "Heart of Cold" (4:07)

Chapter IV – The Passage

9. "Winter of My Discontent" (3:29)
10. "Black Water"(4:09)
11. "Wintereich" (6:54)

With this cd, they take the "Melodic" part of Melodic Death Metal very seriously, crafting some of the most melodic and catchy riffs in death metal you will hear. The instrumental work here is top notch, as is basically everything else here. The vocals are a higher pitched growl, akin to bands like Ensiferum, Eternal Tears of Sorrow, etc. Also, don’t give up on them just because they are a Christian band. They have demonstrated with their work, and especially with this cd, that they are much more than any of the other awful, and sometimes mediocre, Christian bands. I highly recommend them to anyone who is a fan of melodic death metal. It is fast, catchy, and generally awesome. I got this cd for Christmas, and I couldn't have been happier. Make sure you buy it!

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3267OE7C