Death Metal that is Melodic

When the phrase "melodic death metal" is used, images of the Gothenberg scene immediately spring to mind. While I do very much enjoy that style (In Flames, as I've mentioned before, is my favorite band) I'm recently feeling really drawn to something slightly different. It can best be described death metal that is melodic, but is not melodic death metal.

As contradictory as it sounds, there is a distinct difference between the two.

The former is genuine, full-on traditional death metal that just happens to have a more melodic execution, and it sounds, for lack of a better word, very "chill". That is to say, despite the thunderous riffs and bestial bellows, there is something soothing and almost tranquil about the music.

The latter, on the other hand, is an entirely different breed of music, with strongly melody-based song structures and falls about halfway between Swedish death metal and Iron Maiden.

I'm not here to explain what melodeath is, though, so I'll stick to my point. These "chill" death metal bands are, at the moment, extremely appealing to me. Two bands in particular that I feel best exemplify this sound are Apophis and Gorement. I've talked about both bands before, and I believe both were covered in my post on underrated death metal bands. The odd thing is, it wasn't until I was listening to the fantastic "Sea of Silence" in my car last night that it occurred to me how similar these bands really are in terms of their overall sound. And that got me wondering; "What other bands out there sound like this?" The question seems particularly pressing in light of the fact that both bands have very limited discographies. Further, since Gorement are no longer a band, and Apophis appear to be on an indefinite hiatus from recording, it is quite likely that neither band will have any future releases. Even if they did, at this point enough time has passed that it would be overly optimistic to expect anything comparable to their older records.

And so my journey begins. Am I to find another band to fill that musical void, or shall I wander aimlessly through the wilderness until, lost and defeated, I abandon my quest? Only one thing is certain: if I'm talking like this, it means I've been playing too much World of Warcraft.