Swedish Death Metal - Part 3

Part 3 of the musical tour.

1998
"Victorious March" -by- Amon Amarth -from- Once Sent from the Golden Hall
Arguably the most popular metal band ever to emerge from Sweden is Amon Amarth. Combining heaviness with melody and stuffing the whole package full of Vikings, Amon Amarth successfully built on the best from Swedish death metal with their 1998 debut album.


1999
"Night of Damnation" -by- Nominon -from- Diabolical Bloodshed
Often in the metal world, bands will stick around for years releasing demos before they finally produce a studio album, and Swedish death metal is no exception. With the hightened popularity of Swedish metal, many bands began rising up out of the trenches and releasing their debut albums. After six years of demo recordings, Nominon was just such a band. (The video on this one says 1996, but it's wrong.)


2000
"Domination of the Necrogods" -by- Runemagick -from- Resurrection in Blood
Runemagick were another band which languished in obscurity for far too long before releasing a debut. Releasing demos since 1991, it was not until 1998 that they finally recorded their studio debut. They then had an explosion of productivity, releasing 11 death-doom albums before putting the band on hold in 2007. Runemagick have one of the strongest and most consistent catalogs of all the Swedish death metal groups, yet they never attained a great deal of popularity. The final lineup also featured a husband and wife pairing.


2001
"Heart of Darkness" -by- Arch Enemy -from- Wages of Sin
In 2001, Angela Gossow took over as the front-woman of Arch Enemy, becoming the first notable female death metal vocalist. Women, though a tiny minority, have begun to appear more in the world of extreme metal. Gossow, however, is still easily the most prominent.


2002
"Eternity Appears" -by- Vomitory -from- Blood Rapture
All the new melody and forward progression in Swedish death metal did not, however, mean that it had lost its edge. Bands like Vomitory, who had formed fairly early but took a while to develop, pushed forward with a brutal assault that surpassed even the mighty Dismember in heaviness and aggression.


That's the end of part 3. As we move forward into part 4, we will in many ways begin stepping back into the past.

Part 1 1988-1992
Part 2 1993-1997
Part 3 1998-2002
Part 4 2003-2007
Part 5 2008-2012