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Heavy Metal Thunder Melodic Black Metal

Genres Heavy Metal Black Metal (First Wave) Second Wave (Norwegian) Melodic Black Metal

Melodic Black Metal

Sweden’s answer to Norway. The same shriek and tremolo, but with harmonised guitar melodies and songs you can actually hum.

Active years
1993 – present
Origin
Sweden
Family
Black Metal
Bands here
16

Before you press play

Dissection made two of the genre's best records and their founder Jon Nödtveidt was convicted of a homophobic murder in 1998. Both facts are true and neither cancels the other; you should know the second one before you buy the first.

Start here

Three records in order of how easy they are to get into — which is not the same as best first.

  1. Storm of the Light’s Bane Dissection, 1995 The landmark

    One of the two or three best records in all of black metal, and immediately approachable — the melodies are the songs rather than a decoration on them. Jon Nödtveidt's later conviction is on the genre page above; both facts are true.

    Listen to Storm of the Light’s Bane

  2. Far Away from the Sun Sacramentum, 1996

    Recorded in 1995, released in 1996, and the closest thing to a companion piece to Dissection. Faster, colder, and with better solos than the genre generally bothers with.

    Listen to Far Away from the Sun

  3. Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy) Dawn, 1998

    The technical end of the style. Six long songs, a drummer plainly showing off, and riffs layered three deep — where Swedish melodic black metal got ambitious.

    Listen to Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy)

What it sounds like

Sweden's answer, with the melodies left in. The shriek and the tremolo picking are Norwegian, but underneath them sit harmonised twin-guitar lines and conventional heavy metal songwriting — verses, choruses, actual solos. Production is clean rather than murky. The melodies are frequently in a minor key and frequently gorgeous. Compared with the second wave it is warmer, better played and far easier to listen to for an hour; compared with melodic death metal, which shares its harmonic vocabulary, the vocal is higher and the atmosphere colder. Dissection's Storm of the Light's Bane is the record everyone points at, and it still sounds like nothing else.

  • Heaviness 4 out of 5
  • Speed 4 out of 5
  • Aggression 4 out of 5
  • Technicality 4 out of 5
  • Darkness 4 out of 5
  • Melody 5 out of 5

Where the name came from

A descriptive label for the Swedish scene that grew alongside Norway's and chose melody over lo-fi hostility. Dissection's The Somberlain (1993) and Storm of the Light's Bane (1995) are the reference records; the style is sometimes called Swedish black metal, at the risk of confusion with Stockholm's death metal scene.

The bands

Hear these first

  • Dissection Sweden
  • Sacramentum Sweden
  • Naglfar Sweden
  • Dawn Sweden
  • Unanimated Sweden

And 11 more

  • Vinterland Sweden
  • Thulcandra Germany
  • Old Man's Child Norway
  • Dimmu Borgir Norway
  • Cradle of Filth UK
  • Sorhin Sweden
  • Gates of Ishtar Sweden
  • Lord Belial Sweden
  • Sad Legend South Korea
  • Oathean South Korea
  • Ritual Day China

If you liked this

Closest in sound outside this family, leaning towards the similar or the gentler rather than straight into the deep end.