Swedish death metal

One of the most prolific movements of heavy metal, as well as one of my personal favorites, is the Swedish death metal scene. Inspired in part by a cold, gloomy industrial environment, the Swedish death metal scene rose to prominence in and around the city of Stockholm, Sweden in the late 1980's. In contrast to its American contemporaries (particularly the Florida death metal scene) that drew the majority of its influence from thrash, the Swedes drew more heavily on the NWOBHM, hardcore punk and the then-emerging extreme metal bands (Celtic Frost, Bathory, etc). Swedish death metal is characterized principally by the trademark sound of a fat, chainsaw guitar tone, harsh vocals and often speedy rhythms. Lyrical themes of course, included death, pain and destruction, but also drew on Viking mythology and folklore. This sound was reserved to a small stable of bands that helped develop it. This niche of Swedish death metal bands essentially make up the whole of the sub-genre itself.

The Swedish death metal scene is, in my opinion, second only to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (of which I am also a maniacal fan) as the most important movement of heavy metal. It spurred a wave of creative energy and musical innovation not seen since the Brits re-booted the genre in the early 80's and has had a profound influence on just about every extreme sub-genre of metal since. It also helped to give way to a sister movement in the city of Gothenburg, which would later come to be recognized as its own sub-genre, melodic death metal.

While this thread is not directed explicitly at the Gothenburg scene, it is important to note that the early recordings of At the Gates and Dark Tranquility (two pioneers of the "Gothenburg sound") were very heavily influenced by the original SDM bands like Entombed and Unleashed. In that respect, I would welcome discussion about their contributions so long as it pertains to their early albums only.

Some of my favorite SDM albums:

"Left Hand Path" - Entombed
"Clandestine" - Entombed
"Wolverine Blues" - Entombed
"Where No Life Dwells" - Unleashed
"Across the Open Sea" - Unleashed
"Like An Ever Flowing Stream" - Dismember
"Into the Grave" - Grave

Are you a fan of the "old school" Swedish death metal? What are some of your favorite bands/albums from this period?

I have quite a few albums but the Swedish Death Metal scene never grabbed me as much as the American stuff. All of my favourite Death Metal bands are from the US. There are a couple from Sweden that are really good though. You mentioned two of my three favourites: Left Hand Path and Where No Life Dwells. The record I'd add is Dark Recollections by Carnage.

If you like the Swedish scene I'm sure you'd like the Finnish stuff too like Convulse's World Without God.

your list is pretty damn good. i'd add ...

Nihilist - Premature Autopsy
Tiamat - The Astral Sleep
Carnage - Dark Recollections
Edge of Sanity - The Spectral Sorrows
Hypocrisy - Osculum Obscenum

Some of my old time favorites are At The Gates and (older) In Flames.

But the best band to come out of the scene in years has to be Miseration

I love that disc!

I also dig this sound, the really Old School purveyors like those bands mentioned above...Melo-Death however isn't my cup o' tea..."Slaughter Of The Soul" was exceptional but those bands that molded their sound out of this album became too Generic and Lame

Also gotta add some Unleashed to that list too...

Wolverine Blues is still one of my favorite death metal albums. Next to that I would put Slaughter of the Soul by At the Gates.

The_Jayroh wrote:

Wolverine Blues is still one of my favorite death metal albums. Next to that I would put Slaughter of the Soul by At the Gates.

Absolutely! Wolverine Blues was a departure from the traditional SDM sound, but it still retained all of its core components. This led it being labeled as an obscure fusion genre that I have heard referred to as "death 'n roll". I dig the sound though. It's got that thick, chunky old school sound, but with a thrashy kick. It certainly made death metal more accessible for a lot of people, which is ultimately good for the genre. I personally enjoy the variation that Entombed brought to the death metal from Wolverine Blues onward. Their albums Uprising and Morning Star follow a similar vein and are worth checking out as well.

However, Left Hand Path is one of the greatest metal albums ever, and one of my top 20 personal favorites. It's just so METAL!

At the Gates is my all-time favorite melodic death metal band, and Slaughter is a pivotal album in the entire history of the heavy metal genre. Their early material like The Red In The Sky is Ours and With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness are great too, but only after really digesting them. They're slightly avant-garde in nature and the result are 2 unsung classics that are vastly different than the 2 knockout albums the band is known for (being Terminal Spirit Disease and Slaughter of the Soul), although they fall more distinctly in the Gothenburg-based melodic death scene.

I never liked swedish metal, all technique, no soul.

Cognitive Dissonance wrote:

I never liked swedish metal, all technique, no soul.

This is true for a lot more than just Swedish metal. It's easy to pick the good ones out from the lot.

Wolverine Blues is horrible and started their downhill spiral to me.

I love the old Swedish death metal scene though! I'll add more to the list


Dismember - Pieces
Dismember - Indecent and Obscene
Entombed - Crawl
Entombed - Stranger Aeons
Grave - You'll Never See...
Grave - Soulless
Edge of Sanity - Unorthodox
Edge of Sanity - Purgatory Afterglow
Liers in Wait - Spiritually Uncontrolled Art
Unleashed - Shadows in the Deep

And although this next band was around way back when, they only released a few demo's and live rehearsals. In 2010 luckily, Relapse Records released those recordings. The singer went to Entombed for a short period.

Nirvana 2002 - Recordings 89–91

I think of all the Swedish death metal bands my favorites are Hypocrisy, Unleashed and Edge of Sanity - I should say the old school stuff.

With Hypocrisy I like all their albums, I like both facets of the band the earlier death metal sound but also the melodic death stuff. Both kick butt for me.

Edge of Sanity I mostly like their earlier albums and the same with Unleashed (although I think Amon Amarth are way better than Unleashed however AA are more the new breed of Swedish dm)

Bloodbath is another great band from this scene. It's actually a Swedish death-worship supergroup fronted by Opeth's Mikael Akerfeldt alongside members of Katatonia and Edge of Sanit (all bands of the "Peaceville Stable").

It is their homage to the classic Swedish death metal bands that influenced them in their respective bands today.

With Mikael at the helm, it's much more than a tribute act. They play exclusively in the SDM style and do it with a conviction almost never heard in similar "worship" acts. It's deep, meaningful death metal that subtly winks at parody but remains entirely faithful to the roots and is completely serious.

My favorite Bloodbath album is their most recent studio effort released in 2008, "The Fathomless Mastery." They also put out a live CD/DVD in May 2011 entitled "Bloodbath Over Bloodstock", which I am interested in soon.

Andy wrote:

Bloodbath is another great band from this scene. It's actually a Swedish death-worship supergroup fronted by Opeth's Mikael Akerfeldt alongside members of Katatonia and Edge of Sanit (all bands of the "Peaceville Stable").

It is their homage to the classic Swedish death metal bands that influenced them in their respective bands today.

With Mikael at the helm, it's much more than a tribute act. They play exclusively in the SDM style and do it with a conviction almost never heard in similar "worship" acts. It's deep, meaningful death metal that subtly winks at parody but remains entirely faithful to the roots and is completely serious.

My favorite Bloodbath album is their most recent studio effort released in 2008, "The Fathomless Mastery." They also put out a live CD/DVD in May 2011 entitled "Bloodbath Over Bloodstock", which I am interested in soon.

I swear, "Eaten" has to be one of the catchiest death metal songs out there.

metalhead777 wrote:

Andy wrote:

Bloodbath is another great band from this scene. It's actually a Swedish death-worship supergroup fronted by Opeth's Mikael Akerfeldt alongside members of Katatonia and Edge of Sanit (all bands of the "Peaceville Stable").

It is their homage to the classic Swedish death metal bands that influenced them in their respective bands today.

With Mikael at the helm, it's much more than a tribute act. They play exclusively in the SDM style and do it with a conviction almost never heard in similar "worship" acts. It's deep, meaningful death metal that subtly winks at parody but remains entirely faithful to the roots and is completely serious.

My favorite Bloodbath album is their most recent studio effort released in 2008, "The Fathomless Mastery." They also put out a live CD/DVD in May 2011 entitled "Bloodbath Over Bloodstock", which I am interested in soon.

I swear, "Eaten" has to be one of the catchiest death metal songs out there.

It is a supergroup alright but I think they are more focused on worshiping classic death metal as a whole rather than the Swedish death metal scene in particular. The vibe I get from Bloodbath's albums is more similar imo to the early-90s U.S. scene than the Swedish one.

Nevertheless I love their stuff. I own all of their albums and imo they are a true death metal band through and through.

I'd say my favorite is the first EP, Breeding Death but even the newer stuff is pretty ferocious.

A similar band if you will is Luciferion from the early 90s - though good luck tracking their debut album for a good price.

Alex Dee Rokket wrote:

metalhead777 wrote:

Andy wrote:

Bloodbath is another great band from this scene. It's actually a Swedish death-worship supergroup fronted by Opeth's Mikael Akerfeldt alongside members of Katatonia and Edge of Sanit (all bands of the "Peaceville Stable").

It is their homage to the classic Swedish death metal bands that influenced them in their respective bands today.

With Mikael at the helm, it's much more than a tribute act. They play exclusively in the SDM style and do it with a conviction almost never heard in similar "worship" acts. It's deep, meaningful death metal that subtly winks at parody but remains entirely faithful to the roots and is completely serious.

My favorite Bloodbath album is their most recent studio effort released in 2008, "The Fathomless Mastery." They also put out a live CD/DVD in May 2011 entitled "Bloodbath Over Bloodstock", which I am interested in soon.

I swear, "Eaten" has to be one of the catchiest death metal songs out there.

It is a supergroup alright but I think they are more focused on worshiping classic death metal as a whole rather than the Swedish death metal scene in particular. The vibe I get from Bloodbath's albums is more similar imo to the early-90s U.S. scene than the Swedish one.

Nevertheless I love their stuff. I own all of their albums and imo they are a true death metal band through and through.

I'd say my favorite is the first EP, Breeding Death but even the newer stuff is pretty ferocious.

A similar band if you will is Luciferion from the early 90s - though good luck tracking their debut album for a good price.

Yeah, Bloodbath is definitely the real deal. I love how they pull off being a sort of worship band, but still being entirely relevant to the music and growth of the genre. It's definitely a testament to the quality of the musicians in that band.

I think I have seen Luciferion mentioned somewhere, but never thought to look into them. I'm going to check to check them out today.

Thanks for the recommendation dude!

Luciferion is a great band as well!