Dethklok performs at The Masonic in San Francisco on April 24, 2024. Chloe Catajan/STAFF.

Wednesday night, for the first time since 2018, I paid money for a concert ticket and didn’t write about the show afterward.

I’m spoiled. As a writer for RIFF, I can get press tickets to most shows and pay for it with a review when I get home. It makes for a late night but there are no Ticketmaster fees—since it’s comped—and our illustrious editor Roman Gokhman gets another story for the site. Everyone wins, especially me.

But this time was different. The lineup consisted of DragonForce, Dethklok and Babymetal.

I love metal, of course, but I especially love weird metal. I love metal that comes from a weird place, is performed by weird people or just confuses me on a fundamental level, which makes those three bands some of my favorites. DragonForce is guitar-driven power metal by and for nerds, Dethklok is a fictional cartoon band and Babymetal is a J-pop idol group backed by one of the heaviest metal bands you’ve ever heard. I’d go to a show by any one of those, but all three was too much to pass up. I didn’t want to lessen the experience by having to take notes.

Which leads me, finally, to this column: When I was thinking of an idea for this week I realized I hadn’t given Dethklok its proper due. I wrote a column about power metal prominently featuring DragonForce, I wrote a column about metal localized to other countries’ tastes featuring Babymetal, but I never did a column about melodic death metal. That oversight will be corrected shortly.

Dethklok — “Bloodlines”

It wouldn’t be right to start with anyone else. Also, Dethklok is way, way better than it has any right to be, considering the band is just comedian and voice actor Brendan Small.

So what is melodic death metal? Good question, glad you asked. It’s death metal—extremely low-tuned guitars, growling vocals, lots of distortion, as heavy as possible—but, as the name implies, with melodic guitar riffs, and often guitar harmonies. It’s a weird, circular thing, where old-school heavy metal inspired death metal, then death metal musicians were inspired by old-school heavy metal. It’s the best of both worlds.

Unanimated — “In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead”

I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure Unanimated is the first purely melodic death metal band as it’s currently defined. Some would claim it’s Carcass, but I argue that band is more proto-melodic; an extreme metal band among the first who broke off from the heavy metal of the ’70s and ’80s. And Dismember is traditional death metal. Come at me.

Unanimated is, of course, Swedish. I’ve pointed out before that the best metal comes from unbearably cold places, and thus Sweden is the birthplace of a majority of metal subgenres. Basically, what Sweden does is hears a genre of music from a warmer country and goes, what if we made that extremely metal? And that’s how you get death metal, melodic death metal, black metal and anything else that scares Midwestern parents. Great country.

Amon Amarth — “Raven’s Flight”

I usually go through a genre’s history but, you know what, I’m just gonna skip to my favorites. Is that cool? Cool.

Amon Amarth is, again, Swedish. You may assume, from its Swedish origin, Viking imagery and the fact that the band members look like Vikings, that its name is a tribute to some Viking warrior or obscure Norse god or ancient battle, but no. It’s far, far nerdier. It’s the name of Mount Doom in Sindarin, one of the Elvish languages. That’s right, it’s a “Lord of the Rings” reference.

I cannot express to you how nerdy metal is. The guy that got picked on in high school probably went to Amon Amarth concerts at night.

Arch Enemy — “We Will Rise”

Arch Enemy was originally a metal supergroup with members from a bunch of popular bands. It’s always cool when that happens. The band might make an album or two and fade away, but it’s fun while it lasts. Well, Arch Enemy has released 11 albums so far and grown bigger than some of the founders’ original bands.

Two things made me want to bring it up. First, its original singer, a man, was replaced by Angela Gossow, a woman, and if anything, it made it more popular. Could you imagine what would have happened if Van Halen had replaced David Lee Roth with a woman in 1985? (We almost did, it was first offered to Patty Smyth, but that’s beside the point. They also asked Darryl Hall of Hall and Oats! I digress).

Second, this isn’t as deep and heavy as the last few! Metal genres are fluid, and as long as you keep some of the elements, it counts. In this case, the melodies and vocals do the trick. But my point is, there’s something for everyone! As long as you don’t hate metal.

The Black Dahlia Murder — “Moonlight Equilibrium”

I admit that The Black Dahlia Murder isn’t one of my favorite melodic death metal band. No disrespect to the late Trevor Strnad, but I like lower vocals and he tends to go a bit higher. But it’s a fantastic band.

I also pretty much have to put the band on the list because it’s probably one of the most popular modern melodic death metal bands. Strnad’s death made mainstream news, which is pretty unheard of for a niche genre, let alone one that’s generally seen as too dark and too loud. And it’s important to recognize when a band brings a genre you love to a wider audience.

Follow publisher Daniel J. Willis and send column ideas to him at @bayareadata.press on BlueSky.