So, I've been trying to find more and more melodic metal lately, and I've stumbled upon a few other metal bands that have a keyboard player (children of bodom, skyfire, etc). What genre is this? Maybe it's just me, but the synth effects seem to sort of "cheapen" the whole effect of the song a lot of the time, often right in the background of a really nice riff. I'm not trying to piss off any keyboard players here either...it just didn't seem to be to be a great fit for the music where metal is concerned. Call me bigoted, but that's how it seems to me, and I wanted to get opinions from other people.

That being said, I'm a big fan of In Flames (even their newer stuff I can take in small doses), and I wanted to get a few more names of similar bands if anyone can recommend some. I've already been looking into...
Arch Enemy
Insomnium
Rotting Christ
Agathodaimon
Amon Amarth
Callenish Circle
eh...a few more I can't remember...

Go ahead and add some

At The Gates is a legendary melodic death band.

http://metaltabs.com/forum/showthre...dic+death+metal

There are a few other threads too, hopefully they can help you out as well.

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Very, very few metal bands with keyboardists can pull off some music without sounding incandescently homosexual. With that said, I can't think of any ones I like right now. Cynic and Atheist, 2 of my favs, use synths but they use guitar synthesizers not keyboards.

Oh wait Dark Tranquility had some nice stuff in the past, they make more use of keyboards nowadays, they're a must if you like In Flames as both were the pillars of the Gothenburg sound, shortly followed by At the Gates.

I really really liked In Flames' first 3 albums, to this day they're still their best. Clayman was my first IF, and was my primary exposure to extreme metal and got me interested in heavier stuff, less melodic bands followed. That was many moons ago.

I'm also a big Amon Amarth fan, epic band, I have their DVD and it kicks ass mightily. Insomnium have some good shit going on too, I have not listened to any of these melodeath bands for years except AA and IF recently.

Children of Bodom, Norther and a handful of others can be considered power metal, sans the normal Dickinson-worship vocal approach. I think Skyfire are too, damn I don't remember what they sounded like.

Get Carcass' "Heartwork", Arsis' "A Celebration of Guilt"(a far more technical approach with epic solos), and Mithras' "Beneath the Shadows Lie Madness".

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Check out Vehemence.

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I just want to take this moment to make the preparatory remark that nobody here is in fact insulting timedragon by disliking keyboards, and we don't need a big gay argument about that.

Keyboards tend to highlight a tendency towards refined, classical composition. I tend to like my more ambitious metal jazz-oriented, so it's not really for me. But I don't doubt that there's a band with a keyboard, that exists or will exist, that can knock the shit right out of my asshole, into the toilet, and then flush it for me with my pants still on and without making me soil myself, but I can't think of one right now.

only one song need be mentioned.... A PERFECT VISION OF THE RISING NORTHLAND!!!!!

Listen to Nocturnus, old Arcturus, Emperor, Nokturnal Mortem, Aborym and Dødheimsgard for some prime examples of awesome keyboard use/electronicism in metal.

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Nocturnus, Agiel and im guessing Emperor.
for melodeath il say old amporphis,demigod and intestine baalism.

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Between the Buried and Me - Selkies: The Endless Obsession

Some keyboard action.

Nocturnus are cool, but I generally do not like modern black metal apart from Immortal, much less bands that make heavy use of keyboards like the ones you mentioned or Mirrorthrone, Limbonic Art, etc.

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Oh. My. God. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Check out Kalmah

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Soilwork maybe?

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Kalmah
Mors Principium Est
Skyfire
Shade Empire
Ensiferum
Wintersun

im surprised to see this mentioned, by someone other than me

this thread has already mentioned a lot of great bands. keyboard+metal doesnt equal a specific name, as the bands who use it may be melodic death, black, or neo-classical... or even just some other genre who decided to use it.

for example:

Black, or blackish...
summoning
thy serpent
born of thorns
uhrilehto
astarte
covenant
taake
siebenburgen
...and oceans
graveworm (old ONLY. ...faggots)
catamenia
old mans child
stormlord
hecate enthroned
mourn in silence
essence of existence
dragonlord
oxiplegatz
anorexia nervosa

powermetal/neoclassical
warman
nightwish
dark moor
blind guardian
rhapsody

folk/viking
ancient rites
mithotyn
turisas
folk earth
falkenbach
einherjer
equilibrium
suidakra
finntroll

melo-death
amorphis
warblade
in ruins
the elysian fields
darkside
embraced
garden of shadows
god dethroned
dawn of relic
asguard

mostly the better known stuff. certainly not all of it. and you can check the other threads, probably wikipedia, metal-archives, etc.

Good post timedragon, some of those bands I haven't heard of.

Shape Of Despair, Swallow The Sun, Ahab, Andromeda, Borknagar, Burzum, Emperor, Eternal Tears Of Sorrow, Kamelot, My Dying Bride, Stratovarius

ummm

Swall the Sun is doom
My Dying Bride is doom
Burzum is almost raw bm

Emperor managed to add keyboards without queering everything up. In fact, it really highlights the brilliance of many of the songs.

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+1 and a point I have been making forever. A technically proficient and imaginative (read: GOOD) keyboard player can add a whole new level of excellence to a band. Another great example of this is old Arcturus.

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Well this is fucked, you named most I would have. Oh well two left.

Wintersun and Imperanon

I never liked emperor. :shrug:

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thats because ive probably shown you whatever you were going to name

wintersun has been mentioned a bit. but i forgot about imperanon, too bad they suck now.

I thought he was just looking for bands with keyboards.

Ahab is also doom....but they are pretty cool.

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Yeah, Projector is a great album by Dark Tranquillity with some great piano. Projector is a very underrated album imo.

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Hell yeah it is.

i heard about 4 songs from this new '07 Dark Tranquillity album, and i thought they were fucking gold. had that dramatic piano, like damage done. but id have to say the skydancer/of chaos and eternal night, are probably my favorite era. completely different though. i just cant get over the bass guitar on skydancer. its like another lead guitar playing. just great.

Yeah, I heard a song on their myspace off of their new album. (I think they made a video of it as well.) I was blown away by its awesomeness. I was afraid it might be just the typical Dark Tranquillity. (That's one downer about them, they can be a bit same sound-ish.) But nah, it was great. Especially the piano!

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keyboards + metal? here you go pal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paB2...=related&search
lmao, don't get thrown out of your chair :P

Fuck, I bought the new Dark Tranquillity album last night. Absolute ownage. The piano is GREAT throughout the entire album. I liked everything about it. The production was awesome, killer songs, cool vocals, everything could be heard throughout the entire album, and I loved the bass. The tone was very different, but I love it!

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Carcass