My Favorite Metal Band from Sweden

This was perhaps the toughest decision I have made in this series. Not even the U.K. or U.S.A. were as difficult as picking my favorite Swedish band. Sweden of course played a major part in my branching out into the international metal scene. I got into In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, Opeth, and Dissection early on in my experimentation. It really is no surprise then that one of those three bands made it as my favorite. But which one became a difficult choice.

Ultimately I chose Dark Tranquillity because they are still around and they have never let me down with any of their albums. I love the first two full-length Dissection albums, probably more than any one DT album, but that is pretty much it for them. I liked In Flames's material up until their last album and am seriously considering skipping their new album if the first track is any indication. DT has remained constant throughout their career. Their early stuff is spectacular melodic death and their later stuff, while losing a little bit, still remains impressive. DT is the flag-bearer of the melodic death scene, a scene that I discovered early in my exploration of extreme metal.

NOTABLE SCENES: Of course Gothenburg-style melodeath and Stockholm-style death. Also an impressive black metal and thrash metal scene.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Amon Amarth
Arch Enemy
At The Gates
Bathory
Bloodbath
Candlemass
Dark Funeral
Dismember
Dissection
Draconian
Edge of Sanity
Enforcer
Entombed
Grand Magus
Grave
Hammerfall
Hypocrisy
In Flames
Lost Horizon
Marduk
Meshuggah
Naglfar
Nifelheim
Opeth
Scar Symmetry
Seance
Tad Morose
The Crown
Unleashed
Vomitory
Watain
Witchery