Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) has become a subgenre of death metal, mostly associated with the Swedish ‘Gothenburg’ sound. Although the introduction of melody to death metal did not originate in Gothernburg (earliest examples can already be seen in Death’s third album, Spiritual Healing), it was the Gothenburg scene which popularized it. Melodic death metal today is mostly associated with Gothenburg bands such as In Flames and Dark Tranquilillty. This type of sound focuses on catchy consonant melodies, heavy metal grooves, uptempo beats, Iron Maiden style dual leads and general instrumentation which resembles European power metal, the ‘death’ part is usually attributed to the harsh vocals and growls used by the vocalists.

Melodic death metal contains more melodic guitar riffs, melodic solos, and acoustic guitar work than death metal. It also contains more comprehensible lyrics with traditional death growl and screaming vocals. The pioneers of melodic death metal include Dark Tranquillity, Carcass, At the Gates and In Flames. Sentenced is also sometimes credited as one of the first melodic death metal bands with their release of North from Here. Some melodic death metal bands from the Scandinavian region combine the genre with other metal genres such as viking metal (e.g. Amon Amarth), progressive metal (e.g. Into Eternity), power metal (e.g. Children of Bodom), symphonic metal (e.g. Eternal Tears of Sorrow), thrash metal (e.g. Arch Enemy), doom metal (e.g. Swallow the Sun) and folk metal (e.g.Eluveitie).

In the late 1990s, many melodic death metal bands changed their style of playing by adding more melodic elements; more melodic choruses and riffs and making more prominent use of keyboards. Also many melodic death metal bands moved away from the lyrical themes of death, gore, and murder common in other death metal groups.