Chord progressions and technicality, Mercyful Fate style!

For those of you metalheads out there, some of my favorite bands out there are King Diamond, Mercyful Fate, Death, Cynic, Pestilence, Atheist ect ect..now if there's one common thread with each of these, it's that they are progressive, technical, catchy and melodic. In my few years of striving to become a metal guitar god, I have learned different scales, basic chords, three string arpeggio sweeps..different patterns to comprise shred wankery at best. Now I learned a method, that at the begining of a practice session I will goof around on my guitar and create riffs and whatnot...but the progressions are weak and the patterns largely inconsistant. Any tips/techniques/chord progressions that will help me achieve a more structured, yet technical rythm base much like the afformentioned bands? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Honestly, the only way I ever compose and record is by imagining what I want to hear, then I work it out - same goes for all of my solos. I don't really know any theory and if I try to work something out because a certain scale is supposed to fit the riff then I end up with something that sounds boring. It takes getting used to but imagining what you want to play then working it out gives you a lot of freedom beyond a strict theoretical framework (then again I do have experience playing piano). The more you do it the easier it gets, I found that it helped me to develop a pretty keen ear for the tones on the fretboard. I don't really think about what I play at all now just kind of instinctvely go for the fret I want to hear.
I write most of my solos when I'm driving my car at work. I usually bring a completed backing track on a cd or a selection of riffs and just listen to it over and over. After a while the same phrasings and licks will keep popping into my head, this is when I start to visualise how I will play them, by the time I pick up my guitar I already know what I'm going to play (still takes a bit of working out at times though!). I would never say don't focus on theory but if you already know some, then you should try this method for a fresh approach - I found it helped me to let go of the patterns I got used to playing which had me in the creative rut I was in since I started getting my chops up to speed.

PS I loved the Swansong album by Carcass, thought Iron Fist was the best track along with Black Star. It's a lot simpler than their previous stuff but the songs are better constructed and a lot easier to listen to, plus the solos were brilliant (Heartwork was also a cool album). Never heard anything by King Diamond or Mercyful Fate.... I remember hearing Atheist about 15 years ago, thought they were pretty good at the time. If you havent already heard it, there is some pretty amazing rhythm guitar work on the most recent Necrophagist album. Although the solos are VERY well played they don't offer anything more than long strings of swept arpeggios with no particular direction or musicality... very little vibratto or use of harmonics either which makes them kind of sterile. I'm hopfull that the next album will have moved up a notch to combine the technique and speed with better music. Thresholds by Nocturnus is the best technical metal album I've ever heard though, really amazing gutiar work and far out sci-fi themed track with keyboards. Worth pickng up a copy.

You know, it's funny you mention that, because for a little while now I have been trying that out. You see, I have been realy lazy with it but for a few years I have studied basic music theory here and there so I try to remain structured. But much like the english language, music theory has many exceptions to the rules, and one must always remember that the basis of all music is emotion. So I have been trying to visualize and "feel it" rather than being so methodical.

As far as Carcass goes, I'll admit there was some catchy songs on there but it just never appealed to me. Heartwork did though, mixing technicality, speed and catchiness. King Diamond and Mercyul Fate are great if yoiu like melodic, atmospheric music. In mercyful fate the guitarist where hank shermann and michael denner who largelu took influence from michael schenker of scorpions fame. Andy Larocque of King Diamond does as well, but he has a nice use of techniques and the whammy bar. Atheist in my opinion is timeless. Necrophagist is good at what they do but it does get bland. Now Nocturnus is an incredible band. I've been wanting to get ahold of that album.

im sorry but i cant really help with the metal bands you mentioned, im not really a huge metal head amy more, my favorite metal bands are queensryche iron maiden megadeth and a few others (im sure you can guess the names).

i can offer some advice on the music though. for me personally i think zakk wylde is one of the best metal guitarist out there but to me his music is kinda of boring. once you get past the pinch harmonics and the 'wall-o-sound' his playing is just way too technical and theroitical. if you want to make good metal you need to understand theory and have a very good working knowledge of it, but you need to step away from that and understand that the music your making needs to be imperfect, it needs to sound a little off.

an exercise that might help you out some is to get the tabs/ sheet music for a few of your favorite song. while your listening to the song follow along in the tab and cricle/box the parts of it that give it the sound you like so much. if you do this enough youll see certian 'licks' or other groupings that stand out.

another thing to remember is the metal is about aggression and power, if your going to write a slow song write it slow, dont start out hard and heavy with a great intro and then when it gets to the verse/chorus you slow down and whine and cry into the mic.

Circling things is actually a good way to start mapping patterns out that appeal to me. Thanks for the advice!