Warhead Records was an independent record label based in Sydney, Australia that specialised in releasing albums by Australian heavy metal bands. It was formed in 1992 by British migrant Brad Sims and Julie Martin (now Sims) who began by selling demo tapes of local bands at heavy metal shows at Sydney's Lewisham Hotel. In February 1993 Warhead Records released its first recording, the EP Atavism by Sydney doom/death band Cruciform, a group Sims was also managing. This was followed six months later by Neophobia's Fear of the Future. By the beginning of 1996 the label had an extensive roster of Australian bands from across the heavy metal spectrum. Most of its signings were from Sydney, although they included several non-Sydney acts on their label such as Psychrist from Canberra, Manticore from Wagga Wagga, Misery from Brisbane and Epitaph from Perth. Along with its CD releases, Warhead also acted as a demo distribution service for a number of acts. In 1995 several of these were collected for the compilation album Warhead Records Vol. 1.
Warhead was run in tandem with the Hammerhouse, a CD store in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta which sold underground heavy metal music and other merchandise from around the world. In Your Face magazine also came out in 1993 and lasted for 9 issues, it was resurrected again in 1998 and another four issues were released.
In mid-1999, with several albums still awaiting release, Warhead Records ceased trading. The remaining artists were forced to seek their own avenue of release. The label officially wound up in 2001. The block which had contained the Hammerhouse was demolished in 2005.
Darkthrone is a black metal band from Kolbotn, Norway, formed in 1986 as a death metal band under the name Black Death. In 1991, the band embraced a black metal style influenced by Bathory and Celtic Frost and became one of the leading bands in the Norwegian black metal scene.
Cryogenic was an Australian thrash metal/death metal band formed in 1992 in Wetherill Park, a suburb of Sydney, Australia.
The Gathering is a Dutch rock band, founded in 1989 by brothers Hans and René Rutten and vocalist Bart Smits in Oss, North Brabant.
Superheist is an Australian metal band, which formed in 1993. They released two EPs, thirteen singles, one compilation/live album and four studio albums, The Prize Recruit (2001) and Identical Remote Controlled Reactions (2002), both albums reached the top 20 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Their comeback album "Ghosts of the Social Dead" (2016) reached No. 3 on the AIR Charts and remained top 10 for 4 weeks.
Mortification is an Australian Christian extreme metal band which was formed in 1987 as a heavy metal group, Lightforce, by mainstay Steve Rowe on bass guitar and vocals. By 1990, in the Melbourne suburb of Moorabbin, they were renamed as Mortification with the line-up of Rowe, Michael Carlisle on guitar, and Jayson Sherlock on drums. Mortification has released fourteen studio albums, three compilation albums, three extended plays, six live discs, one demo album, one box set, and several videos on major record labels such as Nuclear Blast. As one of the earliest internationally successful Christian death metal bands from Australia, they served as an inspiration for later similar groups.
Blood Duster was an extreme metal and stoner rock band from Melbourne, Australia. Their name came from the song "Blood Duster" by John Zorn, from the 1989 album Naked City.
Alchemist was an Australian progressive metal band from Canberra whose style combined death metal, progressive rock, psychedelic, Eastern, Aboriginal and electronic influences. The band formed in 1987 and released six studio albums, an EP and a compilation album. Work began on a new EP in 2010 but the band went on an indefinite hiatus and then split up. They are the only group to appear at every Metal for the Brain festival, an event they ran and organised from 1996. Alchemist also played at the Big Day Out and toured Europe several times.
Sadistik Exekution was an Australian extreme metal band from Sydney, Australia. The band formed in 1985 and has existed somewhat sporadically ever since. While last playing live in 1999, the band recorded two more albums and while they have publicly declared to have disbanded several times since, the group reunited for a single performance in November 2009 at the first annual Australian Metal Awards in Sydney.
Psycroptic is an Australian technical death metal band formed in Hobart, Australia in 1999. Mainstay members are Dave Haley on drums and his brother Joe Haley on guitar. Their lead vocalist, Jason Peppiatt, joined in 2004. In 2008 they signed to Nuclear Blast. As of February 2019, the band have released seven studio albums. They have undertaken Australian national tours supporting international acts, Incantation, Decapitated, Origin and Misery Index. Psycroptic have also toured Europe with Nile and with Deicide. In February 2019, the band started a co-headlining tour alongside Aversions Crown and support bands Within Destruction, Hadal Maw and Hollow World across Europe. They will also headline an upcoming 2019 tour in the United States in support of their most recent album As the Kingdom Drowns.
Dungeon was an Australian melodic power metal/thrash metal band based in Sydney, Australia, considered by some as one of Australia's leading metal bands. The group existed from 1989 to 2005, released six full-length albums, and toured heavily both throughout Australia and internationally.
Mortal Sin were an Australian thrash metal band that formed in 1985 and existed over three distinct periods until 2012. The band released five albums and were the first Australian thrash metal band to tour internationally. According to Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, they were one of "two leading lights... [of] a small, but fervent underground thrash/speed metal scene."
Abramelin is an Australian death metal band, which formed as Acheron in 1988 and were one of the first such groups in the country. They were a main influence on the development of Australian heavy metal music in the early 1990s. The name change occurred in 1994 to avoid confusion with a similarly named international group; the new name was adopted from The Book of Abramelin, which concerns a mage of the same name. Members of Abramelin have also been in Blood Duster, The Berzerker, The Amenta, and Akercocke. Abramelin supported tours by Napalm Death (1995), Paradise Lost, Cathedral and Cradle of Filth (2001). They released two studio albums, Abramelin (1995) and Deadspeak (2000), before disbanding in 2002. Abramelin reformed in 2016. In May 2020 the band released their third album Never Enough Snuff.
Armoured Angel was a thrash/death metal band from Canberra, Australia. The band pushed the musical boundaries of the local thrash metal scene and were one of the earliest bands to play what later came to be known as death metal. The group were also responsible for the foundation of Australia's biggest metal festival, Metal for the Brain.
Lord Kaos was an Australian black metal band that formed in Sydney in 1994. For several years the group was the most prominent act of its style in the country with one founding member going on to record and perform with several Norwegian black metal bands including Dimmu Borgir. While Lord Kaos only released one album, the group was a considerable influence on the local heavy metal music scene as not only arguably the first but one of the few bands to record and perform Norwegian-style symphonic black metal.
Australian heavy metal music has its roots in both the Australian hard rock and pub rock tradition of the 1970s and the American and British heavy metal scenes. Since the mid-1980s, Australian heavy metal has been particularly influenced by foreign bands, particularly Swedish death metal, American thrash metal and black metal from Norway. Within Australia heavy metal has always remained part of the underground but since the mid-1990s many Australian metal acts have found widespread acceptance in overseas markets, particularly in Europe.
Misery was an Australian death metal band from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Since forming in 1991, the band has released four albums and an EP. The band split in 2005, but has reformed once more for an East Coast Australian tour in support of its final album On Demon Wings in 2009.
Astennu is the professional name of Australian heavy metal musician Jamie Stinson. His name is derived from a creature in Egyptian mythology.
Australian thrash metal is a regional scene of thrash metal music that originated during the late 1980s.
Pod People are a doom metal band from Canberra, Australia that formed in 1991. The band has recorded six releases, playing a blend of stoner and sludge traits, with lyrics on themes of cannabis in their earlier works, to topics thematically based around The Divine Comedy. The band released one EP and several demo tapes with the original line up. The founding members later left the band during 1993–1996, which drastically altered the make up and sound of the band.
Astriaal are an Australian black metal band that formed in 1998, and are one of Australia's highest-profile black metal bands. The band have so far released 2 full-length albums and 3 EPs, and have supported well-known international acts such as Mayhem, Arcturus, Suffocation, Nile, Deeds of Flesh, Opeth and Pungent Stench. Astriaal's lyrics deal with Abyssal Theology, Nature and Misanthropy.
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