Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emphasis on atmosphere. Artists often appear in corpse paint and adopt pseudonyms.
Slayer was an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California. The band was formed in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, drummer Dave Lombardo, and bassist and vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style made them one of the "big four" bands of thrash metal, alongside Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax. Slayer's final lineup comprised King, Araya, drummer Paul Bostaph and guitarist Gary Holt. Drummer Jon Dette was also a member of the band.
Satyricon is a Norwegian black metal band, formed in 1991 in Oslo. Satyr and Frost have been the band's core members since 1993. The band's first three albums typify the Norwegian black metal style. Since its fourth album in 1999, the band has strayed from this style and included elements of traditional heavy metal in their sound. Satyricon was the first Norwegian black metal band to join a multi-national record label (EMI).
Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band, formed in Suffolk, England in 1991. The band's musical style evolved originally from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic metal and other metal genres. Their lyrical themes and imagery are heavily influenced by Gothic literature, poetry, mythology and horror films. The band consists of its founding member, vocalist Dani Filth, drummer Martin 'Marthus' Škaroupka since 2006, bassist Daniel Firth since 2012 and guitarists Richard Shaw and Marek 'Ashok' Šmerda since 2014.
Soulfly is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1997. Soulfly is led by former Sepultura frontman Max Cavalera, who formed the band after he left the Brazilian group in 1996. To date the band has released eleven studio albums, one tour EP, twenty-three singles, one video album, and twelve music videos. Their debut album, Soulfly, was released on April 21, 1998, while their most recent album, Ritual, was released on October 19, 2018.
Black Label Society is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1998 by guitarist/singer Zakk Wylde. To date, the band has released ten studio albums, two live albums, two compilation albums, one EP, and three video albums.
Symphonic metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that combines the heavy drums and guitars of metal with different elements of orchestral classical music, such as symphonic instruments, choirs and sometimes a full orchestra, or just keyboard orchestration.
Shadows Fall was an American heavy metal band from Springfield, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. Although Shadows Fall has experienced several line-up changes, for most of its recording career, Shadows Fall has been composed of Jon Donais, Matt Bachand, Paul Romanko (bass), Brian Fair, and Jason Bittner (drums).
Mastodon is an American heavy metal band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 2000. The group is composed of Troy Sanders (bass/vocals), Brent Hinds, Bill Kelliher, and Brann Dailor (drums/vocals). Mastodon has released seven studio albums, as well as a number of other releases. The band's 2002 debut album, Remission, garnered significant critical acclaim for its unique sound. Mastodon's second full-length release, Leviathan, is a concept album based on the novel Moby-Dick by Herman Melville. Three magazines awarded the record Album of the Year in 2004: Revolver, Kerrang! and Terrorizer.
The Meads of Asphodel are an English black metal band with pronounced medieval, Arab, punk, and progressive metal influences from Hertfordshire, England.
Alex Kurtagić is a British artist, cultural commentator, satirist, musician, novelist, and publisher. He is the founder of Supernal Music and various publishing houses. For a time, he was a far-right speaker and writer, although he's since drawn a line under political extremism. His writing has dealt with topics relating to culture, society, politics, music, and community relations in the contemporary West. He is known as a proponent of elitism and as a critic of conservatism.
Drudkh is a Ukrainian black metal band. It currently consists of Roman Saenko, Thurios, Krechet, and Vlad. All four also belonged to Blood of Kingu until it was disbanded. Their lyrics and artistic themes embrace Slavic mythology and Ukrainian nationalism. The band is associated with far-right politics, but rejects any explicit connection to a political ideology. Many of the band's lyrics are derived from the works of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Ukrainian poets and especially Taras Shevchenko.
Gothic metal is a fusion genre combining the heaviness of heavy metal with the dark atmospheres of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy metal music. The genre originated during the early 1990s in the United Kingdom originally as an outgrowth of death-doom, a fusion of death metal and doom metal. Lyrics are generally dark and introspective with inspiration from gothic fiction as well as personal experiences.
Rhapsody of Fire is an Italian symphonic power metal band formed by Luca Turilli and Alex Staropoli, widely seen as a pioneer of the symphonic power metal subgenre.
Count Your Blessings is the debut studio album by British rock band Bring Me the Horizon. Recorded at DEP International Studios in Birmingham with producer Dan Sprigg, it was originally released in the United Kingdom on 30 October 2006 by Visible Noise. The album was later issued by Earache Records in the United States on 14 August 2007. Count Your Blessings was supported by the release of music videos for two of the album's tracks: "Pray for Plagues" on 4 June 2007 and "For Stevie Wonder's Eyes Only (Braille)" on 6 March 2008.
Melodic metalcore is a fusion genre, incorporating elements of melodic death metal and metalcore; it has a heavy emphasis on melodic instrumentation, distorted guitar tones, palm muting, double bass drumming, blast beats, metalcore-stylized breakdowns, aggressive screaming, death growls, and clean singing. The genre has seen commercial success for employing a more accessible sound at times compared to other forms of extreme music. Many notable melodic metalcore bands have been influenced by At the Gates and In Flames.
Dark Ages is a minimalist dark ambient band from Ukraine formed in 2004 by Roman Saenko of Drudkh, Blood of Kingu and Hate Forest. They draw their lyrical themes from European medieval history. This band is not to be confused with the melodic death metal band Dark Age.
Blood of Kingu were an extreme metal band from Ukraine formed in 2005 by Roman Saenko, the main member of Drudkh, Dark Ages and Hate Forest.
Ashley "Ellyllon" Jurgemeyer is an American pianist, keyboardist and songwriter for the band Orbs and was the former pianist of symphonic black metal bands Abigail Williams and of Cradle of Filth.
Pier Gonella is an Italian guitarist and founding member of the heavy metal band Mastercastle and the black metal band Necrodeath.
