Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, featuring double kick and blast beat techniques; minor keys or atonality; abrupt tempo, key, and time signature changes; and chromatic chord progressions. The lyrical themes of death metal may include slasher film-style violence, political conflict, religion, nature, philosophy, true crime and science fiction.
Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles. It also sometimes features soft instrumentation influenced by folk rock.
Bathory were a Swedish black metal band formed in Vällingby in March 1983. Named after Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory, they are considered pioneers of black metal and Viking metal. The book Lords of Chaos described Bathory's first four albums as "the blueprint for Scandinavian black metal." Acts influenced by their early records include Mayhem, Burzum, Darkthrone, Gorgoroth, Satyricon, Emperor, Dark Funeral, Enslaved, Marduk, Moonsorrow and Dimmu Borgir.
Epica is a Dutch symphonic metal band, founded by guitarist and vocalist Mark Jansen after his departure from After Forever.
Permanent Vacation is the ninth studio album by American rock band Aerosmith, released by Geffen Records in August 1987. The album marks the band's shift to a pop-metal sound that they would maintain up to 2001's Just Push Play.
Boris is a Japanese experimental music band formed in 1992 in Tokyo and composed of drummer Atsuo, guitarist/bassist Takeshi, and guitarist/keyboardist Wata. All three members contribute vocals. Boris has released more than twenty studio albums on various labels around the world, as well as a wide variety of live albums, compilations, EPs, singles, and collaborative albums. They have collaborated with acts such as Sunn O))), Merzbow, Keiji Haino, and guitarist Michio Kurihara.
Gothic metal is a fusion genre combining the aggression 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.
The Sword is an American Doom metal band from Austin, Texas. Formed in 2003, the band is currently composed of vocalist and guitarist John D. Cronise, guitarist Kyle Shutt, bassist Bryan Richie and drummer Santiago "Jimmy" Vela III. Originally signed to Kemado Records, the group released its debut album Age of Winters in 2006, the material for which had been largely written by Cronise prior to the band's formation. Gods of the Earth was released two years later, giving the group its first entry on the US Billboard 200 chart when it reached number 102.
Blessed Black Wings is the third studio album by American heavy metal band High on Fire. It would be the only with Joe Preston on bass who would be replaced by Jeff Matz.
Mechanical Resonance is the debut studio album by the American hard rock band Tesla. It was released on December 8, 1986, by Geffen Records.
Sworn to the Dark is the third studio album by Watain and was released on 19 February 2007 on Season of Mist. The album received very positive reviews from music critics and has been described as the band's "breakthrough" album. The song 'Legions of the Black Light' is dedicated to Dissection's vocalist Jon Nödtveidt who committed suicide in 2006.
The Way of All Flesh is the fourth studio album by the French progressive metal/technical death metal band Gojira. The album was released on 13 October 2008 in Europe via Listenable Records and on 14 October in the US through Prosthetic Records. It sold around 4,200 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at number 138 on the Billboard 200 chart. It also reached no. 1 on the Top Heatseekers chart and no. 21 on the Top Independent Albums chart. The album was recorded at the band's home studio while Joe Duplantier produced it. The drums were recorded in Los Angeles and engineered by Logan Mader, who also mixed and mastered the album. The cover features artwork created by vocalist Joe Duplantier, who was responsible for the artwork on past albums.
The discography of The Sword, an American heavy metal band, consists of six studio albums, one live album, three compilation albums, one extended play (EP), three split releases, 13 singles and ten music video. Originally formed in Austin, Texas in 2003 by vocalist and guitarist John D. Cronise with guitarist Kyle Shutt, bassist Bryan Richie and drummer Trivett Wingo, the band signed with Kemado Records in 2005 and released debut album Age of Winters the following year. "Freya" was released as a single in 2007, followed by a split EP with Swedish band Witchcraft featuring new track "Sea of Spears" and a cover version of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song".
Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Sleep.
Manifesto is the fourth full-length studio album by German melodic death metal band Deadlock. It was released by Lifeforce Records on 17 November 2008 in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Japan, and on 20 January 2009 in the United States. A box set limited to 1000 copies with two bonus tracks and several items was released as well.
John D. Cronise, also credited as J.D. Cronise, is an American heavy metal musician and record producer. Originally from Roanoke, Virginia, he is best known as the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter and former producer for Austin, Texas-based band the Sword, which he co-founded in 2003. Prior to the formation of The Sword, he also performed in the bands Those Peabodys and Ultimate Dragons, the latter of which also featured original the Sword drummer Trivett Wingo.
Florida death metal is a regional scene and stylistic subdivision of death metal. Some of the most significantly pioneering and best-selling death metal acts emerged in Florida, especially in the Tampa Bay area. As a result, Tampa is unofficially known by many death metal fans as the "capital of death metal." The scene coalesced in the mid-1980s through early 1990s around the output of bands such as Death, Nasty Savage, Deicide, Monstrosity, Morbid Angel, Atheist, Obituary, and others. The producer Scott Burns and the studio Morrisound Recording were also instrumental in developing and popularizing the Florida scene. Some bands which originated outside of Florida, such as Malevolent Creation and Cannibal Corpse, relocated to the state in order to participate in this burgeoning scene. The Florida bands featured a more technical approach to the evolving death metal sound, a style which spread beyond the confines of the state, and some were instrumental in creating the progressive death metal subgenre. The death metal genre as a whole, including the Florida scene, declined in popularity in the second half of the 1990s, but many bands within the Florida scene persisted and the scene resurged in popularity in subsequent decades.
"Freya" is a song by American heavy metal band The Sword. Written by the band and produced by vocalist and guitarist John D. Cronise, it is featured on the band's 2006 debut studio album Age of Winters. In addition to being released as the only single from the album on September 4, 2007, "Freya" was featured as a playable track on the video game Guitar Hero II, released in November 2006.
