The Buckriders are a part of Southern Dutch and North-Eastern Belgian folklore. They are witches, who rode through the sky on the back of flying bucks provided to them by the Devil to rob and murder common people and church possessions. The trials against the buckriders differed from 'ordinary' criminal proceedings because in many cases a so-called 'ungodly oath' was involved. Once a year, they would visit their master, the Devil, on the 'Mook Heath.
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.
Blind Guardian is a German power metal band formed in 1984 in Krefeld, West Germany. They are often credited as one of the seminal and most influential bands in the power metal and speed metal subgenres. Nine musicians have been a part of the band's line-up in its history, which currently consists of singer Hansi Kürsch, guitarists André Olbrich and Marcus Siepen and, since 2005, drummer Frederik Ehmke.
My Dying Bride are an English doom metal band formed in Bradford. Since their inception in 1990, they have released 13 studio albums, three EPs, one demo, one box set, four compilation albums, one live album, and one live CD/DVD release.
Agalloch is an American extreme metal band from Portland, Oregon. Formed in 1995 by frontman John Haughm, they released five full-length albums, four EPs, two singles, one split single, two demos, four compilation albums and one live video album. They announced their disbandment in May 2016, but reunited in 2023.
Empyrium is a German symphonic folk/doom metal and (later) neofolk/dark folk band.
The Vision Bleak is a German gothic metal duo comprising Ulf Theodor Schwadorf and Allen B. Konstanz. The group's lyrics are noted for their horror themes and heavily allude to works of classic writers/filmmakers of the genre, such as H. P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, George A. Romero and John Carpenter, among others. They self-describe their musical style, which mixes gothic metal, doom metal, symphonic metal and horror punk aesthetics, as "horror metal".
Mystic Prophecy is a German power metal band from Bad Grönenbach. Their sound has been described as heavy and melodic, similar to American power metal bands such as Iced Earth, due to their melodic riffing and powerful drumming.
Noekk is a German progressive doom metal band that is a collaboration of two then former Empyrium members. The origin of the band's name is supposed to come from a water creature that was able to transform into a beautiful white horse. When the proud stallion eventually got a human to mount it, it dashed into the dark waters and drowned the victim. According to the band, the Noekk demanded an annual human sacrifice, but this is not a part of the traditional folklore. Noekk has released four full-length albums on Prophecy Productions, and their most recent album, The White Lady was released independently in 2021.
Heidevolk is a folk metal band from the Netherlands. The lyrical themes of their music are inspired by nature, the history of Gelderland, and Germanic mythology. Most of their lyrics are in Dutch; however, on their 2015 album, Velua, they have one original English song, "Vinland", and several English covers. Their 2018 album, Vuur van verzet, contains two English-language songs: "A Wolf in My Heart" and "The Alliance".
Prophecy Productions is an international record label, founded in Germany by Martin Koller in 1996. It proclaims promoting "transcendental [...] captivating music". Its artists perform genres like gothic rock, black metal, and neofolk.
Nucleus Torn is an alternative metal/neofolk music band from Switzerland.
Thomas Zwijsen is a Dutch/Belgian (Flemish) classical acoustic and heavy metal guitarist. He is known for his arrangements of Iron Maiden songs for classical guitar both on YouTube since 2007 and with his 2013 and 2014 albums "Nylon Maiden", "Nylonized" and "Nylon Maiden II". Since 2011, he has worked closely with ex Iron Maiden and Wolfsbane frontman Blaze Bayley, co-composing Bayley's 2012 album The King of Metal and 2013 released Russian Holiday EP. In 2015, he released an album in Flamenco/fusion style consisting entirely of his own compositions, entitled "Divide & Unite".
The Gentle Storm is a Dutch musical project by singer and lyricist Anneke van Giersbergen and composer and musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen, founder and leader of other musical projects such as Star One, Ayreon, Guilt Machine and Ambeon. The duo has previously collaborated in Ayreon albums Into the Electric Castle and 01011001. The project's debut album, The Diary, was released on March 23, 2015, in Europe, and the following day in the US.
Cirrha Niva is a Dutch progressive metal band. The band was formed in 1993 by guitarists Peter Vennema and Rob Willemse. The band name is based on The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri and is a mutation/combination of the names Cirrha and Nisa, the two peaks of the mountain Parnassus that appear in the story.
Velua is the fifth full-length album by the Dutch pagan / Viking / folk metal band Heidevolk. It was released on March 20, 2015 through Napalm Records.
Evangelos Koukoularis, known professionally as Evan K, is a German-Greek guitarist. He is the lead guitarist of the German power metal band Mystic Prophecy, former and lead guitarist of the German dark rock band Enemy Inside and ex-guitarist of the industrial/death metal band Cypecore. Evan K also performs with the female symphonic metal band Exit Eden and works as a producer, solo artist and session musician in a wide range of music genres, from pop to rock and metal.
1476 is an atmospheric art rock duo based out of Salem, Massachusetts. Founded in 2007 by Robb Kavjian and Neil DeRosa, together they began writing songs which include various themes of Western esoterica, pre-Christian mythology/mysticism, chaos magic, nature, and philosophical themes. They had decided from the beginning to avoid confining themselves to a specific genre and when pressed by interviewers to define their style, they responded with the term, "Hermetic Death Rock."
Focus 11 is the thirteenth studio album by Dutch progressive rock band Focus, released in November 2018 on in and Out of Focus Records. It is their first album to feature bassist Udo Pannekeet, who replaced Bobby Jacobs in 2016.
Pantheist are a Belgian and British funeral doom band formed in 2000 by Kostas Panagiotou.
