Darkthrone is a Norwegian black metal band from Kolbotn, Akershus. Formed in 1986 as a death metal band named Black Death, in 1991 Darkthrone embraced a black metal style influenced by Bathory and Celtic Frost and became one of the leading bands in the Norwegian black metal scene.
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.
Eternal Tears of Sorrow is a Finnish symphonic/melodic death metal band formed in Pudasjärvi.
Barathrum is a Finnish black-doom metal band, formed in 1990. The band's name is Latin for pit or abyss. The first letters of their eight full-length albums spell "HEIL SOVA" - referring to the band's frontman, Demonos Sova, who is the only original member of the band. Their music is stylistically similar to early black metal acts such as Venom and Celtic Frost. Their lyrics deal with occult and religious themes.
Disembowelment, often styled as diSEMBOWELMENT, was an Australian death-doom band that formed in November 1989 featuring Renato Gallina on guitar and vocals, and Paul Mazziotta on drums. In early 1991 Jason Kells joined on lead guitar and at the end of that year the group's line-up was completed by Matthew Skarajew on bass guitar. In 1992 they issued an extended play, Dusk, on Relapse Records and followed with a studio album, Transcendence into the Peripheral, in 1993. They disbanded shortly thereafter – never having performed live. AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia described them as "[s]till revered in underground circles as doom-grind pioneers ... [their works] remain genre classics".
Darkwoods My Betrothed are a Finnish black metal band from Kitee.
Doom are an English hardcore punk band from Birmingham whose first lineup were together from 1987 to 1990. Despite its short existence, the band is considered pivotal in the rise of crust punk, a genre of punk rock that takes influence and elements from extreme metal. They recorded for Peaceville Records and are cited as an early precursor to grindcore. Doom were also a favourite of BBC Radio DJ John Peel.
A Blaze in the Northern Sky is the second studio album by Norwegian black metal band Darkthrone. It was recorded at Creative Studios in August 1991 and released on 26 February 1992 by Peaceville Records. Apart from earlier rehearsal recordings between March 1991 and the Norwegian summer holidays the record contained the band's first official black metal recordings and is considered a classic within the genre. It was the first album of what fans dub the "Unholy Trinity", the other albums being Under a Funeral Moon and Transilvanian Hunger. It was the last album to feature bassist Dag Nilsen. In 2020, the album was put on the National Library of Norway's permanent exhibition due to its significance to Norwegian culture and as a starting point for Norwegian black metal.
Novembre is an Italian doom metal band, formed in Rome in 1990.
The Blood Divine were a British gothic metal band, founded in the summer of 1995 by Paul Allender, brothers Paul and Benjamin Ryan, and Darren White. Allender and the brothers Ryan had recently left Cradle of Filth after the release of The Principle of Evil Made Flesh and White had recently parted ways with Anathema. They recruited drummer William A. 'W.A.S.' Sarginson and bassist Steve Maloney and were quickly signed up by Peaceville Records.
Peaceville Records is a British independent heavy metal record label. The label was founded by Paul "Hammy" Halmshaw in Dewsbury, England in 1987, who was also a one-time drummer of Sore Throat. Originally a tape label releasing anarcho punk, the releases moved towards metal through crust punk and similar forms of metal-influenced English hardcore punk. Halmshaw started running the label full-time in 1988, although the original tape label incarnation was founded in 1981 as a vehicle for releasing Instigators demo cassettes.
Pentagram is an American heavy metal band from Alexandria, Virginia, most famous as one of the pioneers of heavy metal, and the sub-genre of doom metal in particular. As such, they are considered one of the "big four of doom metal," alongside Candlemass, Saint Vitus and Trouble. The band was prolific in the underground scene of the 1970s, producing many demos and rehearsal tapes, but did not release a full-length album until re-forming in the early 1980s with an almost completely new line-up. Throughout the band's history, the only constant member has been vocalist Bobby Liebling. The revolving line-up of Pentagram has featured many well-respected musicians in the local doom metal scene, with members spending time in other acts such as the Obsessed, Place of Skulls, Internal Void, Spirit Caravan, among many others. The band's current line-up consists of Liebling (vocals), Matt Goldsborough (guitar), Greg Turley (bass), and "Minnesota" Pete Campbell (drums).
Dave Pybus is a British extreme metal musician, best known as the former bass player of Cradle of Filth.
Beyond Dawn is a Norwegian avant-garde metal band turned electropop composed of Espen Ingierd, Petter Haavik, Tore Gjedrem, and Einar Sjursø. They are described on their official website as "Norway's Best & Least Selling Act". After two demo tapes in 1990 and 1991, the band were picked up by French label Adipocere Records, which made possible the band's first two commercial releases, 1993's Up Through the Linear Shades 7" and 1994's Longing for Scarlet Days EP. In 1995, Beyond Dawn released their critically acclaimed full-length debut Pity Love on Candlelight Records. Soon after, the band began work on an album intended to be a departure from the doom metal music they were becoming known for, but their record label was less than pleased with the band's drastic change in sound and they were soon in search of a new label. They eventually signed with Misanthropy Records and released Revelry in 1998 to more critical praise. Beyond Dawn eventually resumed work on the would-be 1996 album and, after adding additional material and overdubs, released In Reverie in 1999 on Eibon Records, which would also be reissued in 2005 with two bonus tracks. During the latter half of 1999, they released Electric Sulking Machine on the Peaceville label, which soon became a favorite amongst fans and remains sought after due to its limited pressing.
DoomSword is an Italian heavy metal band from Varese, Northern Italy, that combines elements of doom metal, viking metal and traditional heavy metal. Doomsword's lyrics are concerned with epic themes such as ancient and medieval history, fantasy literature, and European mythology.
Dominion was a British band from Thornhill, Dewsbury, that played a mix of death metal and doom metal genres. It featured a female singer, Michelle Richfield, and two male singers, Mass Firth and Arno Cagna. The band released two albums in the late 1990s on Peaceville Records and then split up. Drummer Bill Law temporarily played in My Dying Bride. Richfield and North later formed the band Sear. Firth now plays in the death metal band Nailed. In 2006 their former record label Peaceville decided to release an 18 track compilation album entitled Threshold A Retrospective. This featured songs from the albums Interface and Blackout, in addition to songs that were earlier released on the Under the Sign of the Sacred Star Peaceville compilation album. A version of the Tears For Fears song "Shout", originally released on the Peaceville X album, has now gone on to be a classic in metal clubs across the UK. This 2006 release got great reviews in the press, and saw Dominion getting a KKKK review in Kerrang! magazine, hailing the band as "Brit Metal Pioneers and a criminally overlooked band". Furthermore, the track Release which originally featured on the album Blackout was to appear on a cover mount CD for the magazine Metal Hammer. The band has received significant positive attention in the decade after their demise.
Unholy was a Finnish avant-garde doom metal band. Formed in 1988, they were one of the first doom metal groups in their home country.
Relentless is the debut studio album by American doom metal band Pentagram. It was self-released in 1985 as Pentagram, but was reissued by Peaceville Records in 1993 with the new title and reordered track listing. It was also issued as a two-disc split CD with Day of Reckoning in 1996 and then re-released again in 2005 as a digipak CD. The album is now commonly known as Relentless.
Omen is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by lead guitarist Kenny Powell.
Paul Halmshaw also known as "Hammy" is a British musician who founded Peaceville Records, which signed some of the most infamous death, black, and doom metal and crust punk bands worldwide in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s.
