Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a thick, monumental sound characterized by distorted guitars, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats and loudness.
Mercyful Fate is a Danish heavy metal band from Copenhagen, formed in 1981 by vocalist King Diamond and guitarist Hank Shermann. Influenced by progressive rock and hard rock, and with lyrics dealing with LaVeyan Satanism and the occult, Mercyful Fate was part of the first wave of black metal in the early to mid-1980s, along with Venom and Bathory. The band is also cited as a formative influence on many then-up-and-coming subgenres of heavy metal, including thrash metal and death metal, as well as the Norwegian black metal scene.
Paranoid is the second studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released on 18 September 1970 by Vertigo Records in the United Kingdom and on 7 January 1971 by Warner Bros. Records in the United States. The album contains several of the band's signature songs, including "Iron Man", "War Pigs" and the title track, which was the band's only Top 20 hit, reaching number 4 on the UK charts.
A Black Mass is a ceremony celebrated by various Satanic groups. It has allegedly existed for centuries in different forms and is directly based on, and is intentionally a sacrilegious and blasphemous mockery of, a Catholic Mass.
Electric Wizard are an English stoner/doom metal band from Dorset. The band formed in 1993 and have recorded nine studio albums, two of which have been considered genre landmarks: Come My Fanatics… (1997) and Dopethrone (2000). Electric Wizard's brand of doom metal incorporates stoner and sludge traits, with lyrics focusing on the occult, witchcraft, H. P. Lovecraft, horror films and cannabis. In 2014 they formed Witchfinder Records, an imprint of Spinefarm Records, on which they plan to release all future albums.
"Black Sabbath" is a song by the English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, written in 1969 and released on their eponymous debut album in 1970. In the same year, the song appeared as an A-side on a four-track 12-inch single, with "The Wizard" also on the A-side and "Evil Woman" and "Sleeping Village" on the B-side, on the Philips Records label Vertigo. In Japan and the Philippines, a 7-inch single on the Philips label was released with "Evil Woman, Don't Play Your Games with Me" on the A-side and "Black Sabbath" on the B-side.
The sign of the horns is a hand gesture with a variety of meanings and uses in various cultures. It is formed by extending the index and little fingers while holding the middle and ring fingers down with the thumb.
The City of the Dead is a 1960 supernatural horror film directed by John Llewellyn Moxey and starring Christopher Lee, Venetia Stevenson, Betta St. John, Patricia Jessel and Valentine Dyall. The film marks the directorial debut of Moxey. It was produced in the United Kingdom but set in America, and the British actors were required to speak with North American accents throughout.
Black Sabbath was a British heavy metal band.
Witchcraft has a wide range of meanings in anthropological, folkloric, mythological, and religious contexts.
Warning was a British doom metal band from Harlow, Essex. Founded in 1994 by vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Patrick Walker, the band released two albums and is regarded as highly influential on the doom metal sound.
Hail Satan, sometimes Latinized as Ave Satanas or Ave Satana, is an exclamation used by some Satanists to invoke the name of Satan in contexts ranging from sincere expression to comedy or satire. The Satanic Temple uses the phrase as a sincere expression of rational inquiry removed from supernaturalism and archaic tradition-based superstitions.
Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls is the first album by the American rock band Coven. The album's overtly occult and satanic themes prompted removal from the market soon after its release in 1969. That summer coincided with public hysteria surrounding the Manson family and rampant media speculation about occult influences on the era's counterculture. The album's lyrical themes and visual design were influential on the occult rock and heavy metal genres.
The Devil's Blood was a Dutch occult rock band from Eindhoven, formed in 2006. Their style is hard rock in the vein of Black Widow, Coven, Black Sabbath, and a plethora of 1970s underground progressive and psychedelic rock. Their sound has been described as "seductive, rather than aggressive" with female vocals, classical guitar leads, analog atmospherics and "vintage satanic hooks".
The Satanic Mass: Recorded Live at the Church of Satan is the first released audio recording of a Satanic ritual by high priest Anton Szandor LaVey, recorded September 13, 1967 at Church of Satan headquarters, known as The Black House. The album was originally released as a vinyl LP in 1968, on LaVey's own label Murgenstrumm. It was reissued by Amarillo Records on June 21, 1995.
Occult rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the late 1960s to early 1970s, pioneered by bands such as Coven and Black Widow.
Necros Christos was a German death doom band from Berlin. The band was founded in 2001 and is under contract to Ván Records. The group has released three studio albums.
This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal in the year 1969.
Hellripper is a one-man black/speed metal band formed by James McBain in 2014. Cited musical influences include black metal bands such as Venom and Darkthrone; thrash metal bands Megadeth, Metallica and Sabbat; and punk-oriented bands like Motörhead and Anti-Cimex. Lyrically, Hellripper focuses on witchcraft, Occult, and Satanic themes, sometimes drawing from historical events, eg. the possession of Anneliese Michel, as in the song "Anneliese", or the Affair of the Poisons in the song of the same name.
