Don't Break the Oath is the second studio album by Danish heavy metal band Mercyful Fate, released on 7 September 1984 through Roadrunner Records.
Misery Index is an American death metal band formed in 2001 in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, by Jason Netherton, Mike Harrison, and Kevin Talley (drums). In 2003, the band opened for Dying Fetus and Skinless on their North American tour. From 2006–2010, its line-up consisted of Jason Netherton on bass and vocals, John Voyles on lead guitar, Mark Kloeppel on rhythm guitar and vocals, and Adam Jarvis on drums. In 2010, Voyles left the band and was replaced by Darrin Morris.
Graveland are a Polish neo-Nazi pagan black metal band which was formed in 1991 by Rob Darken. They began as a black metal band before adopting a pagan and Viking metal style. The lyrics and imagery of Graveland are strongly inspired by European mythology, nature, winter and war. Their early work focused on Celtic and Slavic mythology, while their later work focuses on Norse mythology and Wotanism.
Absu was an American black/thrash metal band from Dallas, Texas. Their demos and first album leaned towards death metal, but later adapted to the thrash/black sound the group would become recognized for. Their lyrical themes are esoteric, including themes of Celtic, Sumerian and Mesopotamian myths and legends, alchemy, numerology, magick, and sorcery.
Exhumed is an American deathgrind band formed in San Jose, California, that is currently signed to Relapse Records. It is centered around vocalist-guitarist Matt Harvey, who is the leading force of the group, as well as the sole constant member. The band has released nine albums and eight split 7-inch singles. They were formed in 1990, went on hiatus in 2005, and reformed in 2010.
Integrity is a hardcore punk band originally from Cleveland, Ohio, but based in Belgium since 2003. It was formed in 1988 by lead vocalist Dwid Hellion.
Bethlehem is a German extreme metal band from Grevenbroich, formed in 1991 by Jürgen Bartsch and Klaus Matton. Before starting Bethlehem, Bartsch and Matton used to play in a German thrash metal band Morbid Vision. Many of their lyrics revolve around sickness, morbidity, suicide, death and madness, and may to some extent be personal to the band.
Primal Fear is a German power metal band formed in 1997 by Ralf Scheepers and Mat Sinner. Sinner and Scheepers formed the band after Scheepers was not hired as Rob Halford's replacement in Judas Priest.
Dødheimsgard is a Norwegian extreme metal band formed in 1994. Dødheimsgard originally played black metal, but 1999's 666 International saw them change their style into experimental and avant-garde/industrial metal. In 2000, they shortened their name to DHG.
Behexen is a Finnish black metal band founded in 1994. They adopted a more traditional approach to black metal by incorporating raw characteristics. Their first full-length release was Rituale Satanum, released in 2000 and followed by By the Blessing of Satan in 2004. They have also released a split with Horna and a 3-vinyl set From the Devil's Chalice.
Demon is an English heavy metal band, formed in 1979 by vocalist Dave Hill and guitarist Mal Spooner, both hailing from Leek, Staffordshire. The band is considered important to the new wave of British heavy metal movement.
Secrets of the Moon were a black metal band from Osnabrück, Germany, founded in 1995.
Winds of Plague is an American deathcore band from Upland, California. Formed in 2002, the band is known for being the first of several deathcore bands to incorporate symphonic elements into their music.
Gehenna is a Norwegian black metal band.
Starkweather is an American heavy metal band from Philadelphia formed in 1989. They have a complex experimental metal sound often including use of dissonance, intricate tempo changes and avant-garde sensibilities. Starkweather helped pioneer the hardcore punk/heavy metal crossover sound that would later be known as "metalcore", as well as being a major influence on the mathcore subgenre. They have influenced many of today's top selling hardcore/metal bands such as Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Mastodon and Coalesce among many others.
Enforcer is a Swedish heavy metal band formed in 2004 in Arvika.
Arvas, formerly known as Örth, is a Norwegian black metal band formed in Bergen in 1993 as a one-man project by multi musician V-Rex. In Summer 1996, Borknagar drummer Grim and Gorgoroth bassist Ares joined the band. They recorded an album in late 1996, titled Nocturno Inferno, but it was never released. After Grim committed suicide in 1999, V-Rex decided to keep on going as a one-man project, but changed the band's name. He recorded two demos, Countless Souls at Dawn and I Am Thy Grief, and a split album with Hordagaard titled Dawn of Satan/Uncle Satan, which was released by Azermedoth Records. The band's first official album Blessed from Below – Ad Sathanas Noctum was released in 2010 by the band themselves. Their second album Into The Realm Of The Occult was released in November 2013 by Italian label ATMF Records, to be followed in March 2015 by Black Satanic Mysticism, via Aeternitas Tenebrarum Music Foundation. Arvas has shared stages with bands like Throne of Katarsis, Urgehal, Dauden, 1349, Mongo Ninja, Nocturnal Breed. In March 2013, Arvas toured the east European countries supporting Deicide on their 'End Of The World Tour'. The band's fourth album, Black Path, was released on 24 March 2017 by Mighty Music.
Mgła is a Polish black metal band from Kraków, formed in 2000. The duo consists of vocalist, guitarist and bassist M. and drummer Darkside.
Blood Ceremony is a Canadian rock band formed in 2006 in Toronto, Ontario. Blood Ceremony's style has been described as "flute-tinged witch rock" and their lyrics are filled with black magic imagery and references to classic horror films. Their music has been also characterized as hard rock, psychedelic folk, progressive rock, and doom metal.
Darkestrah is a Kyrgyz pagan metal band, formed in 1999 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Throughout their career the band has blended folklore music with metal elements. In its lyrics and in musical composition, the band uses national folk musical instruments, such as the komuz and kyl-kyak, and references shamanism and Tengrism. The band also takes influence from genres such as progressive rock and post-rock, generally constructing lengthy, rhythmically complex songs that often feature several discrete movements.
