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.
Freak Kitchen is a Swedish rock band from Gothenburg, formed in 1992.
Arkhon Infaustus is a French blackened death metal band from Paris. They formed in 1997, are signed to Osmose Productions, and have released four albums to date.
Melechesh is an ethnically Assyrian black metal band that originated in Jerusalem and is currently based in Amsterdam. Ashmedi started the band as a solo project in 1993. In the following year, guitarist Moloch and drummer Lord Curse were added to the line-up. The band's goal was to create a type of black metal incorporating extensive Middle Eastern influences mainly based on Assyrian (Mesopotamian) and occult themes ; the band invented the title "Mesopotamian metal" or "Sumerian Black Thrashing Metal" to best describe their type of metal. They are sometimes referred to as oriental metal.
Merciless is a Swedish extreme metal band.
Axis of Advance was a Canadian death metal band from Edmonton, active from 1998 to 2008. Their music was described as "freaked-out, hyper and evil metal...not for the weak and not really for most rational human beings, but it will sound great to those looking for a slice of evil black metal the way it should be done."
Hate Forest is a Ukrainian black metal band formed by Roman Saenko, the leading member of Drudkh, Dark Ages, and Blood of Kingu. Thurios joined the band in 1998 after the recording of Scythia. The music is mostly very fast, but occasionally slow, with low, distorted vocals, raw low fidelity quality production, sometimes with programmed drums(drummer is a live player during concerts), and dark ambient elements. Musical influences are mostly from Scandinavian black metal to traditional death metal, especially Bolt Thrower. According to the band, its lyrics are about mythology, mainly Slavic, and inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's stories and Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy. The band never gave interviews, never released photos, and held its distance from the black metal scene. After Hate Forest disbanded, Saenko focused on Drudkh, and other side projects such as Blood of Kingu, Windswept and Precambrian which are of different inspirations. This project officially came to an end in 2016, but in 2020 released a new album.
Benighted is a French deathgrind band formed in Saint-Étienne in 1998. The group comprises vocalist Julien Truchan, guitarists Emmanuel Dalle and Fabien "Fack" Desgardins, bassist Pierre Arnoux and drummer Kevin Paradis, Benighted have released nine studio albums.
Necromantia was a Greek black metal band that was founded in 1989 in Athens. Alongside Rotting Christ and Varathron, they are considered to be pioneers in establishing the Greek black metal scene in the early 1990s. The band is notable for the complete lack of rhythm guitar in their music, which is substituted by an eight-string bass guitar. Another notable feature is the band's frequent use of musical instruments not usually associated with black metal, such as the saxophone and flute.
Golden Dawn is an Austrian band formed by Stefan Traunmüller, originally as a one-man black metal project, in 1992. It eventually attracted the attention of two influential Austrian metallists, Ray Wells of Pazuzu and Martin Schirenc of Pungent Stench and Hollenthon, which led to a compilation appearance and eventually a recording contract with Dark Matter Records.
Barathrum: V.I.T.R.I.O.L. is the debut album of American black metal band Absu. It was released on December 1, 1993 via Gothic Records, and re-released in 1994 by Osmose Productions with three bonus tracks. It would be reissued once more in 2011 by The Crypt Records, as a boxset containing 3 discs — the first disc contains the album itself plus the three live tracks from the Osmose Productions re-issue; the second disc contains alternate versions of the tracks "Descent to Acheron", "An Equinox of Fathomless Disheartenment", "The Thrice Is Greatest to Ninnigal", "Infinite and Profane Thrones" and "Fantasizing to the Third of the Pagan Visions"; and the third disc contains the Temples of Offal EP, the Return of the Ancients demo, and the track "Abhorred Xul", composed when Absu was still called Azathoth.
Abominator is an Australian black/death metal band formed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1994. Their lyrics commonly deal with war and spirituality. They have been compared to Angelcorpse and Morbid Angel.
Enthroned is a Belgian black metal band formed in Charleroi. It is one of the premier acts of the Belgian black metal scene.
Inhume is a Dutch deathgrind band formed in 1994. The band has featured a revolving line-up throughout their career, with guitarist Ben Janssen and bassist Loek Peeters being sole constant members.
Originators of the Northern Darkness is a tribute album to the Norwegian black metal band Mayhem, with contributions from some of the leading bands in the black metal and death metal scenes. All the songs were recorded between 1998 and 2000 in various locations, and the album was released on CD in 2001 by Avantgarde Music. In addition to the regular CD, a limited edition CD in black leather was also released. The album was re-released on digipack CD in 2007 by Peaceville.
Impiety is a Singaporean black metal band, formed in early 1990 by Shyaithan (vocals/guitar/bass) and drummer Necro-Angelfornicator. They are notable for being one of the first metal, extreme metal bands to emerge from Singapore.
Revenge is a Canadian war metal band formed in 2000 by James Read following the collapse of his previous outfit Conqueror. Revenge's chaotic black metal sound represents a direct continuation of Read's previous band's direction. Although sometimes referred to as war metal the band has never referred to themselves as war metal and has always called themselves black metal, chaotic black metal or black death metal. They have released six full-length albums to date. The band's lyrics explore among other things various militant themes of anti religion, anti humanity, self ascension and the collapse and rebuilding of mankind.
Khors is a Ukrainian black metal and pagan metal band formed in 2004 in Kharkiv by Khorus, the former bass guitarist of Astrofaes. Stylistically Khors blends a few of metal’s sub-genres together, and also is characterized as heathen dark metal. The band recorded seven full-length albums: The Flame of Eternity’s Decline (2005), Cold (2006), Mysticism (2008), Return To Abandoned (2010), Wisdom of Centuries (2012), Night Falls Onto the Front of Ours (2015) and Where the Word Acquires Eternity (2020). The group keeps an active touring and performed with groups like Enslaved, Samael, Moonspell, Behemoth, Gorgoroth, Cynic, Obtest and many others. Khors has participated in a number of European festivals such as Motocultor Festival, Kilkim Žaibu, Ragnard Rock, OST, Dark Troll, Gothoom, Aurora Infernalis, Hell Fast Attack, Metal Head's Mission, Oskorei, and Carpathian Alliance.
Al-Namrood is a Saudi Arabian black metal band. The name means "Nimrod", a Babylonian king, and the group chose the name as a form of defiance against religion. The members are anonymous since their identification could lead to punishment of death from Saudi Arabian authorities.
Turan is the sixth and latest album of shamanic metal band Darkestrah, released on 29 April 2016. All music composed during the years 2014 and 2015 by Darkestrah, except the introduction by Turan Ensemble, Kazakhstan.
