Deicide is an American death metal band formed in Tampa, Florida in 1987 by drummer/composer Steve Asheim and guitarist brothers Eric and Brian Hoffman as "Carnage", then hiring bassist/vocalist/lyricist Glen Benton and becoming "Amon". They would later change the band name to Deicide in 1989. The band rose to mainstream success in 1992 with their second album Legion, and is credited as the second-best-selling death metal band of the Soundscan Era, after Cannibal Corpse. Since their debut album in 1990, Deicide has released twelve studio albums, one live album, two compilation albums and two live DVDs. In November 2003, their first two albums, Deicide and Legion, were ranked second and third place respectively in best-selling death metal albums of the SoundScan era. Deicide is known for their lyrics, which cover topics such as Satanism, anti-Christianity and blasphemy. Their lyrics have resulted in bans, lawsuits and criticism from religious groups and the public.
Swedish death metal is a death metal music scene developed in Sweden. Many Swedish death metal bands are associated with the melodic death metal movement, thus giving Swedish death metal a different sound from other variations of death metal. Unlike American death metal groups, the first Swedish bands were rooted in hardcore punk. Gothenburg has a large melodic death metal scene while Stockholm is known for its more raw death metal scene.
Cryptopsy is a Canadian technical death metal band from Montreal, formed in 1988.
Amorphis is a Finnish heavy metal band founded by Jan Rechberger, Tomi Koivusaari, and Esa Holopainen in 1990. Initially, the band was a death metal act, but on later albums they evolved into playing other genres, including progressive metal, and folk metal. They frequently use the Kalevala, the epic poem of Finland, as a source for their lyrics.
Possessed is an American death metal band, originally formed in 1983. Noted for their fast style of playing and Jeff Becerra's growled vocals, they are often called the first band in the death metal genre, and paved the way for the 1980s Bay Area thrash metal scene, along with Metallica, Exodus, Testament and Death Angel. The band is also notable for featuring future Primus member Larry LaLonde, who was the guitarist for Possessed from 1984 to 1987.
At the Gates is a Swedish death metal band from Gothenburg, formed in 1990. The band was a major progenitor of Gothenburg-style melodic death metal alongside In Flames and Dark Tranquillity. Prior to their first disbandment in 1996, At the Gates released four albums, ending with and including Slaughter of the Soul (1995), which has been seen as a landmark in the mid-1990s Swedish death metal scene. After reuniting for a one-off tour in 2008, the band reformed once again in 2011, and they have since released three more albums: At War with Reality (2014), To Drink from the Night Itself (2018) and The Nightmare of Being (2021).
Fleshcrawl is a German death metal band formed in Illertissen, Bavaria, in 1987. Their most recent album, Into the Catacombs of Flesh, was released in 2019 under Apostasy Records.
Autopsy is an American death metal band formed in Contra Costa County, California in 1987 by Chris Reifert and Eric Cutler. The group disbanded in 1995 and reunited in 2009.
Carcass are an English extreme metal band from Liverpool, formed in 1985. The band have gone through several line-up changes, leaving guitarist Bill Steer and bassist-vocalist Jeff Walker as the only constant members. They broke up in 1996, but reformed in 2007 without one of their original members, drummer Ken Owen, due to health reasons. To date, the band have released seven studio albums, two compilation albums, four EPs, two demo albums, one video album, and six music videos.
Grave is a Swedish death metal band that was formed in 1986 by vocalist and guitarist Ola Lindgren who is their only constant member. The band had particular success in the early 1990s, and their first four albums, Into the Grave, You'll Never See..., Soulless and Hating Life, cemented their reputation as one of Sweden's foremost death metal bands. Grave went on hiatus in 1997, but got back together two years later. Since then, they have released seven more albums, making a total of eleven studio albums. Along with Dismember, Entombed and Unleashed, Grave is considered one of the "big four" of Swedish death metal.
Immolation is an American death metal band from Yonkers, New York. They are considered one of the leaders of the New York death metal scene along with Incantation, Mortician and Suffocation.
Psycroptic are an Australian technical death metal band formed in Hobart, Australia in 1999. Mainstay members are Dave Haley on drums and his brother Joe Haley on guitar. Their lead vocalist, Jason Peppiatt, joined in 2004. In 2008 they signed to Nuclear Blast. As of August 2022, the band have released eight studio albums. They have undertaken Australian national tours supporting international acts, Incantation, Decapitated, Origin and Misery Index. Psycroptic have also toured Europe with Nile and with Deicide. In February 2019, the band started a co-headlining tour alongside Aversions Crown and support bands Within Destruction, Hadal Maw and Hollow World across Europe. They also headlined a 2019 tour in the United States in support of their album As the Kingdom Drowns.
Carnage was a Swedish death metal band formed in 1988 by Michael Amott and Johan Liiva. The members of the group would later form Dismember and Arch Enemy. They released only one album before disbanding in 1991.
Fred Estby is a Swedish drummer. He is best known as the drummer and main songwriter of the Swedish death metal band Dismember. Before he played drums in the band Carnage. Estby appeared in various other projects including The A-Bombs (drums), The Clint Eastwood Experience (drums), Daemon (vocals), and Shubniggurat (vocals), Dismemberizer (drums), Parodi (guitar), Death Breath (vocals). He has contributed vocals to the band Centinex of the album Subconscious Lobotomy. Estby also appeared as a guest singer of Entombed in 1997 during a show in Stockholm and sang "Left Hand Path".
Grotesque was a Swedish death metal/black metal band.
Death Metal is the fourth album by Swedish death metal band, Dismember. It was released on 8 August 1997. The fourth track, "Let The Napalm Rain", opens with a sample from the movie Apocalypse Now.
Dark Recollections is the only studio album and release by Swedish death metal band Carnage, released in 1990 by Earache Records. It was originally released as a split CD with Cadaver's debut album Hallucinating Anxiety by Earache Records sublabel Necrosis. Some of the songs were later re-recorded by Dismember. Dark Recollections is the only album released by Carnage; the band had broken up by the time the album hit the streets. It was later reissued by Earache Records with eight additional tracks, taken from the demos for The Day Man Lost and Infestation of Evil.
Centinex is a Swedish death metal band formed in 1990. They disbanded on 12 April 2006. They were scheduled to perform their final concert at an already booked show in Eskilstuna, Sweden, on 13 May 2006, but later cancelled. Some of the members went on to form the death metal band Demonical. In January 2014, Centinex was reformed.
Demolition Hammer is an American thrash metal band from the Bronx, New York, active from 1986 to 1995 and again since 2016. To date, the band has released three full-length studio albums: Tortured Existence (1990), Epidemic of Violence (1992) and Time Bomb (1994).
Repugnant was a Swedish death metal band from Stockholm active from 1998 to 2004. The band has been cited as one of the first revivalists of the Swedish death metal movement, along with Kaamos. They recorded their only studio album Epitome of Darkness in 2002, but it was left unreleased when the band broke up in 2004, only being published in 2006. Vocalist and guitarist Mary Goore recruited a new lineup of Repugnant to perform at the Hell's Pleasure festival in 2010, as well as several other shows, ending at the Maryland Deathfest in the United States on 29 May 2011. Following the break up of Repugnant, Forge went on to form and front the Swedish rock band Ghost, where he achieved a higher level of success and fame.
