Death was an American death metal band formed in Altamonte Springs, Florida in 1984 by guitarist and vocalist Chuck Schuldiner. Death is considered to be among the most influential bands in heavy metal and a pioneering force in the extreme metal subgenre of death metal. The band's debut album, Scream Bloody Gore, has been widely regarded one of the first death metal records, alongside the first records from Possessed and Necrophagia.
Battleaxe is an English heavy metal band from Sunderland. As one of the bands of the new wave of British heavy metal scene, they started out with the name Warrior and morphed into Battleaxe sometime in early 1981. The band consisted of Dave King (vocals), Brian Smith (bass), Steve Hardy (guitar), and Ian Thompson (drums). After playing around the area and honing their craft, they entered the recording studio to make a demo called "Burn This Town". In doing so, they garnered the attention of Roadrunner Records, and the result was their first album, Burn This Town.
Superheist is an Australian metal band, which formed in 1993. They released two EPs, thirteen singles, one compilation/live album and four studio albums, The Prize Recruit (2001) and Identical Remote Controlled Reactions (2002), both albums reached the top 20 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Their comeback album "Ghosts of the Social Dead" (2016) reached No. 3 on the AIR Charts and remained top 10 for 4 weeks.
Dirty Rotten Imbeciles is an American crossover thrash band that formed in Houston, Texas in 1982. The band is currently composed of two of its founding members, vocalist Kurt Brecht and guitarist Spike Cassidy, as well as drummer Rob Rampy and bass player Greg Orr.
Dark Angel is an American thrash metal band from Downey, California, that formed in 1981. The band's current lineup includes guitarists Jim Durkin and Eric Meyer, drummer Gene Hoglan, bassist Mike Gonzalez and frontman Ron Rinehart. In its history, they have gone through many lineup changes, and there are no original members left in Dark Angel besides Durkin, who was out of the band from 1989 to 2013. Meyer, who joined in 1984, is the only member to appear on all of their albums.
Pestilence is a Dutch death metal band from Enschede, founded in 1986. There have been numerous lineup changes with the band over their 36-year career, with guitarist and vocalist Patrick Mameli as the only constant member. After disbanding in order to pursue other musical directions in 1994, Pestilence reunited in 2008, and was put on a "permanent hold" in July 2014. However, the band reunited once again in October 2016. To date, Pestilence has released nine studio albums, and they are often known as part of "progressive death metal's Big Four", along with Death, Atheist, and Cynic.
Sadus is an American thrash metal band from Antioch, California, active from 1985 to 2015, and reunited in 2017. Originally a quartet, the band's sound fuses thrash metal with death metal, featuring highly technical musicianship. They are known for the unique death growl of vocalist Darren Travis, and bassist Steve Di Giorgio. During their career, Sadus has released five studio albums, one compilation album and four demos, and had only one lineup change, when guitarist Rob Moore left the band in 1993; instead of replacing him, the band continued as a trio.
Dungeon was an Australian melodic power metal/thrash metal band based in Sydney, Australia, considered by some as one of Australia's leading metal bands. The group existed from 1989 to 2005, released six full-length albums, and toured heavily both throughout Australia and internationally.
Toxik is an American thrash metal band formed in 1985 in Peekskill, New York. After breaking up for the first time in 1992 and briefly reuniting in 2007, the band reformed once again in 2013. Toxik has gone through several lineup changes over the years, leaving guitarist Josh Christian as the only constant member. The band has released two studio albums to date, World Circus (1987) and Think This (1989), and their upcoming third album, Dis Morta, is due for release on August 5, 2022.
Bulldozer is an Italian heavy metal band from Milan originally active from 1980 to 1990. They have reunited as of 2008.
Alarum are an Australian progressive metal band which formed in 1992. Their first album, Fluid Motion, was self-released in 1998. The second album, Eventuality..., was released in Australia and United States on Willowtip Records in October 2004 and in Europe on Earache Records in June 2005. From April to June 2006 Alarum toured US with Necrophagist, Arsis, Cattle Decapitation and Neuraxis. They followed with shows in the United Kingdom and Ireland with Obituary. The group's third album, Natural Causes, was issued in Australia and US in October 2011 and in Europe in January 2012. Alarum released their fourth album Circle’s End in June 2020.
Optimum Wound Profile were an industrial metal band from Ipswich, England, active between the years 1991-1996. Combining elements of metal, crust punk, and sampling/programming technologies they released three albums and toured across Europe.
Jaguar are an English heavy metal band, formed in Bristol, England, in December 1979. They had moderate success throughout Europe and Asia in the early 1980s, during the heyday of the new wave of British heavy metal movement.
Cynic is an American progressive metal band formed in Miami, Florida in 1987 and later re-formed in Los Angeles, California in 2007, where the sole surviving member, Paul Masvidal remains to this day. Cynic incorporates elements of progressive rock, alternative, and metal. Their first album, Focus, released on September 14, 1993, is widely regarded as a landmark release of the progressive metal genre. Cynic disbanded in 1994, but they reunited in 2006 and released their second album on November 17, 2008. Traced in Air was released through French label Season of Mist, followed up by an EP titled Re-Traced on May 18, 2010 and an EP titled Carbon-Based Anatomy on November 11, 2011. Their third studio album, Kindly Bent to Free Us, was released on February 14, 2014. In December 2017, after two years of an uncertain future, founding member Sean Reinert confirmed his split from Cynic. Reinert died at the age of 48 on January 24, 2020. Longtime Cynic bass player, Sean Malone, died at the age of 50 eleven months later, leaving Masvidal as the only remaining original core member.
Frankenbok is an Australian heavy metal band from Melbourne. The band was founded in 1997 by guitarist Aaron Butler and vocalist Adam 'Hutch' Glynn and have since released three full-length albums and one EP. Frankenbok have toured Australia on numerous occasions, building a strong cult following in their homeland.
Detente was an American thrash metal band founded in 1984 in Los Angeles, California, United States. The group's original line-up included Dawn Crosby on vocals, Steve Hochheiser on bass, Dennis Butler on drums and Ross Robinson and Caleb Quinn on guitars,.
Defeated Sanity is a German technical death metal band from Dachsbach, Bavaria that was conceived in 1993 by guitarist Wolfgang Teske and his son, drummer Lille Gruber. The group's lineup currently consists of Gruber (drums), Josh Welshman (vocals), and Jacob Schmidt. The band is known for their very brutal, abrasive and intricate style of death metal, while at the same time maintaining almost jazz fusion style influences. Defeated Sanity's genre has also sometimes been categorized as progressive death metal.
Dommin is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1999 by singer, songwriter, and guitarist Kristofer Dommin. The band is made up of Kristofer Dommin on vocals and guitar, Billy James on bass, Konstantine on keyboards, and Cameron Morris on drums. Dommin released their major label debut album, Love is Gone, on February 2, 2010 on Roadrunner Records.
Demolition Hammer is a 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 (1991), Epidemic of Violence (1992) and Time Bomb (1994).
King Parrot are an Australian grindcore band formed in Melbourne in 2010. They have released three studio albums: Bite Your Head Off (2012), Dead Set (2015) and Ugly Produce (2017).
