Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emphasis on atmosphere. Artists often appear in corpse paint and adopt pseudonyms.
Manowar is an American heavy metal band from Auburn, New York. Formed in 1980, the group is known for lyrics based on fantasy and mythology, as well as numerous songs celebrating the genre and its core audience. The band is also known for a loud and emphatic sound. In an interview for MTV in February 2007, bassist Joey DeMaio lamented that "these days, there's a real lack of big, epic metal that is drenched with crushing guitars and choirs and orchestras... so it's nice to be one of the few bands that's actually doing that". In 1984, the band was included in the Guinness Book of World Records for delivering the loudest performance, a record which they have since broken on two occasions. They also hold the world record for the longest heavy metal concert after playing for five hours and 1 minute in Bulgaria in 2008. They also have been known for their slogan "Death to false metal". The band maintains a strong cult following and has sold over 30 million copies of their recordings.
Mayhem is a Norwegian black metal band formed in Langhus in 1984. They were one of the founders of the Norwegian black metal scene and their music has strongly influenced the black metal genre. Mayhem's early career was highly controversial, primarily due to their notorious live performances, the 1991 suicide of vocalist Per Yngve Ohlin ("Dead") and the 1993 murder of guitarist Øystein Aarseth ("Euronymous") by former member Varg Vikernes of Burzum.
Blackwater Park is the fifth studio album by Swedish progressive metal band Opeth. It was released on March 12, 2001, in Europe and a day later in North America through Music for Nations and Koch Records. The album marks the first collaboration between Porcupine Tree frontman Steven Wilson and the band, as Wilson had been brought in to produce the album. This contributed to a shift in Opeth's musical style. The songs "The Drapery Falls" and "Still Day Beneath the Sun" were released as singles.
Kayo Dot is an American avant-garde metal band. Formed in 2003 by Toby Driver after the break-up of maudlin of the Well, they released their debut album Choirs of the Eye on John Zorn's Tzadik Records that same year. Since then, Kayo Dot's lineup has drastically changed over the years. Toby Driver is the only founding member of the band still remaining, save for frequent lyrical contributions from former motW member Jason Byron. Up until 2011, the lineup was constantly shifting, and Kayo Dot's sound consistently changed over the years, featuring a wide variety of instrumentation including guitar, drums, bass, violin, saxophone, vibraphone, synthesizers, clarinets and flutes. Underground metal audiences warmly received the group upon its early existence, with the 2003 album Choirs of the Eye and the 2006 album Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue both becoming underground hits in the progressive metal scene.
Trivium is an American heavy metal band from Orlando, Florida, formed in 1999. The band comprises vocalist and guitarist Matt Heafy, guitarist Corey Beaulieu, bassist Paolo Gregoletto, and drummer Alex Bent.
Antimatter, a UK dark rock band, is the solo project of longtime founding member Mick Moss. The project was originally a duo composed of founding member Duncan Patterson and Moss, being essentially an amalgamation of two solo projects working in tandem with each other, with each member writing and arranging their songs alone and compiling them in the studio later on to create an album. In this manner, the pair released three albums together, Saviour, Lights Out and Planetary Confinement, after which Patterson left, in 2005, to start another band Íon. Moss continued Antimatter as an extension of his own timeline established throughout the first three discs, releasing the project's fourth album Leaving Eden in 2007. Moss followed with 'Live@An Club',, Alternative Matter, Fear of a Unique Identity, The Judas Table, "Too Late", Welcome To The Machine, Live Between The Earth & Clouds, and, most recently, Black Market Enlightenment in 2018.
Wanderlust is a strong desire for or impulse to wander or travel and explore the world.
Alcest is a French post-black metal band from Bagnols-sur-Cèze, founded and led by Neige. It began in 2000 as a black metal solo project by Neige, then became a trio, but members Aegnor and Argoth left the band following the 2001 release of their first demo, leaving Neige as the sole member. In 2009, drummer Winterhalter from Les Discrets joined Alcest, after eight years with Neige as its sole full-time member.
In Mourning is a melodic death metal band from Vansbro, Sweden. They are currently signed to Dalapop. They have released six full-length albums with their latest The Bleeding Veil, released in November 2021.
Prophecy Productions is an international record label, founded in Germany by Martin Koller in 1996. It proclaims promoting "transcendental [...] captivating music". Its artists perform genres like gothic rock, black metal, and neofolk.
Nucleus Torn is an alternative metal/neofolk music band from Switzerland.
Bury Tomorrow are a British metalcore band formed in 2006 in Southampton, Hampshire, England. The band is composed of six members; lead vocalist Daniel Winter-Bates, bassist Davyd Winter-Bates, drummer Adam Jackson, lead guitarist Kristan Dawson, who replaced founding guitarist Mehdi Vismara in 2013, rhythm guitarist Ed Hartwell, and keyboardist and vocalist Tom Prendergast, who both replaced Jason Cameron in 2021. Bury Tomorrow have released seven studio albums, their most recent being The Seventh Sun, released on 31 March 2023.
Les Voyages de l'âme is the third studio album by Alcest, released on January 6, 2012 by Prophecy Productions. "Autre temps" was also released in a different version as a single, and was made into a music video. The album has been described as a musical synthesis of the previous two albums, blending shoegaze, post-rock, and black metal influences.
Slave to the System is the debut album by the American alternative hard rock supergroup Slave to the System, released independently in 2002, and re-released through Spitfire Records on February 21, 2006.
Cane Hill is an American heavy metal band formed in New Orleans, Louisiana in 2011. The band consists of vocalist Elijah Witt, guitarist James Barnett, bassist Ryan Henriquez, and drummer Devin Clark.
Wanderlust is the debut studio album by Canadian atmospheric black metal band Finnr's Cane. It was released in 2010 by Frostscald Records and re-released in 2011 by Prophecy Productions. The re-release includes a demo version of the song Snowfall, one of the first tracks composed by the band.
A Portrait Painted by the Sun is the second studio album by Canadian atmospheric black metal band Finnr's Cane. It was released in 2013 by Prophecy Productions.
1476 is an atmospheric art rock duo based out of Salem, Massachusetts. Founded in 2007 by Robb Kavjian and Neil DeRosa, together they began writing songs which include various themes of Western esoterica, pre-Christian mythology/mysticism, chaos magic, nature, and philosophical themes. They had decided from the beginning to avoid confining themselves to a specific genre and when pressed by interviewers to define their style, they responded with the term, "Hermetic Death Rock."
METALWINGS is a symphonic metal band from Sofia, Bulgaria.
