Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good! is the debut studio album by American thrash metal band Megadeth, released on June 12, 1985, by Combat Records. At the beginning of 1985, the band was given $8,000 by Combat to record and produce its debut album. The band was forced to fire their original producer and produce the album by themselves, after spending half of the album's budget on drugs, alcohol, and food. Despite the poor production, the album was a well-received effort that obtained strong reviews in various music publications. Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good! played an essential role in establishing thrash metal as an authentic subgenre of heavy metal music. It explores themes of death, occultism, and violence.
Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? is the second studio album by American thrash metal band Megadeth, released on September 19, 1986, through Capitol Records. The project was originally handled by Combat Records, resulting in the original mix of the album being co-produced by Randy Burns. Capitol Records then bought the rights to the album and hired another producer named Paul Lani to mix it himself. The recording of the album was difficult for the band, because of the ongoing drug issues the members had at the time. Drummer Gar Samuelson and guitarist Chris Poland were fired shortly after the album's promotional tour for drug abuse, making Peace Sells Samuelson's last Megadeth album. Poland reappeared as a session musician on Megadeth's 2004 album The System Has Failed. The title track, noted for its politically conscious lyrics, was released as the album's second single and was the band's first music video. The album's cover art, featuring the band's mascot Vic Rattlehead in front of a desolated United Nations Headquarters, was created by Ed Repka.
Risk is the eighth studio album by American heavy metal band Megadeth, released on August 31, 1999, by Capitol Records, the band's last album to be released by the label. The first Megadeth album since 1990 to feature a lineup change, Risk marks the studio debut of drummer Jimmy DeGrasso with the band, as well as the final appearance of longtime guitarist Marty Friedman, who announced his departure a year later. Meant to be a breakthrough on alternative rock radio, Risk received a mixed response because of the great deviation from the band's traditional sound. The backlash ultimately resulted with the band returning towards a heavier sound with their next album.
Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 in Boston, Massachusetts. The band comprises John Petrucci (guitar), John Myung (bass), Mike Portnoy (drums), James LaBrie (vocals) and Jordan Rudess (keyboards).
Dirty Rotten Imbeciles is an American crossover thrash band that formed in Houston in 1982 and would later relocate to San Francisco. The band is currently composed of two of its founding members, lead vocalist Kurt Brecht and guitarist Spike Cassidy, as well as bassist Greg Orr and drummer Rob Rampy.
Lordi is a Finnish hard rock and heavy metal band. Formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker Mr Lordi, Lordi are known for wearing monster masks and using horror elements with pyrotechnics during concerts and music videos. The band rose to fame in 2002 with their hit single "Would You Love a Monsterman?", and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with their song "Hard Rock Hallelujah".
Bark at the Moon is the third studio album by English heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne, released on 18 November 1983 in the US and on 2 December 1983 in the UK. The album marks Ozzy's change to a synth infused pop-metal sound, with both its "sonic production, and in Ozzy's imaging".
Converge is an American metalcore band formed by vocalist and artist Jacob Bannon and guitarist and producer Kurt Ballou in Salem, Massachusetts in 1990. While recording their landmark fourth album Jane Doe in 2001, the group became a four-piece with the departure of guitarist Aaron Dalbec and the addition of bassist Nate Newton and drummer Ben Koller. This lineup has remained intact since. The members have also been involved in various side-projects and collaborations, including the bands Supermachiner (Bannon), Old Man Gloom (Newton), and Mutoid Man (Koller). With their extremely aggressive and boundary-pushing sound, rooted in hardcore and heavy metal, they are pioneers of metalcore and its subgenre mathcore.
Salisbury is the second studio album by English rock band Uriah Heep, released in January 1971 by Vertigo Records in the UK and Mercury Records in the US. It was produced by Gerry Bron.
Creatures of the Night is the tenth studio album by American rock band Kiss, released in 1982. It was the band's last for Casablanca Records, the only label for which Kiss had recorded up to that point. The album was dedicated to the memory of Casablanca founder and early Kiss supporter Neil Bogart, who had died of cancer during the recording sessions. It is also the band's last album recorded with Ace Frehley credited as an official member and their first album with Vinnie Vincent, as the initially uncredited lead guitarist. Vincent would later be credited but not featured on the cover of the 1985 reissue of the album. It was also Kiss' last album to feature the band with their trademark makeup until the release of Psycho Circus in 1998.
Boris is a Japanese band formed in 1992 in Tokyo and composed of drummer Atsuo, guitarist/bassist Takeshi, and guitarist/keyboardist Wata. All three members contribute vocals. Their work has drawn variously on styles such as sludge metal, drone, noise, psychedelia, and minimalism. Boris has released more than 20 studio albums on various labels around the world, as well as a variety of live albums, compilations, EPs, singles, and collaborative albums. They have collaborated with acts such as Sunn O))), Merzbow, Keiji Haino, and guitarist Michio Kurihara.
Steel Panther is an American comedic glam metal band from Los Angeles, California. Fronted by lead singer Michael Starr, the band formed in 2000 as Metal Shop and was also known as Metal Skool before adopting the name Steel Panther in 2008. The band is known for its profane and humorous lyrics, and for parodying the stereotypical glam metal lifestyle.
Pink is the tenth album by Japanese experimental music band Boris. It was originally released in 2005 through Diwphalanx Records in Japan and subsequently reissued in 2006 by American label Southern Lord Records.
Absolutego is the debut studio album by Japanese experimental band Boris. It was released in 1996 by Fangs Anal Satan. This album shows inspiration from the Melvins and, most prominently, Earth. Excluding the Merzbow collaboration Sun Baked Snow Cave, it is the only "one-long-song" Boris album that is not broken down into multiple parts. A song with the same title also appears in the album Dear and re-appears on the collaboration album 2R0I2P0.
見殺し塔からずっと: Live at Shimokitazawa Shelter is the first DVD release by Japanese band Boris. It was captured on their Black Summer tour on July 12, 2003. The first ten tracks are songs from the show, which are mostly from the Akuma no Uta and Heavy Rocks albums. Tracks 11-14 are music videos made by the band by Foodunited and Fangs Anal Satan. A loose translation of the first bit of the title is, "From The Tower That Turns A Blind Eye To Death".
Wizard's Convention: Japanese Heavy Rock Showcase is a split DVD, released on June 6, 2005 by Diwphalanx Records, showcasing four different Japanese heavy metal groups for the Wizard's Convention concert series in Japan. Each band plays some form of music related to metal. Boris play stoner rock, mainly material from Heavy Rocks and Akuma no Uta. Church of Misery play doom metal, mainly material from The Second Coming. Eternal Elysium play stoner metal. Greenmachine play sludge metal, mainly material from The Archive of Rotten Blues.
Boris Variations is a compilation of previously recorded and re-recorded audio music, as well as live video music by Japanese band, Boris. The CD comprises selections from six Boris full-length releases that generally keep to their 'heavy rock' style, as well as one single B-side. Five of the 13 songs have been re-recorded. Production credits on the CD are for Boris. Besides the three regular members of the band - Takeshi, Wata and Atsuo - Michio Kurihara also plays guitar on tracks 2, 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12. All songs are composed by Boris, except for track 6, which is by Boris and Michio Kurihara.
Heavy Rocks, also known as Heavy Rocks 2 or Heavy Rocks 2011, is the sixteenth studio album by the Japanese experimental band Boris. The album was released on May 24, 2011, through the label Sargent House. It is the second of three Boris albums of this title, with the others being released in 2002 and 2022; all feature the band exploring hard rock and heavy metal sounds. The band repeated the album title for this release because they "seek to redefine 'heavy' music in a culmination of the band's tireless efforts over the past two decades".
Attention Please is the seventeenth studio album by the Japanese experimental band Boris. The album was released on May 24, 2011, through the label Sargent House. Its original release date was April 26, but this was pushed back. The album features vocals in every track sung by Wata.
Heavy Rocks is the twenty-eighth studio album by Japanese experimental band Boris, released on 12 August 2022 by Relapse Records. It is the third Boris album of this title, with the previous ones released in 2002 and 2011; all feature the band exploring hard rock and heavy metal sounds. The band described the album as both a celebration of their 30th anniversary and as part of a continuous evolution in their music. The album was preceded by the singles "She Is Burning", "Question 1", and "My Name Is Blank".
