Moonsorrow is a Finnish pagan metal band formed in Helsinki in 1995. Musically, the band incorporates elements of black metal and folk metal in their sound. The band call their sound "epic heathen metal" and try to distance themselves from the term "Viking metal". They have distanced themselves from other folk metal bands, emphasising that their music is pagan and spiritual and is challenging for its listeners, rather than happy or danceable. The band members have varying levels of pagan belief but they draw on pagan spirituality for lyrics and inspiration.
Mortification is an Australian Christian death metal band which was formed in 1987 as a heavy metal group, Lightforce, by mainstay Steve Rowe on bass guitar and vocals. By 1990, in the Melbourne suburb of Moorabbin, they were renamed as Mortification with the line-up of Rowe, Michael Carlisle on guitar and Jayson Sherlock on drums. Mortification has released fourteen studio albums, three compilation albums, three extended plays, six live discs, one demo album, one box set, and several videos on major record labels such as Nuclear Blast. As one of the earliest internationally successful Christian death metal bands from Australia, they served as an inspiration for later similar groups.
Rare Earth is an American rock band from Detroit, Michigan. According to Louder, "Rare Earth's music straddles genres and defies categorisation, slipping seamlessly between the two seemingly disparate worlds of classic rock and R&B." The band was signed to Motown's subsidiary label Rare Earth. Although not the first white band signed to Motown, Rare Earth was the first successful act signed by Motown that consisted only of white members.
Omnium Gatherum is a six-piece melodic death metal band from Finland, founded in the autumn of 1996. Although the band mainly follows the path of the melodic death metal genre, much of their work shows strong influences from progressive metal, especially their later albums. Their music is influenced by Gothenburg-style bands such as At the Gates, In Flames, Dissection, and Dark Tranquillity, but also Iron Maiden, Death, Anathema, and Megadeth among others.
The Black League was a Finnish heavy metal band. They were formed in 1998 by Taneli Jarva, three years after his departure from the gothic metal band Sentenced. The Black League's first two full-lengths carry on the spirit from Taneli's work with his former band, seasoning their metal with elements of traditional rock 'n' roll. On their third release, Man's Ruin Revisited, these influences take an even more prominent role in their sound. In October 2014, Taneli Jarva pronounced of his decision to call the band the quits due to "lack of personal inspiration".
Rage is a German heavy metal band formed in 1984 by Peter "Peavy" Wagner. They were part of the German heavy/speed/power metal scene that emerged in the early to mid-1980s and have been referred to as one of the country's so-called "big four" of power metal, alongside Grave Digger, Helloween, and Running Wild.
Hell-O! is the debut album by Gwar. It was released in 1988, on Shimmy Disc Records. The album was produced by Kramer.
Handful of Rain is the eighth studio album by American heavy metal band Savatage, released in 1994. This is the first album since the death of the band's founding member and lead guitarist Criss Oliva. who had contributed to writing on its songs "Taunting Cobras" and "Nothing's Going On" before his death.
Metal Rendez-vous is the fourth studio album by the Swiss hard rock band Krokus, released in June 1980. It is the first Krokus release to feature vocalist Marc Storace; Chris von Rohr had formerly served as the band's lead vocalist but appears on Metal Rendez-vous as the band's bassist. The track "Heatstrokes" charted number one in the British Heavy Metal Charts, and arguably opened up markets for Krokus in Britain and the United States, along with "Bedside Radio" and "Tokyo Nights". Strangely, the song "Tokyo Nights" features a reggae beat halfway through. The album sold more than 150,000 copies in Switzerland and was certified Triple Platinum.
"Dear God" is a song by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold. It was released as the fourth single from their self-titled fourth studio album.
Child's Play is an American rock band from Baltimore, Maryland. The group was formed in 1983 with Larry Hinshaw on vocals, Brian Jack on guitar, Phil Wiser on bass, Jimmy Shafer on guitar, and Chad Channing on drums. The group later replaced Steve Albinak with John Allen on drums and added Nicky Kay as another guitar player, with this lineup recording their first EP, Ruff House, in 1986.
The Faceless are an American technical death metal band from the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles. They released their debut album, Akeldama, in November 2006, and a follow-up, Planetary Duality, in November 2008. The band's third album, Autotheism, was released on August 14, 2012. On December 1, 2017, the band released their fourth album, In Becoming a Ghost.
The Damage, Inc. Tour was a concert tour by American heavy metal band Metallica in support of the band's third studio album, Master of Puppets. The name of the tour is taken from the last song on the album. It began on March 27, 1986, and ended on February 13, 1987.
The Shit Hits the Sheds was a concert tour by the American heavy metal band Metallica, which took place in 1994. The band played in 51 shows in North America, including a performance at Woodstock '94, which had an attendance of over 300,000 people.
Tombs is an American heavy metal band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2007. Thus far, the group has released five full-length records: Winter Hours, Path of Totality, Savage Gold, The Grand Annihilation, and Under Sullen Skies.
Profugus Mortis is the second album by Canadian melodic death metal band Blackguard. This is their first release under the name "Blackguard", and it uses their old band name "Profugus Mortis" as the album title. This is also their last album to have a very strong folk metal influence since they have gotten into a more power metal sound. Paul Ablaze uses the term Epic Metal when he describes the genre of Blackguard as a whole. It combines the elements of folk, symphonic, power, black, and death metal to create the "Epic Metal" sound that they produce. Capitalizing on the best moments offered up on So It Begins, the new album is a folk metal onslaught that redefines the genre and raises the bar to an all-time high.
Florida death metal is a regional scene and stylistic subdivision of death metal. Some of the most significantly pioneering and best-selling death metal acts emerged in Florida, especially in the Tampa Bay area. As a result, Tampa is unofficially known by many death metal fans as the "capital of death metal." The scene coalesced in the mid-1980s through early 1990s around the output of bands such as Death, Nasty Savage, Deicide, Monstrosity, Morbid Angel, Atheist, Obituary, and others. The producer Scott Burns and the studio Morrisound Recording were also instrumental in developing and popularizing the Florida scene. Some bands which originated outside of Florida, such as Malevolent Creation and Cannibal Corpse, relocated to the state in order to participate in this burgeoning scene. The Florida bands featured a more technical approach to the evolving death metal sound, a style which spread beyond the confines of the state, and some were instrumental in creating the progressive death metal subgenre. The death metal genre as a whole, including the Florida scene, declined in popularity in the second half of the 1990s, but many bands within the Florida scene persisted and the scene resurged in popularity in subsequent decades. Although the scene attracted more media attention, it continued to be underground due to its extreme nature.
Black Friday is a single by thrash metal band Gwar, that was issued on picture disc for Record Store Day Black Friday 2016. It is the first studio material released by the band since founding member and lead singer Dave Brockie died of a heroin overdose on March 23, 2014.
