The Downward Spiral is the second studio album by the American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released on March 8, 1994, by Nothing Records in the United States and Island Records in Europe. It is a concept album detailing the self-destruction of a man from the beginning of his misanthropic "downward spiral" to his suicidal breaking point. The album was a commercial success and established Nine Inch Nails as a reputable force in the 1990s music scene, with its sound being widely imitated, and the band receiving media attention and multiple honors.
Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN, stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Its members are the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Trent Reznor and his frequent collaborator, Atticus Ross. Reznor was previously the only permanent member of the band until Ross was officialized in 2016. The band's debut album, Pretty Hate Machine (1989), was released via TVT Records. After disagreeing with TVT about how to promote the album, the band signed with Interscope Records and released the EP Broken (1992). The following albums, The Downward Spiral (1994) and The Fragile (1999), were released to critical acclaim and commercial success.
Nile is an American death metal band from Greenville, South Carolina, formed in 1993. The band's current lineup consists of founding member Karl Sanders, George Kollias (drums), Brian Kingsland, Dan Vadim Von, and Zach Jeter. The band is known for their dedicated lyrical and musical style, which is inspired by Egyptology and works of H. P. Lovecraft. Since its formation, the band has released ten studio albums, two compilations, three extended plays, two demos, three singles, and five music videos. Their latest studio album, The Underworld Awaits Us All, was released on August 23, 2024, through Napalm Records.
Michael Trent Reznor is an American musician. He came to prominence as the founder, lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and primary songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. The band's line-up has constantly changed, with Reznor being its only official member from its creation in 1988 until 2016, when he added English musician and frequent collaborator Atticus Ross as its second permanent member.
Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved originally from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic metal and other metal genres. Their lyrical themes and imagery are heavily influenced by Gothic literature, poetry, mythology and horror films. The band consists of its founding member, vocalist Dani Filth, drummer Martin "Marthus" Škaroupka, bassist Daniel Firth, guitarists Marek "Ashok" Šmerda and Donny Burbage, and keyboardist Zoe Marie Federoff.
Udo Dirkschneider is a German singer who first rose to fame with the heavy metal band Accept. After leaving the band in 1987, he formed the band U.D.O., in which he has also enjoyed commercial success.
Project 86 is an American rock band from Orange County, California, formed in 1996. The band has released twelve albums, which have collectively sold nearly 500,000 units worldwide, two EPs, two DVDs, and one live album.
Graveland are a Polish neo-Nazi pagan black metal band which was formed in 1991 by Rob Darken. They began as a black metal band before adopting a pagan and Viking metal style. The lyrics and imagery of Graveland are strongly inspired by European mythology, nature, winter and war. Their early work focused on Celtic and Slavic mythology, while their later work focuses on Norse mythology and Wotanism.
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.
Visions of Atlantis is an Austrian symphonic metal band from Styria, founded in 2000. Inspiration came both from successful Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish and from the myth of Atlantis, as well as a pirate theme in recent albums.
Stian Tomt Thoresen, known professionally as Shagrath, is a Norwegian musician. He is the vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and a founding member of the symphonic black metal band Dimmu Borgir and Also, founding member, rhythm guitarist and bassist of Chrome Division.
Haste the Day is an American metalcore band formed in Carmel, Indiana in 2001 and signed to Solid State Records. Their name is derived from a lyric in the hymn "It Is Well with My Soul" by Horatio Spafford. The band released an EP titled That They May Know You, in 2002, followed by five studio albums: Burning Bridges (2004), When Everything Falls (2005), Pressure the Hinges (2007), Dreamer (2008), and Attack of the Wolf King (2010). The group disbanded in March 2011 but reformed in 2014 and released Coward in 2015.
Unblack metal is a religious philosophy and subgenre within black metal, inheriting several characteristics of it, such as the melody, the lyrics and the aesthetics, whose artists either directly oppose the Satanism prevalent in most black metal, or promote Christianity in their lyrics and imagery. Unblack metal artists are controversial within the black metal subculture, because black metal's pioneers, especially those of the Second Wave, were anti-Christian. It is also suggested that Christianity contradicts black metal's dark nature and the individualistic and misanthropic ideals of many bands.
Gothic metal is a fusion genre combining the aggression of heavy metal with the dark atmospheres of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy metal music. The genre originated during the early 1990s in the United Kingdom originally as an outgrowth of death-doom, a fusion of death metal and doom metal. Lyrics are generally dark and introspective with inspiration from gothic fiction as well as personal experiences.
Theatres des Vampires is an Italian gothic metal band, mostly noted for the predominant theme of vampirism within their lyrics. The band's early material was credited as melodic black metal or symphonic black metal, but the group completely abandoned all black metal influence by the mid-2000s. Theatres des Vampires have released eleven full-length albums.
Puscifer is an American rock group formed in Los Angeles by Maynard James Keenan, known as the lead singer of the bands Tool and A Perfect Circle. Initially, Keenan was the only permanent member, and as such he considered the project to be his "creative subconscious". Later, frequent collaborators Mat Mitchell and Carina Round became permanent members.
Place of Skulls is an American doom metal band from Knoxville, Tennessee.
Alessandro Nunziati, better known by his stage name Lord Vampyr, is an Italian musician, record producer and writer, famous for being the former vocalist of the gothic metal band Theatres des Vampires, as well as one of its founding members.
Ivar Tristan Lundsten is a Norwegian bassist and songwriter, presently living in Oslo, but originally hails from the nearby municipalities of Nesodden and Jessheim.
Amalie Bruun is a Danish musician, actress and model. She is the leader of the one-person black metal project Myrkur and the former lead singer of the indie pop band Ex Cops, which was active from 2011 to 2014. Bruun's identity as Myrkur was initially anonymous.
