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".
Symphonic black metal is a subgenre of black metal that emerged in the 1990s and incorporates symphonic and orchestral elements.
Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres. Both the music and the lyrics are intended to evoke a sense of despair, dread, and impending doom. The genre is strongly influenced by the early work of Black Sabbath, who formed a prototype for doom metal. During the first half of the 1980s, a number of bands such as Witchfinder General and Pagan Altar from England, American bands Pentagram, Saint Vitus, the Obsessed, Trouble, and Cirith Ungol, and Swedish band Candlemass defined doom metal as a distinct genre. Pentagram, Saint Vitus, Trouble and Candlemass have been referred to as "the Big Four of Doom Metal".
Hall of the Mountain King is the fourth studio album by the American heavy metal band Savatage, released in 1987 under the direction of producer Paul O'Neill. It is their first album produced by O'Neill, who was assigned to the band after the tour in support of Fight for the Rock. O'Neill's influence pushed Savatage to adopt a conceptual progressive metal style beginning with this album.
Lucifer's Friend was a German rock band, formed in Hamburg in 1970 by guitarist Peter Hesslein, singer John Lawton, bassist Dieter Horns, keyboardist Peter Hecht, and drummer Joachim Reitenbach. The group was an early practitioner of heavy metal and progressive rock; they also incorporated elements of jazz and fusion into their music, especially in their fourth album Banquet of 1974. Beyond heavy metal, the band has been cited, too, as one of the pioneers of doom metal, helping to define both genres due to their heavy sound and dark oriented lyrics of their debut Lucifer's Friend of 1970, and returning to their roots in 1981 with Mean Machine, although more influenced by speed metal.
Out of the Silent Planet is the debut studio album by the American progressive metal band King's X, released in 1988. The title of the album comes from that of a book by C.S. Lewis, an author favored by band members Ty Tabor and Jerry Gaskill. "Out of the Silent Planet" is also the title of the first track from the follow-up album Gretchen Goes to Nebraska. The cover art features the skyline of Houston with the southern outline of the state of Texas. The album received widespread acclaim from music contemporaries. Pantera bassist Rex Brown commented of his and Dimebag Darrell's impressions, noting "Dime called me and said, ‘Dude, have you heard this? Have you checked out King’s X?'” He says. “We went on a long road trip, and we must have listened to that first record I don’t know how many times, and we couldn’t stop! This was the sound that Dime and I were always looking for.”
"Secret Agent Man" is a song written by P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri. The most famous recording of the song was made by Johnny Rivers for the opening titles of the American broadcast of the British spy series Danger Man, which aired in the U.S. as Secret Agent from 1964 to 1966. Rivers's version peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #4 on the Canadian RPM chart, one of the biggest hits of his career. Numerous covers and adaptations have been recorded since then with the song becoming both a rock standard and one of Johnny Rivers's signature songs.
Balls to the Wall is the fifth studio album by German heavy metal band Accept. European label Lark Records released the album in December 1983, but its United States release was delayed until a month later in January 1984 as to not compete with the band's then-current album Restless and Wild, which had arrived in the US in early 1983. It is Accept's only record to attain Gold certification in the US. The album's title track became Accept's signature tune and remains a metal anthem and trademark in the genre.
Cirith Ungol is an American heavy metal band formed in late 1971 in Ventura, California. This early doom and power metal group is known for lyrics based on fantasy. The band took their name from the mountain pass Cirith Ungol in J. R. R. Tolkien's epic fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings.
Elixir is a British heavy metal band, formed by Steve Bentley, Kevin Dobbs, Nigel Dobbs and Phil Denton in November 1983. They are notable for being associated with the new wave of British heavy metal movement.
Frost and Fire is the debut album by the American heavy metal band Cirith Ungol. Its music is generally faster and more simplistic than that of King of the Dead, which saw the band begin to adopt a doom metal style influenced heavily by power metal.
Paradise Lost is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Cirith Ungol. It was released on August 23, 1991 by Restless Records in the United States, Canada and Greece, and re-released as a bootleg several times. The band broke up in 1992 over unresolved issues with their new record label. It was finally officially re-released in 2007/08 on Noble Rot.
One Foot in Hell is the third studio album by the American heavy metal band Cirith Ungol. The original LP was produced by Brian Slagel and Cirith Ungol. It was released in August 1986 on Metal Blade Records and re-released in March 1999 by Metal Blade Records on CD. It is the last album to feature guitarist Jerry Fogle and bassist Michael "Flint" Vujea.
Metal Massacre is a series of compilation albums released through Metal Blade Records. It is famous for "shedding light" on bands such as The Obsessed, Trouble, Overkill, Metal Church, Metallica, Slayer, Virgin Steele, Hellhammer, Voivod, Armored Saint, Lizzy Borden, Possessed and more.
King of the Dead may refer to:
The Son of Odin is the debut album of British heavy metal band Elixir, released in 1986 on 12" vinyl. Cult Metal Classics re-released the album on CD in 2001. The album also included 3 bonus tracks. The album was also released on CD by TPL records in 2004, Majestic Rock in 2006 and CTR in 2011 as a 25th Anniversary Edition. In issue 137 of Terrorizer magazine, the album was included in the top 25 power metal albums of all time, alongside Judas Priest's Painkiller, Helloween's Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II and Cirith Ungol's King of the Dead. In 2019, Metal Hammer ranked it as the 21st best power metal album of all time.
Falcon is a California heavy metal band formed in 2002 by guitarist/vocalist Perry Grayson. Though active in the 2000s, Falcon's sound is throwback to the late 1960s and early 1970s, and they take their cue from luminaries like Blue Cheer, Black Sabbath, Trapeze, Budgie, Thin Lizzy, Pentagram, Mountain, Free, Bang, Captain Beyond and Buffalo.
Crystal Viper is a Polish heavy metal band founded in 2003 by singer and guitarist Marta Gabriel.
Servants of Chaos is a compilation album by American heavy metal band Cirith Ungol, released under Metal Blade Records on September 5, 2001.
Forever Black is the fifth studio album by the American heavy metal band Cirith Ungol. It was released on April 24, 2020, and is the band's first studio album since its reunion in 2016, and its first studio album since Paradise Lost in 1991. Metal Hammer named it the 42nd-best metal album of 2020.
