Grindcore is an extreme fusion genre of heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, extreme metal, and industrial. Grindcore is considered a more noise-filled style of hardcore punk while using hardcore's trademark characteristics such as heavily distorted, down-tuned guitars, grinding overdriven bass, high-speed tempo, blast beats, and vocals which consist of growls, shouts and high-pitched shrieks. Early groups like Napalm Death are credited with laying the groundwork for the style. It is most prevalent today in North America and Europe, with popular contributors such as Brutal Truth and Nasum. Lyrical themes range from a primary focus on social and political concerns, to gory subject matter and black humor.
Bathory was a Swedish black metal band formed in Vällingby in March 1983. Named after Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory, they are considered pioneers of black metal and Viking metal. The book Lords of Chaos described Bathory's first four albums as "the blueprint for Scandinavian black metal." Acts influenced by their early records include Mayhem, Burzum, Darkthrone, Gorgoroth, Satyricon, Emperor, Dark Funeral, Enslaved, Immortal, Marduk, Moonsorrow and Dimmu Borgir.
Tad Morose is a Swedish power metal band. Formed in Bollnäs in 1991, they are led by guitarist Christer "Krunt" Andersson. Their style has been described as "a power/classic heavy metal hybrid with slight progressive tendencies".
Dismember is a Swedish death metal band formed in 1988. They split up in 2011 but reunited in 2019. Pioneers of Swedish death metal, Dismember is now considered one of the country's "big four", alongside Entombed, Grave, and Unleashed.
Strapping Young Lad (SYL) was a Canadian extreme metal band formed by Devin Townsend in Vancouver in 1994. The band started as a one-man studio project; Townsend played most of the instruments on the 1995 debut album, Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing. By 1997, he had recruited permanent members; this line-up, which consisted of Townsend on vocals and guitar, Jed Simon on guitar, Byron Stroud on bass, and Gene Hoglan on drums, lasted until the band's dissolution.
Dissection was a Swedish extreme metal band from Strömstad, formed in 1989 by guitarist, vocalist and main songwriter Jon Nödtveidt and bassist Peter Palmdahl. Despite a number of lineup changes, Dissection released The Somberlain in 1993 and Storm of the Light's Bane in 1995, before splitting up in 1997 due to Nödtveidt's imprisonment for complicity in the murder of Josef Meddour.
Rolf Magnus Joakim Larsson, known professionally as Joey Tempest, is a Swedish singer based in England. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Europe. He has written the band's great hits such as "The Final Countdown", "Rock the Night", "Cherokee" and "Carrie". He started performing in 1979.
Revolver is the fourth studio album by Swedish metal band The Haunted. It was released on 18 October 2004.
Peter Dolving is a Swedish vocalist now living in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. He is most commonly known as the former frontman of the metal band The Haunted.
Storm of the Light's Bane is the second full-length album by Swedish black metal band Dissection. It was released on 17 November 1995 by Nuclear Blast. This would be the band's last full-length album before Nödtveidt's 1997 incarceration for the felony murder of Josef ben Meddour. It would not be until 2006 that they would release their third and final album Reinkaos, which was followed by the breakup of the band and Jon Nödtveidt's suicide shortly after. As with the band's debut album, Kristian 'Necrolord' Wåhlin created the artwork.
Clas Håkan Jesper Strömblad is a Swedish musician who is the guitarist of the bands The Halo Effect, Dimension Zero and Cyhra, and formerly of In Flames and The Resistance. He is best known as the founder and former guitarist/drummer/keyboardist of the pioneering melodic death metal band In Flames, guitarist of the band Sinergy, bassist of Ceremonial Oath and drummer of HammerFall. In 2013, he joined MDM band Nightrage as a session guitarist.
Unleashed is a Swedish death metal band that was formed in 1989 by Johnny Hedlund in Stockholm. Common lyrical themes found in the band's music include Viking culture, recollection of a pre-Christian world, and Norse folklore. A number of their recent songs also contain references to J. R. R. Tolkien. Unleashed is considered one of the "big four" of Swedish death metal.
The Haunted is the debut studio album by Swedish metal band The Haunted, released in 1998 on Earache Records. Tracks 1–4 and 12 were part of the band's greatest hits album, Warning Shots. Peter Dolving and Adrian Erlandsson both quit at different times after the album, but both returned on different releases, with Dolving on rEVOLVEr, and Erlandsson on Eye of the Storm.
Terrorizer was an extreme music magazine published by Dark Arts Ltd. in the United Kingdom. It was released every four weeks with thirteen issues a year and featured a "Fear Candy" covermount CD, a twice yearly "Fear Candy Unsigned" CD, and a double-sided poster.
The Dead Eye is the fifth studio album by Swedish metal band The Haunted. It was released on 30 October 2006.
Destiny is a Swedish heavy metal band that was formed in 1980 by Stefan Björnshög (bass) and Magnus Österman (guitar). The band has released seven albums to date. Their debut album Beyond All Sense was released in 1985 and their latest one, Climate Change, in October 2016. The band categorises its music as "mörk rock", which in English translates to "dark rock". Stefan Björnshög is the only remaining member from the original line-up.
Köttgrottorna is a band formed in 1983 in the city of Järfälla, Sweden by Hans-Peter "Happy" Törnblom and Stefan "Mongo" Enger, who played together in the Swedish punk band the Incest Brothers, along with guitarist Thomas "Valen" Wahlström. Their music can be classified as punk or rock. Köttgrottorna have produced 10 studio albums, 8 of which were released on the label Beat Butchers; this label is known for releasing albums in the trallpunk genre, including from Asta Kask.
Sear Bliss is a Hungarian atmospheric black metal band from Szombathely, formed in 1993 by bassist, vocalist and now also keyboardist András Nagy. Apart from the usual heavy metal instruments they adopted synthesizer and wind instruments in their songs. The Netherlands' leading metal magazine, Aardschok awarded Sear Bliss debut album Phantoms the title of "CD Of The Month". It was the first time in the magazine's history that the award went to a black metal album.
Unseen is the seventh studio album by Swedish metal band the Haunted, released on 16 March 2011. The album begins to experiment with a more rock-influenced alternative metal sound mixed with their usual groove metal and melodic death metal sound.
Paul David Stenning is an English author and ghostwriter. He has written twenty-nine books, of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and biography. The best-known of his books is The Robert Pattinson Album, a biography of Robert Pattinson, first published in 2009 and appearing in seven languages since then.
