Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million copies of their albums, and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in the latter half of the 1970s, the band had struggled with indifferent record production and a lack of major commercial success until 1980, when they rose to commercial success with the album British Steel.
Skyclad are a British heavy metal band with heavy folk influences in their music. They are considered one of the pioneers of folk metal. The etymology behind the term "skyclad" comes from a pagan/wiccan term for ritual nudity, in which rituals are performed with the participants metaphorically clad only by the sky, as a sign of equality. The name alludes both to the band's religious leanings and to their social beliefs, as set out in the song "Skyclad" on their first album.
Accept are a German heavy metal band from the town of Solingen, formed in 1976 by guitarist Wolf Hoffmann and former members Udo Dirkschneider (vocals) and Peter Baltes (bass). Their beginnings can be traced back to the late 1960s, when the band got its start under the name Band X. Accept's lineup has changed over the years, which has included different singers, guitarists, bassists and drummers.
Martin Walkyier is an English singer, known for his participation in the heavy metal bands Sabbat and Skyclad. The late Metal Hammer journalist Detlef Dengler called Walkyier a "great lyricist" known for his multitude of words and "brilliant puns". Author Paul Stenning has referred to Walkyier as a "lyrical genius".
Anthems of Rebellion is the fifth studio album by Swedish melodic death metal band Arch Enemy. This was the first Arch Enemy album to feature clean vocals. The clean vocals were sung by Christopher Amott on "End of the Line" and "Dehumanization".
Sabbat were an English thrash metal band from Nottingham consisting of Martin Walkyier (vocals), Andy Sneap (guitars), Simon Jones (guitars), Frazer Craske (bass) and Simon Negus (drums). They are considered one of the "big four" of British thrash metal along with Acid Reign, Onslaught, and Xentrix, who were all responsible for developing and popularizing the country's thrash metal scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Over their initial six-year run Sabbat released three studio albums, four demos, two split singles/compilation albums, two singles and a live VHS. In 1988 the band released their debut album History of a Time to Come which earned them further recognition. Their next album, Dreamweaver (1989), was also critically acclaimed. Shortly after the release of Mourning Has Broken (1991), tensions with the band began to surface, most of them revolved around money and Sabbat disbanded as a result. After an attempted reunion in 2001 which was blocked by Sneap, the original Sabbat lineup reunited in 2006. In December of that year they performed together for the first time in sixteen years at five different venues in England. One was a warm-up gig in Nottingham, the other four in support of Cradle of Filth. The band has continued to perform live around the world but has not released any new material. In a January 2014 interview with Decibel magazine Andy Sneap confirmed that Sabbat had once again split-up.
Xentrix are an English thrash metal band from Preston, Lancashire. The band were formed in 1984 under the name Sweet Vengeance. They changed their name to Xentrix in 1988, and released four albums – Shattered Existence (1989), For Whose Advantage? (1990), Kin (1992) and Scourge (1996) – before splitting up in 1997. After briefly reuniting in 2005–2006, Xentrix reunited once again in 2013, and released their first album in 23 years, Bury the Pain, in 2019. As part of the underground metal scene of the late 1980s and early-to-mid 1990s, Xentrix have been referred to as one of the "big four" of English thrash metal, along with Acid Reign, Onslaught and Sabbat.
Onslaught are a British thrash metal band from Bristol, England, active from 1982 to 1991 and again since 2005. The band initially drew influences from US and British hardcore punk bands such as Discharge and The Exploited, as well as the new wave of British heavy metal, and eventually adopted a straightforward thrash metal sound. They have been recognised as pioneers of the British thrash metal scene, and are often referred to as one of the country's so-called "big four", along with Sabbat, Xentrix and Acid Reign. To date, Onslaught have released seven studio albums, one compilation, four singles and two live recordings: a live album and a live DVD.
History of a Time to Come is the debut full-length album by the British thrash metal band Sabbat.
The Undying Darkness is the fifth studio album by German metalcore band Caliban.
Dreamweaver is the second full-length album by the British thrash metal band Sabbat, released in 1989
Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder is the eighth studio album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. It was released on 28 October 2008, through record label Roadrunner. It is the band's fourth concept album, after Cruelty and the Beast (1998), Midian (2000), and Damnation and a Day (2003), dealing with the life of the 15th-century French baron Gilles de Rais.
The Gathering is the eighth studio album by American thrash metal band Testament, released on June 8, 1999. It was the first release the band had done with Spitfire Records. Co-produced by band members, Chuck Billy and Eric Peterson, this was the first album featuring new musicians Steve DiGiorgio on bass guitar and Dave Lombardo on drums. Billy, Peterson and Lombardo, along with longtime Testament collaborator Del James, are also given composer credits on the album. It would also be the only Testament album for 23 years to feature Lombardo, who left the band right before the tour for The Gathering started and he would rejoin in 2022.
Endgame is the twelfth studio album by American heavy metal band Megadeth. It was produced by Dave Mustaine and Andy Sneap and released through Roadrunner Records on September 15, 2009. Endgame was the first album to feature guitarist Chris Broderick, following Glen Drover's departure in 2008, and is the band's last studio album with bassist James LoMenzo, as original bassist David Ellefson rejoined the band several months after the album's release.
The Root of All Evil is a studio album by the Swedish melodic death metal band Arch Enemy, featuring re-recorded songs from the first three albums by the band—Black Earth, Stigmata, and Burning Bridges. It was released on 28 September 2009 by Century Media Records and was made available as a jewel case CD, limited edition mediabook, digital media download and LP. The album was produced by the band themselves and mixed and mastered by Andy Sneap. All songs from this album are re-recordings, with the title track being another version of the instrumental Demoniality.
"Sudden Death" is a song by American heavy metal band Megadeth. It was written by Dave Mustaine for inclusion in the 2010 music video game Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, which was released on September 28, 2010, in North America. The song itself was released as a single with cover art on iTunes on September 24, 2010, and on September 28, Roadrunner Records made the song available for streaming on its website.
Hell are an English heavy metal band from Derbyshire, formed in 1982 from the remaining members of bands Race Against Time and Paralex. Due to a series of unfortunate and tragic events, the band originally folded in 1987. They were amongst the first bands to wear proto-corpse paint as part of their stage show, which featured hysterical ranting from a gargoyle-adorned pulpit, along with the use of a pyrotechnic exploding Bible which caused outrage amongst the clergy when it originally appeared in 1983.
Andy Sneap is an English guitarist, record producer and composer with over 100 albums to his name, most of which have been produced at his Backstage Recording studios in rural Derbyshire. Some of the most critically acclaimed production work on albums include Deliverance by Opeth and Disarm the Descent by Killswitch Engage; for which he earned a Swedish Grammis and a US Grammy nomination, respectively. As a performer, he first built his reputation as one of the guitarists in the British thrash metal band Sabbat, and played with them up until their disbanding. He is currently one of the co-guitarists of the British heavy metal band Hell. In 2018 he joined Judas Priest as a touring guitarist, following long-time lead guitarist Glenn Tipton's diagnosis of Parkinson's disease which conflicts with his touring abilities.
Firepower is the eighteenth studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest. Released in 2018, it is the band's first studio album since 1988's Ram It Down to be produced by Tom Allom and the first one with Andy Sneap as co-producer. The album sold around 49,000 copies in the United States within its first week of release, debuting at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 chart, making it the band's highest-charting album in the US. The album also reached No. 5 in the UK, making it their first top-ten album in the UK since British Steel. Music videos were made for "Lightning Strike", "Spectre" and "No Surrender". A lyric video was made for "Never the Heroes". The record also produced three singles.
Live From Brixton: Chapter Two is a live performance of heavy metal band Bullet for My Valentine recorded at Brixton Academy on 9 and 10 December 2016, the two last concerts of the band's UK tour celebrating the 10th anniversary of their first album, The Poison. It was released in July 2017 as a double CD for each night, a double DVD or a single Blu-Ray for both nights and a triple red vinyl only for Night Two. It was released through PledgeMusic only.
