Napalm Death are an English grindcore band formed in Meriden, West Midlands in 1981. None of the band's original members have been in the group since 1986, but since Utopia Banished (1992), the lineup of bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch Harris, drummer Danny Herrera and lead vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway has remained consistent through most of the band's career. From 1989 to 2004, Napalm Death were a five-piece band after they added Jesse Pintado and Mitch Harris as replacements for guitarist Bill Steer. Following Pintado's departure, the band reverted to a four-piece.
The Obsessed is an American doom metal band from Potomac, Maryland, led by Scott "Wino" Weinrich. Formed in 1979, they recorded a few demos and played a handful of live shows until they first split up in 1986 when Weinrich joined as lead vocalist for Saint Vitus. About two years before his departure from Saint Vitus, Weinrich reformed The Obsessed in 1989, and three studio albums − The Obsessed (1990), Lunar Womb (1991) and The Church Within (1994) − were released before disbanding for the second time in 1995. After reuniting for occasional live shows between 2011 and 2013, the band announced a permanent reunion in March 2016, and has since released two more studio albums: Sacred (2017) and Gilded Sorrow (2024).
Possessed is an American heavy metal band, originally formed in 1983. Noted for their fast style of playing and Jeff Becerra's growled vocals, they are often called the first band in the death metal genre, and paved the way for the 1980s Bay Area thrash metal scene, along with Metallica, Exodus, Testament and Death Angel. The band is also notable for featuring future Primus member Larry LaLonde, who was the guitarist for Possessed from 1984 to 1987.
Dirty Rotten Imbeciles is an American crossover thrash band that formed in Houston in 1982 and would later relocate to San Francisco. The band is currently composed of two of its founding members, lead vocalist Kurt Brecht and guitarist Spike Cassidy, as well as bassist Greg Orr and drummer Rob Rampy.
Dark Angel is an American thrash metal band from Downey, California, formed in 1981. The band's current lineup includes drummer Gene Hoglan, guitarists Eric Meyer and Laura Christine, frontman Ron Rinehart and bassist Mike Gonzalez. In its history, they have gone through many lineup changes, and as of guitarist Jim Durkin's death on March 8, 2023, there are no original members left in the current lineup of Dark Angel, although Meyer is the only member to appear on all of their studio albums.
Blind Illusion is an American progressive thrash metal band from Richmond, California. The band’s original line-up formed in 1978 by lead guitarist and songwriter Mark Biedermann. Since Blind Illusion’s inception the band has had several line-up changes, with Biedermann remaining the only constant member. Blind Illusion is also notable for featuring Les Claypool and Larry LaLonde, both later of Primus, who performed bass and guitar respectively on their 1988 debut album The Sane Asylum.
Destruction is a German thrash metal band formed in 1982. They have been credited as one of the "Big Four" of the German thrash metal scene, the others being Kreator, Sodom and Tankard. In addition to helping pioneer black metal, Destruction was part of the second wave of thrash metal in the mid-to-late 1980s, along with American bands Testament, Sacred Reich, Death Angel and Dark Angel. For most of the 1990s, the band was not signed to a record label and self-produced their albums until they signed a contract with Nuclear Blast in the early 2000s.
Necrophagia was an American death metal band. The band is credited as one of the inaugural groups within the death metal genre, along with Possessed and Death.
Tourniquet was an American Christian metal band that formed in Los Angeles in 1990. It was founded by Ted Kirkpatrick, Guy Ritter, and Gary Lenaire. Tourniquet primarily played a mixture of thrash and progressive metal and was influenced by additional, non-rock forms of music such as classical and world music. The band earned six GMA Dove Award nominations and won multiple recognitions from the readers of HM Magazine, including "Favorite Band of the 1990s" and "Favorite Album of the 1990s" for Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance (1992). They released ten studio albums, two live albums, four compilation albums, one EP, and several video releases. The last Tourniquet lineup consisted of Ted Kirkpatrick (drums) and Aaron Guerra. The band disbanded after Kirkpatrick's death in 2022.
Hirax is an American thrash metal band from Cypress, California. Starting in 1984 under the leadership of vocalist Katon W. De Pena, the band played in Los Angeles and San Francisco with several of their thrash metal peers such as Metallica, Exodus, and Slayer. The band was an early example of thrash metal, speed metal and crossover thrash, yet inspired by cross-genre influences including blues vocalist Sam Cooke, who De Pena once cited as "the greatest vocalist [De Pena] has ever heard."
Massacre is an American death metal band. They were formed in 1984 by Allen West, Bill Andrews, and Mike Borders, soon after vocalist Kam Lee joined. The band has reunited several times with varying lineups, most recently in late 2016.
The Undead is an American horror punk band formed in 1980 in New York City's East Village by Bobby Steele, Chris "Jack" Natz (bass) and Patrick Blanck (drums). They were one of the pioneers in the New York hardcore scene.
Halestorm is an American rock band from Red Lion, Pennsylvania, consisting of lead vocalist and guitarist Lzzy Hale, drummer Arejay Hale, guitarist Joe Hottinger, and bassist Josh Smith. Siblings Lzzy and Arejay founded the band in 1997. The group's self-titled debut album was released in 2009 through Atlantic Records.
Master's Hammer is a Czech black metal band formed in Prague in 1983. They were active, with several lineup changes, until 1995, and again from 2009 onward. As of 2024, they have released eight studio albums, five demos, one EP, two split albums, one live album, and several compilations.
Shining is a Swedish black metal band, formed by Niklas Kvarforth in Halmstad in 1996.
Loudblast is a French death/thrash metal band from Villeneuve-d'Ascq that pioneered the genres in France, and one of the most important French metal bands of the 1990s.
Heavy Load is a Swedish heavy metal band from Stockholm. The band is often hailed as the first Swedish heavy metal band, and were known for their Viking themes. The Wahlquist brothers, who founded the band in 1976 along with Michael Backler, were later producers and owners of Thunderload Records in Sweden, were at one point producing Veni Domine, and also were considering releasing a new album, though that never occurred.
Omen is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by lead guitarist Kenny Powell.
Savage Grace is an American power and speed metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by Chris Logue and Brian East, initially active between 1981 and 1993. They reformed in 2009, and subsequently released an EP entitled The Lost Grace. In 2010, they performed at the Up the Hammers, Bang Your Head!!! and Keep It True festivals.
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.
