Celtic Frost was a Swiss heavy metal band from Zürich. They are remembered for their strong influence on the development of several metal subgenres, particularly extreme metal, and for their avant-garde approach to music in general.
Cave In is an American rock band that formed in 1995 in Methuen, Massachusetts. The band's lineup solidified with the 1998 release of Until Your Heart Stops through Hydra Head Records, and their early albums were prominent in the metalcore scene. The band later experimented with other genres, receiving mainstream recognition for their 2003 RCA Records album Antenna and its lead single "Anchor," which had an overall alternative rock style. The group went on hiatus in 2006, later reforming in 2009 with the release of the Planets of Old EP, followed by the White Silence LP in 2011, both of which saw a return to Cave In's earlier and heavier sound.
Rotting Christ is a Greek black metal band formed in 1987. They are noted for being one of the first black metal bands within this region, as well as a premier act within the European underground metal scene. They are also responsible for creating the signature Greek black metal sound prevalent in the early 1990s.
Discharge are an English hardcore punk band formed in 1977 in Stoke-on-Trent, England. The band is known for influencing several sub-genres of extreme music and their songs have been covered by some of the biggest names in heavy metal and other genres. The musical sub-genre of D-beat is named after Discharge and the band's distinctive drumbeat.
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 US 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.
Frost Like Ashes is an American Christian black metal band that formed in Kansas City, Missouri in 2001. The band has released three EPs and a full-length album, Tophet, and their songs have appeared on three compilation albums. Previously signed to Psycho Acoustix Records and currently to Sullen Records, an imprint of Open Grave Records, their music combines elements of black metal, death metal and thrash metal with keyboards and virtuosic vocals notable for "switching between about 10 different extreme styles within a given song." Their lyrics have achieved attention for their harsh output, providing a Christian point of view for the regular themes of black metal music. The band is also controversial for using the typical corpse paint style often associated with the black metal visuals.
Watchtower is an American progressive metal band based in Austin, Texas, active from 1982 to 1993 and they have reunited occasionally since 1999. The band has released two studio albums―Energetic Disassembly (1985) and Control and Resistance (1989)―as well as one compilation album, four digital singles, one EP and three demo cassettes, and has been featured on numerous compilation albums. They are also notable for featuring vocalist Jason McMaster, who left Watchtower after the release of Energetic Disassembly to form Dangerous Toys, and was replaced by Alan Tecchio, who appeared on Control and Resistance and the band's 2016 EP Concepts of Math: Book One. After leaving the band once again in 2010, McMaster returned to Watchtower for the second time in 2023.
Logan Conrad Mader is a Canadian record producer and musician. He is a guitarist for melodic death metal band Once Human and a former lead guitarist for heavy metal band Machine Head.
Graspop Metal Meeting is a Belgian heavy metal festival held in Dessel each year since 1996, excluding 2020 and 2021 due to covid restrictions. Despite the small size of the festival grounds the festival draws a large number of spectators from around the world, with a total of 220,000 visitors in 2022 and 2023, up from 200,000 visitors over the course of the 2019 edition, and 152,000 in 2015.
Sick Puppies are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1997. After releasing their debut album Welcome to the Real World in 2001, the band rose to prominence in 2006 when their song "All the Same" was uploaded, along with a video, to YouTube. The video supported the Free Hugs Campaign, which was launched in Sydney by Juan Mann, and has since received over 78 million views on the website. This success was followed up with their second studio album, Dressed Up as Life, in 2007, which entered the Billboard 200 at number 181. Their third studio album, Tri-Polar, came out in 2009. The band's fourth studio album, Connect, was released in 2013. They released their fifth studio album, Fury, in 2016 with new vocalist Bryan Scott after Shimon Moore was fired from the band in October 2014.
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.
The Agonist was a Canadian metalcore and melodic death metal band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 2004. The last known lineup consisted of lead guitarist Danny Marino, bassist Chris Kells, drummer Simon Mckay, rhythm guitarist Pascal "Paco" Jobin and lead vocalist Vicky Psarakis, who joined in March 2014 following the departure of vocalist and founding member Alissa White-Gluz.
Sebastian R. Komor is a Polish-born, Norwegian-raised electronic musician, best known for his collaborative work in Icon of Coil and Zombie Girl. A prolific artist, Komor has also released electronic music under a variety of solo projects and aliases since the late 1990s.
Mark Gemini Thwaite, also known as MGT, is an English musician who has been the guitarist for a number of rock bands and artists, including The Mission, trip hop pioneer Tricky, Peter Murphy of Bauhaus, New Disease, Spear of Destiny & Theatre of Hate, Mob Research, and Canadian band National Velvet plus various live and recorded appearances with Gary Numan, Al Jourgensen of Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Roger Daltrey of the Who, P.J. Harvey, Alanis Morissette, Raymond Watts and PIG, Primitive Race, Ricky Warwick of Thin Lizzy, Ginger of The Wildhearts, Stan Lee of Marvel Comics, Franz Treichler of The Young Gods, Miles Hunt & The Wonder Stuff, Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory, American rapper DMX, Laurence "Lol" Tolhurst and Porl Thompson of The Cure and Ville Valo of Finnish band HIM.
First Signs of Frost is an English post-hardcore/tech rock band from South East London. Forming in July 2004, the four piece originally conformed by songwriter / guitarist and vocalist Owen Hughes-Holland along with guitarist Adam Mason, bassist Dan Oehlman and drummer William Gates. After embarking on numerous tours the band made a significant impact on the UK's underground rock scene.
Red Bull Records is a record label headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It is a subsidiary of the energy drink company Red Bull GmbH and has offices in Los Angeles, London, and New York. Since its inception, Red Bull Records has been home to artists and bands such as Awolnation, Twin Atlantic, and Beartooth.
The Unguided is a Swedish melodic death metal band, formed by Richard Sjunnesson, Roger Sjunnesson, Roland Johansson and John Bengtsson, all of whom are former members of Sonic Syndicate. Later, they were joined by Cipher System bassist Henric Liljesand. Bengtsson was replaced by Richard Schill in late 2012 and Johansson was replaced by Jonathan Thorpenberg in 2016.
Matthew Alexander "Max" Frost is an American singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist from Austin, Texas, who is signed to Atlantic Records. He has released two EPs: Low High Low in October 2013, and Intoxication in September 2015, followed by the release of his debut album, Gold Rush, in 2018.
Andy C. Saxton is a musician, producer and film composer from Watford, England. He has worked alongside many famous bands and musicians including Bon Jovi, Sepultura, Alexisonfire, Jimmy Eat World. Saxton was also the bassist for the Progressive Metal band Cry For Silence for eight years with the new Slipknot bassist Alessandro Venturella. Saxton has played on albums with Ryan Richards from Funeral For a Friend and Charlie Simpson from Busted/Fightstar
Jack Driessen is a Dutch keyboardist, songwriter and arranger. He is co-founder and former member of the Dutch symphonic death metal band MaYaN. Furthermore he is known as the first keyboardist of the symphonic metal band After Forever (1995–2000) and as songwriter on 3 albums of the symphonic metal band Epica.
