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". The band maintains a strong cult following and has sold over 30 million copies of their recordings.
Immortal is a Norwegian black metal band from Bergen. The group was founded in 1991 by frontman and guitarist Abbath Doom Occulta and guitarist Demonaz Doom Occulta. The pair worked with various drummers, and were later joined by former drummer Horgh in 1996.
Black Majesty is an Australian power metal band formed in 2001 as Kymera. The band was founded by guitarist Steve Janevski and bassist Cory Betts (ex-Pegazus). After the release of a three track sampler album, they signed a five-album contract with German-based label, LMP Records. The group released their fifth studio album, Stargazer, in July 2012.
Rage is a German heavy metal band formed in 1984 by Peter "Peavy" Wagner. They were part of the German heavy/speed/power metal scene which emerged in the early to mid-1980s, and have been referred to as one of the country's so-called "big four" of power metal, along with Grave Digger, Helloween and Running Wild.
Psycroptic are an Australian technical death metal band formed in Hobart, Australia in 1999. Mainstay members are Dave Haley on drums and his brother Joe Haley on guitar. Their lead vocalist, Jason Peppiatt, joined in 2004. In 2008 they signed to Nuclear Blast. As of August 2022, the band have released eight studio albums. They have undertaken Australian national tours supporting international acts, Incantation, Decapitated, Origin and Misery Index. Psycroptic have also toured Europe with Nile and with Deicide. In February 2019, the band started a co-headlining tour alongside Aversions Crown and support bands Within Destruction, Hadal Maw and Hollow World across Europe. They also headlined a 2019 tour in the United States in support of their album As the Kingdom Drowns.
Graveworm is an Italian extreme metal band from Brunico formed in 1992.
Steve Smyth is an American musician who is the guitarist for metal band One Machine.
Monstrosity is an American death metal band formed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, during the 1990s in the Florida death metal. The original lineup featured Corpsegrinder, who later found greater success as the frontman and singer of Cannibal Corpse.
Horde is the unblack metal solo project of Australian musician Jayson Sherlock, formerly of Mortification and Paramaecium. In 1994, the only studio album, Hellig Usvart, was released on Nuclear Blast Records. With a session line-up, Horde played live in 2006 in Norway and in 2010 in Finland and Germany. Hellig Usvart proved to be a seminal release for the unblack metal movement, and the album was highly controversial in the secular black metal scene at the time it was released.
Equilibrium is a German folk metal band from Bavaria. The band's music combines elements of folk music, pagan metal, melodic black metal and symphonic metal with various other influences. Their riffs reflect traditional Germanic melodies. Their lyrical themes focus on Germanic tales and Germanic mythology. The songs of the band are almost always in German, although most recently they prioritized the English in their songs, mostly with their sixth album Renegades (2019).
Andreas "Andi" Deris is a German singer, best known as co-lead vocalist of the power metal band Helloween, and co-founder and former lead singer of the metal band Pink Cream 69.
Nine Destinies and a Downfall is the third studio album by the Norwegian gothic metal band Sirenia. It was released on 23 February 2007 through Nuclear Blast. The enhanced CD of the digipak edition contains a bonus track, the video for the song "My Mind's Eye" and multimedia software. The music video was produced and directed by Serbian film company iCODE Team, being the first of the band. In March 2007 a second video was released, "The Other Side".
Crematory is a German gothic metal band formed in Mannheim in 1991.
John Connelly is an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of New York City thrash metal band Nuclear Assault.
Van Canto is a German a cappella metal band, founded in 2006 and composed of six singers and a drummer. Although the group is often classified as an a cappella ensemble, they use real drums in their music, instead of vocal percussion or beatboxing.
Live Legacy is a live album by Swedish black metal band Dissection, released in 2003 by Nuclear Blast. It was recorded during a show at the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany on 8 August 1997. It was first released as a bootleg called Frozen in Wacken, which featured the art of romantic painter Antoine Wiertz on the cover. The bootleg also includes the song "Night's Blood" that was omitted from the official release due to errors in the recording.
Stormwitch is a German heavy metal band from Heidenheim, Baden Württemberg, Germany, formed in 1981. They have been called "The Masters of Black Romantic" by their fans. The band's song lyrics often focused on fantasy, occult or historical themes, along with their contemporaries and countrymen Helloween. They performed at Wacken Open Air festival in 2002. Over time, they have changed their sound from a Judas Priest-esque style of heavy metal to a more keyboard based form of power metal.
The discography of Accept, a German heavy metal band, consists of 16 studio albums, five live albums, nine compilations, 25 singles, four video albums and 11 music videos. Formed in Solingen in 1976, Accept originally consisted of lead vocalist Udo Dirkschneider, lead guitarist Wolf Hoffmann, rhythm guitarist Gerard Wahl, bassist Peter Baltes and drummer Frank Friedrich. The band signed to Brain Records and released their self-titled debut album in 1979, which failed to chart. After Friedrich was replaced by Stefan Kaufmann, I'm a Rebel, Breaker and Restless and Wild followed over the next three years, the last of which gave Accept their debut on the UK Albums Chart when it reached number 98.
Suicidal Angels is a Greek thrash metal band formed in 2001 in Athens, Greece, by guitarist/vocalist and main songwriter Nick Melissourgos. Since its inception, the band has released seven studio albums, and has gone through several line-up changes leaving Melissourgos as the only constant member.
Battle Beast is a Finnish heavy/power metal band established in Helsinki in 2008 by Anton Kabanen, Juuso Soinio and Pyry Vikki. The initial line-up consisted of guitarists Soinio and Kabanen, and drummer Vikki, who were high school friends. The rest of the original lineup, bassist Eero Sipilä, keyboardist Janne Björkroth and lead singer Nitte Valo, joined the band after auditions.
