Emperor is a Norwegian black metal band formed in 1991, regarded as highly influential by critics and emerging black metal bands. The group split up in 2001, but reunited from 2005 to 2007 for a few festival dates and brief US tours, and again reunited in 2013 to 2014. Emperor reformed for the third time in 2016. The group was founded by Ihsahn (guitar/vocal) and Samoth.
Symphony X is an American progressive metal band from Middletown, New Jersey. Founded in 1994, the band consists of guitarist Michael Romeo, keyboardist Michael Pinnella, drummer Jason Rullo, lead vocalist Russell Allen and bassist Michael LePond.
Third is the third album by American rock band Big Star. Sessions started at Ardent Studios in September 1974. Though Ardent created promotional, white-label test pressings for the record in 1975, a combination of financial issues, the uncommercial sound of the record, and lack of interest from singer Alex Chilton and drummer Jody Stephens in continuing the project prevented the album from ever being properly finished or released at the time of its recording. It was eventually released in 1978 by PVC Records.
Blind Illusion is an American progressive thrash metal band from Richmond, California. Formed in 1978 by lead guitarist and main songwriter Mark Biedermann, the band has had several lineup changes, with Biedermann being 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.
Thomas "Thomen" Stauch, also known by his nickname The Omen, is a German heavy metal drummer, mostly known as the co-founder and former drummer of Blind Guardian.
Asphyx is a Dutch death metal band formed in Oldenzaal, Overijssel in 1987.
Lucifer's Friend was a German rock band, formed in Hamburg in 1970 by guitarist Peter Hesslein, singer John Lawton, bassist Dieter Horns, keyboardist Peter Hecht, and drummer Joachim Reitenbach. The group was an early practitioner of heavy metal and progressive rock; they also incorporated elements of jazz and fusion into their music, especially in their fourth album Banquet of 1974. Beyond heavy metal, the band has been cited, too, as one of the pioneers of doom metal, helping to define both genres due to their heavy sound and dark oriented lyrics of their debut Lucifer's Friend of 1970, and returning to their roots in 1981 with Mean Machine, although more influenced by speed metal.
"The Magic of the Wizard's Dream" is the third single recorded by Italian symphonic power metal band Rhapsody, released in 2005.
The Exotic Birds was an American Synthpop music group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, in 1982 by three Cleveland Institute of Music percussion students They wrote their own music, and were described as synthpop and dance. They achieved mainly local success, but appeared as an opening band for Culture Club, Eurythmics, and Information Society.
All Shook Down is the seventh and final studio album by the American rock band The Replacements, released on September 25, 1990, by Sire Records.
Abruptum is a Swedish black metal and dark ambient solo side-project band. It is run by Evil of Marduk, but the band was formed in 1989 by IT. All, Ext and Evil joined the band later. IT was one of the leaders of the True Satanist Horde, part of the Swedish Black metal scene. Euronymous, co-founder of Mayhem and founder of Deathlike Silence Productions, described Abruptum as "the audial essence of pure black evil".
Nocturnal Symphony was the demo album that Gus G. recorded with his friends as a showcase for his talents to attract a record deal under the pseudonym of Firewind. However Firewind wasn't formed as a band until after Gus had toured and recorded with Dream Evil, Nightrage, and Mystic Prophecy almost four years later. The album has two unofficial covers which have proved to be the most recognisable, seeing as there are only 500 copies of the album and the original and official album cover.
John Mackey is an American composer of contemporary classical music, with an emphasis on music for wind band, as well as orchestra. For several years, he focused on music for modern dance and ballet.
Hortus Animae is a progressive black metal band from Northern and Central Italy. They formed in 1997 in the town of Rimini (Romagna). After the release of their self-produced debut The Melting Idols, they began an active live streak with bands like Lacuna Coil, Ancient, and Napalm Death. Upon opening for the cult Norwegian black metal band Ancient in Padova (Italy), the band developed a friendship with their drummer Grom, who soon after joined the band out of admiration for their work and made it his primary side-project. At this point, the band began the recording process of their second album and first official release Waltzing Mephisto which had been years in the writing. The album was recorded at the well-known Italian metal studio Fear. Following the recording, the band signed a deal with Greek label Black Lotus Records in October 2002 and subsequently with Sleaszy Rider Records (EMI) for their 3rd and most evolved concept album The Blow Of Furious Winds in May 2005.
Gallhammer were a Japanese extreme metal group that drew on blackened crust, black metal, doom metal and crust punk. They formed in Tokyo in 2003 and released three studio albums.
The Heart of Everything World Tour was a concert tour by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation in support of their fourth album, The Heart of Everything.
The Silent Force Tour was a concert tour by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation in support of their third album, The Silent Force. The international growth the band had been facing with the album reflected well on the touring schedule and the locations played, as the band started being able to play in several newly visited countries and at bigger music festivals, such as the Download Festival in the United Kingdom, Wacken Open Air in Germany and the Loud Park Festival in Japan. The concert at the Java-eiland, in Amsterdam, was recorded and released homonymously under the name The Silent Force Tour on November, 2005.
Holy Dragons is a Kazakhstani metal band, founded in 1992 in Almaty.
Memoriam is a death metal band from Birmingham, England. The band was formed in 2016 by former Bolt Thrower vocalist Karl Willetts, alongside Scott Fairfax on guitar, Frank Healy on bass and Andy Whale on drums. In 2020, Andy Whale left the band and was replaced by Spike T. Smith. In an interview, Willetts stated that the band was originally formed as a tribute to the late Bolt Thrower drummer Martin Kearns. To date, the band has released five studio albums, two of which reached the charts in Germany, For the Fallen at number 16 and The Silent Vigil at number 32. The band's latest album, Rise to Power, was released on 3rd February 2023. The band originally signed to Nuclear Blast, but left after the first three albums for Reaper Entertainment, a new label established by previous Nuclear Blast employee Florian Milz.
Slagmaur is a Norwegian black metal band from Brekstad and Trondheim, formed in 1997 and originally named Norske Synder.
