Ride the Lightning is the second studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica, released on July 27, 1984, by the independent record label Megaforce Records. The album was recorded in three weeks with producer Flemming Rasmussen at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark. The artwork, based on a concept by the band, depicts an electric chair being struck by lightning flowing from the band logo. The title was taken from a passage in Stephen King's novel The Stand, in which a character uses the phrase to refer to execution by electric chair.
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrumentals and aggressive musicianship made them one of the founding "big four" bands of thrash metal, alongside Megadeth, Anthrax, and Slayer. Metallica's current lineup comprises founding members and primary songwriters Hetfield and Ulrich, longtime lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, and bassist Robert Trujillo. Guitarist Dave Mustaine and bassists Ron McGovney, Cliff Burton, and Jason Newsted are former members of the band.
Megadeth is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine and bassist David Ellefson. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal along with Metallica, Anthrax, and Slayer, responsible for the genre's development and popularization. Their music features complex arrangements and fast rhythm sections, and lyrical themes of death, war, politics, personal relationships, and religion.
Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good! is the debut studio album by American thrash metal band Megadeth, released on June 12, 1985, by Combat Records. At the beginning of 1985, the band was given $8,000 by Combat to record and produce its debut album. The band was forced to fire their original producer and produce the album by themselves, after spending half of the album's budget on drugs, alcohol, and food. Despite the poor production, the album was a well-received effort that obtained strong reviews in various music publications. Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good! played an essential role in establishing thrash metal as an authentic subgenre of heavy metal music. It explores themes of death, occultism, and violence.
So Far, So Good... So What! is the third studio album by American heavy metal band Megadeth, released on January 19, 1988 by Capitol Records. It was the band's only album recorded with drummer Chuck Behler and guitarist Jeff Young, both of whom were fired from the band in early 1989, several months after the completion of the album's world tour. So Far, So Good... So What! features music performed at fast tempos with technical ability; lyrically, frontman and guitarist Dave Mustaine addresses a variety of topics, including nuclear holocaust and freedom of speech.
Cryptic Writings is the seventh studio album by American heavy metal band Megadeth. Released on June 17, 1997 through Capitol Records, it was the band's last studio album to feature drummer Nick Menza. His departure would mark the end of the band's longest lasting lineup to date, having recorded four studio albums. Megadeth decided to produce the record with Dann Huff in Nashville, Tennessee, because they were not satisfied with their previous producer Max Norman. The album features twelve tracks with accessible song structures, specifically aimed for radio airplay. The lyrics were also altered, in order to make the music more inclusive for wider audience. These changes were met with mixed opinions from music critics, who noted the band moving away from their thrash metal roots.
David Scott Mustaine is an American musician. He is the co-founder, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter of the thrash metal band Megadeth, as well as their only consistent member. Mustaine has released fifteen studio albums with Megadeth, sold over 50 million albums worldwide, with six albums platinum-certified, and won a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2017 at the 59th Grammy Awards, for the title track of their fifteenth studio album, Dystopia.
Plays Metallica by Four Cellos is the debut album by Finnish metal band Apocalyptica, released in 1996. It features eight instrumental Metallica covers arranged and played on cellos.
"The Siren" is the fourth and last single of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish's fifth studio album Once. The song was recorded with the London Session Orchestra and includes many exotic instruments, for example an electric violin and a sitar; it also has very few lines.
Eino Matti "Eicca" Toppinen is a Finnish cellist, songwriter, producer, arranger, and drummer. In 1993 he formed the quartet Apocalyptica.
Excel is a crossover thrash band from Venice, California, founded in 1983 by singer Dan Clements and guitarist Adam Siegel. They were influenced by 1970s punk rock musicians like the Germs and Black Flag, and heavy metal bands like Black Sabbath, Trouble, Slayer, Corrosion of Conformity and Cryptic Slaughter. They were also influenced by street art, Excel is known for painting graffiti on the streets of the cities where they make their tours, hence there are many different logos of the band.
"Am I Evil?" is a song by British heavy metal band Diamond Head released on their 1980 debut album Lightning to the Nations. The song was written by vocalist Sean Harris and guitarist Brian Tatler and released via Happy Face Records, a label owned by the producer Muff Murfin of The Old Smithy studio of Worcester, England. The song was immediately popular among heavy metal circles in the United Kingdom around the time of its release, but only rose to international prominence after Metallica covered it as a B-side on their "Creeping Death" single in 1984; the cover was re-released on their 1998 covers album Garage Inc. The song was influenced by the Black Sabbath song "Symptom of the Universe."
Max Lilja is a Finnish cello player. He is best known as a founding member of the Finnish cello metal band Apocalyptica, a band he left in 2001 to join the Finnish thrash metal band Hevein. Beginning in 2007, Lilja has been a recording and touring member of Tarja Turunen's solo band. Throughout his career, Lilja has continued to play classical music alongside rock, metal, and crossover projects.
Apocalyptica is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Helsinki, formed in 1993. The band is composed of classically trained cellists Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjönen, and Perttu Kivilaakso, and jazz drummer Mikko Sirén. Originally a classical-style Metallica tribute band, the band eventually adopted a neoclassical metal style without the use of conventional guitars and bass. They have sold over four million albums to date.
Melo-M is a Latvian instrumental cello rock trio consisting of three classically trained cellists: Kārlis Auzāns, Miķelis Dobičins and Jānis Pauls. The name is derived from the word melomania.
The Sonisphere Festival was a touring rock music festival which took place across Europe between the months of June and August. The festival was owned by John Jackson and Kilimanjaro Live. It was jointly promoted by K2 and Kilimanjaro Live. It hosted heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden, Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Slayer, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Avenged Sevenfold and BABYMETAL.
"Enter Sandman" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica. It is the opening track and lead single from their self-titled fifth album, released in 1991. The music was written by Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Vocalist and rhythm guitarist Hetfield wrote the lyrics, which deal with the concept of a child's nightmares.
7th Symphony is the seventh studio album by the Finnish cello metal band Apocalyptica. It was released on August 20, 2010 in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, August 23, 2010 in the rest of the world, and August 24, 2010 in the U.S. and Canada. Released three years after their previous album Worlds Collide, Apocalyptica continued the practice of having four tracks with featured vocalists, while the remaining tracks are all instrumental. Dave Lombardo of Slayer was once again featured on drums, on the track entitled "2010". The band toured with touring vocalist Tipe Johnson in support of the album in Europe, Mexico, Canada, the US and Venezuela since the summer of 2010.
"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.
Cell-0 is the ninth studio album by Finnish cello metal band Apocalyptica. It was released on 10 January 2020. It is the band's first fully instrumental album since 2003's Reflections, and their first studio release since Shadowmaker, published 4 years and 9 months earlier, marking their longest gap between studio albums.
