Cryptopsy is a Canadian technical death metal band from Montreal, formed in 1988.
Einherjer is a Viking metal band from Haugesund, Norway, founded in 1993. Some of the band's albums are heavily folk influenced, while others have a more traditional symphonic black metal sound. Their lyrics retell Norse legends, and each of their albums has its own theme. The band split up in early 2004 after releasing the album Blot in December 2003, but later reformed.
Tristania was a Norwegian gothic metal band formed in 1996 by Morten Veland, Einar Moen and Kenneth Olsson. Tristania's music is usually classified as Gothic metal with death influences, due to its strong tie and legacy within the gothic metal history. Their songs largely dealt with dark and sentimental topics, including depression, sadness, suicide, love, absence, and anger.
Samoth is a Norwegian guitarist and multi-instrumentalist in the country's black metal scene. He is well known for his distinct guitar work and drumming in the band Emperor, as well as his formation of the death metal band Zyklon. In very early Emperor releases, he was called Samot, and with the formation of Zyklon he became known as Zamoth. Samoth was the owner of the record label Nocturnal Art Productions and had a close relationship with Candlelight Records.
Mortification is an Australian Christian death metal band which was formed in 1987 as a heavy metal group, Lightforce, by mainstay Steve Rowe on bass guitar and vocals. By 1990, in the Melbourne suburb of Moorabbin, they were renamed as Mortification with the line-up of Rowe, Michael Carlisle on guitar and Jayson Sherlock on drums. Mortification has released fourteen studio albums, three compilation albums, three extended plays, six live discs, one demo album, one box set, and several videos on major record labels such as Nuclear Blast. As one of the earliest internationally successful Christian death metal bands from Australia, they served as an inspiration for later similar groups.
Omnium Gatherum is a six-piece melodic death metal band from Finland, founded in the autumn of 1996. Although the band mainly follows the path of the melodic death metal genre, much of their work shows strong influences from progressive metal, especially their later albums. Their music is influenced by Gothenburg-style bands such as At the Gates, In Flames, Dissection, Dark Tranquillity, but also Iron Maiden, Death, Anathema and Megadeth among others.
Jag Panzer is an American power metal band from Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Graveworm is an Italian extreme metal band from Brunico formed in 1992.
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."
Xandria is a German symphonic metal band founded by Marco Heubaum in 1994. Originally a project, Heubaum later restarted the project as a band in 1999, and has gone through various lineup changes. The German vocalist Lisa Middelhauve joined for the debut album, co-writing both music and lyrics for the band until her departure in 2008. Middelhauve reunited briefly with the band in 2010 following the departure of the band's second vocalist Kerstin Bischof, but left again shortly after. Manuela Kraller joined the band as the new vocalist in 2010.
Broken Hope is an American death metal band from Chicago, Illinois.
Theatres des Vampires is an Italian gothic metal band, mostly noted for the predominant theme of vampirism within their lyrics. The band's early material was credited as melodic black metal or symphonic black metal, but the group completely abandoned all black metal influence by the mid-2000s. Theatres des Vampires have released eleven full-length albums.
Brutality is an American death metal band from Tampa, Florida. The group was signed to Nuclear Blast Records in the 1990s.
Royal Hunt is a Danish progressive metal band. The band was founded in 1989 by keyboardist André Andersen in order to combine basic values of classic rock with progressive, current musical elements. The name originated from a painting seen in a museum by the founding member/keyboardist André Andersen.
Echoes of Eternity is an American progressive metal band based in Los Angeles, California, United States. Their debut album The Forgotten Goddess, was released in February 2007 on Nuclear Blast records. The band's follow up album, As Shadows Burn, was released on September 25, 2009 via Massacre Records in Europe and on September 22, 2009 via Nuclear Blast in the U.S.
Holy Blood is a folk metal band from Kyiv, Ukraine, formed in 1999. The band is notable for being one of the few Christian bands in its genre, and the fact that they are the most successful group on its label Bombworks Records, and the band has been noted worldwide despite being an underground group. Holy Blood has released six albums: The Wanderer, Waves Are Dancing, The Patriot, Shining Sun, Day of Vengeance and Voice of Blood.
Secret Sphere is an Italian symphonic power metal band from Alessandria, formed by guitarist Aldo Lonobile in July 1997.
Ultimatum is an American thrash metal band from Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Pantokrator is a Swedish Christian metal band that was formed in 1996. The band's name means "Lord Almighty" in Ancient Greek. Several members have been in Crimson Moonlight and Sanctifica.
Death Requisite is a heavy metal band from Sarasota, Florida. The band describes their style as "blackened symphonic melodic Technical death metal" or simply "extreme hybrid metal". The band has played with Living Sacrifice, Extol, Zao, Norma Jean, and Sleeping Giant. The band is signed to Rottweiler Records.
