Napalm Death are an English grindcore band formed in Meriden, West Midlands in 1981. None of the band's original members have been in the group since 1986, but since Utopia Banished (1992), the lineup of bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch Harris, drummer Danny Herrera and lead vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway has remained consistent through most of the band's career. From 1989 to 2004, Napalm Death were a five-piece band after they added Jesse Pintado as the replacement of one-time guitarist Bill Steer. Following Pintado's departure, the band reverted to a four-piece.
Amorphis is a Finnish heavy metal band founded by Jan Rechberger, Tomi Koivusaari, and Esa Holopainen in 1990. Initially, the band was a death metal act, but on later albums they evolved into playing other genres, including progressive metal and folk metal. They frequently use the Kalevala, the epic poem of Finland, as a source for their lyrics.
Suffocation is an American death metal band formed in 1988 in Centereach, New York, currently consisting of lead guitarist Terrance Hobbs, bassist Derek Boyer, rhythm guitarist Charlie Errigo, drummer Eric Morotti, and vocalist Ricky Myers. The band rose to prominence with their 1991 debut album Effigy of the Forgotten, which became a blueprint for death metal in the 1990s. Since then, Suffocation has recorded eight albums. These feature growled vocals with downtuned guitars, fast and complex guitar riffs and drumming, open chord notes and occasional breakdowns.
Paradise Lost are an English gothic metal band. Formed in Halifax, West Yorkshire in 1988, they are considered to be among the pioneers of the death-doom genre and regarded as the main influence for the later gothic metal movement. Bands that have cited Paradise Lost as an influence, or have covered them, include My Dying Bride, Anathema, The Gathering, Amorphis, Cradle of Filth, Katatonia, Moonspell, Lacuna Coil, HIM, Nightwish and many others. As of 2005, Paradise Lost have sold over two million albums worldwide.
The Wildhearts are an English rock band, formed in 1989 in Newcastle upon Tyne. The band's sound is a mixture of hard rock and melodic pop music, often described in the music press as combining influences as diverse as the Beatles and 1980s-era Metallica. The Wildhearts achieved several top 20 singles and two top 10 albums in Britain, though they also faced difficulties with record companies and many internal problems often relating to drugs and depression. Much of the band's early career was affected by bitter feuds with their record company, East West.
Blood Duster was an Australian extreme metal and stoner rock band from Melbourne. Their name came from the song "Blood Duster" by John Zorn, from the 1989 album Naked City.
Rotten Sound is a Finnish grindcore band from Vaasa, formed in 1993. The band comprises vocalist Keijo Niinimaa, guitarist Mika Aalto, bassist Matti Raappana, and drummer Sami Latva. The band has released eight studio albums and "earned a reputation for being one of the most intense bands on the Scandinavian death metal/grindcore scene".
Wolfsbane are an English heavy metal band, active from 1984 to 1994, and again since 2010, following two brief reunions. To date, the band has released five studio albums, two live albums, two compilation albums, two EPs and three demos. Wolfsbane are now notable for being vocalist Blaze Bayley's band before he went on to replace Bruce Dickinson in Iron Maiden and then pursue a solo career. In addition to Bayley, the band's current lineup includes guitarist Jason "Jase" Edwards, bassist Jeff Hateley and drummer Steve Danger.
Earth vs the Wildhearts is the debut studio album by British rock band The Wildhearts, released in 1993. The title is based on such B-movie titles as Earth vs. the Flying Saucers and Earth vs. the Spider.
Enemy of the Music Business is the ninth studio album by the British band Napalm Death, released in 2000. This album, along with Words from the Exit Wound, are the only Napalm Death studio albums that were released only on CD until 2013. London-based Secret Records has re-issued the album on CD and 180g LP. This is the last release that has Jesse Pintado actually performing. Kerrang put it on the list of the best 50 albums of the 2000, at the position number 19.
Sacrilege is a band from the Midlands region of England originally formed in 1984 by guitarist Damian Thompson and vocalist Lynda "Tam" Simpson and Tony May. Originally rooted in hardcore punk, their sound later changed to thrash metal and doom metal. Despite having played relatively few gigs during their original existence, Sacrilege is recognized as an important band, both as an influence on later crust punk, thrash metal and doom metal bands and as an example of the blending of hardcore punk, radical politics, and thrash/death metal that occurred during the mid-1980s, making Sacrilege one of the prototypical crust punk bands of the time.
Elegy is the third studio album by Finnish heavy metal band Amorphis. It is their first to feature a majority of clean vocals, sung by new vocalist Pasi Koskinen. This also marks the first album with drummer Pekka Kasari who replaced Jan Rechberger and the only album with keyboardist Kim Rantala. The music and lyrics are inspired by the traditional Finnish ballads and poems compiled in the Kanteletar by Elias Lönnrot in 1840.
Death and Progress is the fourth studio album by British heavy metal band Diamond Head, released in 1993 through Castle Music.
Leaders Not Followers is an EP album by the British band Napalm Death, featuring covers from various punk and metal bands. The EP has been re-issued by Secret Records on limited edition red vinyl on the occasion of Record Store Day 2013 and has also been included on their CD re-issue of Enemy of the Music Business as bonus tracks.
Tomi Samuel Koivusaari is the current rhythm guitarist and former vocalist of the Finnish heavy metal band Amorphis. He started playing at the age of 12, his first band was Violent Solution formed in 1987, with him on guitars and vocals, Esa Holopainen on guitars and Jan Rechberger on drums. The band played thrash metal, recorded a demo and an EP. He also formed a death/doom band called Abhorrence in 1989, and recorded a demo and an EP. Both bands broke up in 1990, but Tomi was not a member of Violent Solution since he formed Abhorrence.
Privilege of Evil is the first EP by Finnish heavy metal band Amorphis released in 1993. It is a collection of demo material from Amorphis' early career recorded in Timo Tolkki's (Stratovarius) TTT Studio in 1991. At that time only two of these songs were picked for the band's first 7" single, but the full session was released two years later on this EP. On the EP's reissue by Relapse Records, the band became upset to hear that their early material was released. The material on this EP was originally meant to be for a split album with Incantation, which never materialized. Incantation's half of the split would only be released individually sixteen years later as the Blasphemous Cremation EP.
Jonathan Charles Poole, also known by his stage name Random Jon Poole, is an English musician and songwriter. A multi-instrumentalist, singer and producer, he is best known for his work as guitarist for Cardiacs and as bass player for the Wildhearts and Lifesigns.
Russ Russell is a British record producer, sound engineer, mixer, mastering engineer, musician and writer. He has worked all over the world and now is mostly based at Parlour Studios in the UK. He was also the guitarist in the psychedelic band Draw, and now plays in British metal band Absolute Power and cosmic mind metal trio, Reformat.
Darren Allison is an English record producer, musician, and audio engineer, best known for his production work with artists such as Spiritualized, The Divine Comedy, rock band Bôa, and, more recently, Efterklang, Belle & Sebastian and Amatorski.
Apes, Pigs & Spacemen are a British rock band formed in Derby in 1993.
