Burzum was a Norwegian music project founded by Varg Vikernes in 1991. Although Burzum never played live performances, it became a staple of the early Norwegian black metal scene and is considered one of the most influential acts in black metal's history. Vikernes has also released five dark ambient and neofolk albums. The word "burzum" means "darkness" in the Black Speech, a fictional language crafted by The Lord of the Rings writer J. R. R. Tolkien. Burzum's lyrics and imagery are often inspired by fantasy and Norse mythology.
Cowboys from Hell is the fifth studio album and major label debut by American heavy metal band Pantera, released on July 24, 1990, by Atco Records. It marked the first of many collaborations with producer Terry Date. This was also the album where Pantera fully abandoned the glam metal style of their previous albums in favor of a heavier sound. It has been recognized as one of the first ever groove metal albums.
Music Bank is a box set of a large variety of songs by the American rock band Alice in Chains. It was released on October 26, 1999, on Columbia Records. The box set includes previously unreleased demos, hit singles, remixes, alternative versions and four new songs, "Fear the Voices", "Get Born Again", "Lying Season", and "Died". The track "Fear the Voices" was released as a single to promote the box set. Music Bank peaked at No. 123 on the Billboard 200 chart.
With the Lights Out is a box set by the American rock band Nirvana, released on November 23, 2004. It contains three CDs and one DVD of previously rare or unreleased material, including B-sides, demos, and rehearsal and live recordings. The title comes from the lyrics of Nirvana's 1991 single "Smells Like Teen Spirit".
Beneath... Between... Beyond... is the first compilation album by American industrial metal band Static-X, released on July 20, 2004, through Warner Bros. Records. It is a compilation of previously unreleased tracks, remixes, cover versions, and the band's original demo tracks. The band did some touring in support of the album.
Isis was an American post-metal band formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1997 by guitarist and vocalist Aaron Turner, bassist Jeff Caxide, vocalist and electronic instrumentalist Chris Mereschuk and drummer Aaron Harris. After a demo and the EP Mosquito Control were recorded by the original lineup, Mereschuk was replaced by Jay Randall in 1999, who joined the group alongside guitarist Michael Gallagher. Jay Randall would later be replaced by guitarist and keyboardist Bryant Clifford Meyer after the recording of Red Sea. With roots in hardcore punk and doom metal, the band borrowed from and helped to evolve the post-metal sound pioneered by bands such as Neurosis and Godflesh, characterized by lengthy songs focusing on repetition and evolution of structure. Isis disbanded in June 2010, just before the release of a split EP with the Melvins, reforming only once in 2018 as Celestial for a one-off show to pay tribute to Caleb Scofield.
Agalloch is an American extreme metal band from Portland, Oregon. Formed in 1995 by frontman John Haughm, they released five full-length albums, four EPs, two singles, one split single, two demos, four compilation albums and one live video album. They announced their disbandment in May 2016, but reunited in 2023.
A demo is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed format, such as cassette tape, compact disc, or digital audio files, and to thereby pass along those ideas to record labels, producers, or other artists.
Tourniquet was an American Christian metal band that formed in Los Angeles in 1990. It was founded by Ted Kirkpatrick, Guy Ritter, and Gary Lenaire. Tourniquet primarily played a mixture of thrash and progressive metal and was influenced by additional, non-rock forms of music such as classical and world music. The band earned six GMA Dove Award nominations and won multiple recognitions from the readers of HM Magazine, including "Favorite Band of the 1990s" and "Favorite Album of the 1990s" for Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance (1992). They released ten studio albums, two live albums, four compilation albums, one EP, and several video releases. The last Tourniquet lineup consisted of Ted Kirkpatrick (drums) and Aaron Guerra. The band disbanded after Kirkpatrick's death in 2022.
As the Flower Withers is the debut studio album by Yorkshire-based heavy metal band My Dying Bride. The artwork was designed by Dave McKean. This is the only full-length My Dying Bride album on which lead vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe utilizes his death growl as the sole vocal style.
The Sawblade EP is a handmade CD-R made by Isis for their tour with Neurosis and Candiria, limited to 200 copies. It was sold at these shows at a limit of 15 per night, and the leftover copies were given to friends of the band as a year-end "thank you" gift. The vinyl run of this release was limited to 250 copies. As such, Aaron Turner doesn't consider this an 'official' Isis release, describing it as “more like a special artifact for us and the few converts we had at the time”.
Prototype is an American progressive metal band from Los Angeles. The band was formed in 1994 by vocalist/guitarist Vince Levalois and guitarist Kragen Lum, who were both members of Psychosis at the time. The band's current line-up comprises founding members Levalois and Lum, bassist Kirk Scherer and drummer Pat Magrath. Bassists Stephen Gambina and Mike Bear and drummers Damion Ramirez and Nic Ritter are former members of the band.
Aaron Turner is an American musician, singer, graphic artist, and founder of label Hydra Head Records. He is most widely known for his role as guitarist and vocalist for the post-metal bands SUMAC and Isis, while also participating in several other bands and projects such as Old Man Gloom, Lotus Eaters and Split Cranium, a collaboration with Jussi Lehtisalo of Finnish band Circle who toured with Isis in 2009.
Jar of Kingdom is the debut album by Australian progressive metal band, Alchemist. The band recorded the album after receiving a record contract in the mail from Austrian label Lethal Records and was released by that company in October 1993. During the recording of the first track "Abstraction", vocalist Adam Agius damaged his voice, thus resulting in the raw vocal sound on the rest of the album. The name "Jar of Kingdom" was inspired by a comment by television personality and entertainer Graham Kennedy during a comedy skit, in which he described a vial of pig semen as a "jar of kingdom". Jar of Kingdom featured early experiments with synthesisers, acoustic guitars and samples: "Whale" includes the sample of a humpback whale song. All tracks from this album except "Wandering and Wondering" and "Whale" later appeared on the Embryonics compilation.
Caring and Killing: 1991 Through 1994 is a compilation album by American metalcore band Converge, originally released in 1995 through Lost & Found Records and re-released on November 17, 1997, through Hydra Head Records.
Blonde and Beyond is a compilation album of recordings by Blondie released on Chrysalis Records in 1993.
Isis was an American post-metal band, active from 1997 until their disbandment in 2010. They released five full-length albums, five extended plays (EPs), seven live albums, two singles, and have collaborated with other artists on numerous other projects.
David L. Reece is an American singer who has been active in the heavy metal rock scene professionally since the late 1980s, recording with several bands in diverse genres including Bonfire from January 2015 to July 2016. He is best known for his time with the band Accept, appearing on their 1989 album Eat the Heat.
Minsk is an extreme metal band from Peoria, Illinois founded in 2002. Self-described as "psychedelic metal", their songs tend to start out as slow and simple, and become heavy and complex towards the end. Their sound draws from doom metal, hardcore punk, ambient and noise music, with a highly psychedelic attitude achieved through tribal drum patterns, thick layers of synthesizers and keyboards, and echoing vocals. They are named after the capital of Belarus. The idea of survival through suffering is a recurring theme in the lyrics and musical style. In fact, regarding the origin of their name, their official biography states: "Drawing its nominal inspiration from a remote Belarusian city nestled deep amidst the in-betweens of the East and the West, a city that has been burned to the ground on several occasions only to be rebuilt like a Phoenix rising from its ashes." The sounds and atmospheres they evoke in their songs are complex and psychedelic.
Green is the sixth studio album by American rock band R.E.M., released on November 7, 1988, by Warner Bros. Records. The second album to be produced by the band and Scott Litt, it continued to explore political issues both in its lyrics and packaging. The band experimented on the album, writing major-key rock songs and incorporating new instruments into their sound including the mandolin, as well as switching their original instruments on other songs.
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