Kirk Lee Hammett is an American musician who has been the lead guitarist and a contributing songwriter for heavy metal band Metallica since 1983. Before joining Metallica, he formed and named the band Exodus. In 2003, Hammett was ranked 11th on Rolling Stone's list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. In 2009, Hammett was ranked number 15 in Joel McIver's book The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists.
Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved initially from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic metal and other metal subgenres. Their lyrical themes and imagery are heavily influenced by Gothic literature, poetry, mythology and horror films. The band consists of its founding member, vocalist Dani Filth, drummer Martin 'Marthus' Škaroupka, bassist Daniel Firth, guitarists Marek 'Ashok' Šmerda and Donny Burbage, and keyboardist Zoe Marie Federoff.
Timothy S. "Ripper" Owens is an American heavy metal singer who currently performs with KK's Priest, Spirits of Fire, the Three Tremors and A New Revenge. He first gained attention as the lead singer of Judas Priest and then Iced Earth. He took the nickname "Ripper" from the Judas Priest song "The Ripper" during his time in the tribute band British Steel.
James Alan Hetfield is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, co-founder and a main songwriter of heavy metal band Metallica. He is mainly known for his intricate rhythm playing, but occasionally performs lead guitar duties and solos, both live and in the studio. Hetfield co-founded Metallica in October 1981 after answering an advertisement by drummer Lars Ulrich in the Los Angeles newspaper The Recycler. Metallica has won nine Grammy Awards and released ten studio albums, three live albums, four extended plays and 24 singles. Hetfield is often regarded as one of the greatest heavy metal rhythm guitar players of all time.
Charles Schuldiner was an American musician. He founded the death metal band Death in 1983, in which he was the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter and only consistent member until his death in 2001. His obituary in the January 5, 2002 issue of UK's Kerrang! magazine described him as "one of the most significant figures in the history of metal." Schuldiner was ranked No. 10 in Joel McIver's book The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists in 2009 and No. 20 in March 2004 Guitar World's "The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists". In 1987, Schuldiner founded the publishing company Mutilation Music, affiliated with performance rights organization BMI. Schuldiner died in 2001 of a brain tumor.
Nicholas Menza was an American musician best known as the drummer for thrash metal band Megadeth from 1989 to 1998. He recorded drums on four of Megadeth's albums: Rust in Peace (1990), Countdown to Extinction (1992), Youthanasia (1994), and Cryptic Writings (1997).
Michael Stephen Portnoy is an American musician who is primarily known as the former drummer, backing vocalist, and co-founder of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. In September 2010, Portnoy announced his departure from Dream Theater after 25 years, with Mike Mangini taking his place as drummer of the band. Since his departure Portnoy has remained active, with a variety of bands and projects, including Adrenaline Mob, Transatlantic, Yellow Matter Custard, Flying Colors, The Winery Dogs, Liquid Tension Experiment, Metal Allegiance, Sons of Apollo, the Neal Morse Band and BPMD.
Paradise Lost are an English gothic metal band that formed in 1988 in Halifax, 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.
Jani Lane was an American singer and the lead vocalist, frontman, lyricist and main songwriter for the glam metal band Warrant. From Hollywood, California, the band experienced success from 1989 to 1996 with five albums reaching international sales of over 10 million. Lane left Warrant in 2004 and again in 2008 after a brief reunion. Lane also released a solo album, Back Down to One, in 2003, and the album Love the Sin, Hate the Sinner with a new group, Saints of the Underground, in 2008. Lane contributed lead vocals and songwriting to various projects throughout his career.
Jeffrey John Hanneman was an American musician, best known as a founding member and guitarist of the thrash metal band Slayer. Hanneman composed both music and lyrics for every Slayer album until his death in 2013 at age 49. He had his own signature guitar, the ESP Jeff Hanneman Signature model.
Charles Billy is an American singer who is best known as the lead vocalist for thrash metal band Testament.
Adrian Erlandsson is a Swedish heavy metal drummer who is a member of At the Gates, the Haunted, and Nemhain (2006–present).
Robert Joel Kulick was an American guitarist and record producer, who worked with numerous acts such as Kiss, W.A.S.P., Alice Cooper, Lou Reed, Meat Loaf, and Michael Bolton. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was the elder brother of former Kiss lead guitarist Bruce Kulick.
Evile are an English thrash metal band from Huddersfield, formed in 2004. They have experienced numerous line-up changes over the years, with drummer Ben Carter being the only member of the original line-up to have stayed consistently. The current line-up consists of Carter, lead guitarist and vocalist Ol Drake, bassist Joel Graham, and rhythm guitarist Adam Smith, who replaced Drake's older brother Matt in 2020.
Hamish Glencross is a Scottish guitarist best known for his work with the English metal band My Dying Bride. He also co-founded the short-lived Blackdoom Records with the band's other guitarist, Andrew Craighan.
Lost Paradise is the debut album by British heavy metal band Paradise Lost. Released in February 1990 by Peaceville Records, it features the band's early death-doom style. The album was re-issued in 2003 and included three bonus tracks.
No Use for a Name was an American punk rock band from Sunnyvale, California, United States formed in 1986 by Chris Dodge (guitar), Steve Papoutsis (bass) and Rory Koff (drums). The band's sound evolved considerably through its career, starting off as a Bay Area-influenced punk band, moving on to a much heavier metallic-tinted sound to finally taking on a much lighter brand of melodic punk as the years passed. The band's career ended in 2012 following Tony Sly's death on July 31 of that year.
Oliver Michael Drake, known as Ol Drake or OL Drake, is an English guitarist and singer, most notably the vocalist and lead guitarist of English thrash metal band Evile.
In Fear and Faith was an American post-hardcore band from San Diego, California. Formed in 2006, the group was signed to Rise Records and released three studio albums and two EPs. Their debut full-length, Your World on Fire, being released nearly a year after the band's signing to Rise in 2008, peaked at No. 193 on the Billboard 200. Their second full-length album, Imperial was released the following year and failed to make that chart, but did chart on the Top Heatseekers and overall Indie chart in the US. The band has undergone many line-up changes since its formation, and does not feature any consistent original members since the departure of guitarist Ramin Niroomand and drummer Mehdi Niroomand in 2014; vocalist Scott Barnes is the only current member of the band to have performed on all of the group's studio albums, though he is not an original member; likewise, although current bassist Tyler McElhany is a founding member of the band himself, he was out of the group from 2011 to 2014 and did not contribute to their third album, In Fear and Faith.
Betraying the Martyrs are a French metalcore band formed in Paris in 2008. The band currently consists of vocalist Rui Martins, guitarists Steeves Hostin and Baptiste Vigier, bassist Valentin Hauser, drummer Boris le Gal, and keyboardist Victor Guillet. They are currently signed to Out of Line Music. Through their previous label, Sumerian Records, Betraying the Martyrs have released four studio albums: Breathe in Life (2011), Phantom (2014), The Resilient (2017), and Rapture (2019). They've also released two EPs: The Hurt the Divine the Light (2009) and Silver Lining (2022).
